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  1. Canute Rex

    New Wheellock

    Last week I went down to Westhampton Massachusetts to see Len Day Sr. and Jr. and pick up my new wheellock. I thought I'd share my joy with you folks. This is a long saga that started with much pipe dreaming. I got kind of obsessed and started looking around for a maker. Of course, the world...
  2. Canute Rex

    Seating the ball

    Here's another take on bouncing the ramrod: Consistency detection. I bounce my ramrod on the ball, gently, after ramming it down. I do this by lifting it a specific distance and dropping it. Depending on how hard the ball is against the powder the ramrod will bounce more or less and the sound...
  3. Canute Rex

    why are barrels octagonal?

    What Coot said. Speaking as a blacksmith, if I have a round rod, like a just-welded barrel, and I want to hammer it into a shape with flat sides, octagonal is the most straightforward. Hammer flats 90 degrees apart and then turn it 45 degrees and hammer more flats 90 degrees apart. Not quite...
  4. Canute Rex

    Home made wads

    I'm from central Vermont. Lots of felt lined boots up here. Good point by John E: Make sure the liner is pure wool, or at least all natural fiber. With waxed wool wads I find my cleaning to be easier. They seem to squeegee the bore with each shot.
  5. Canute Rex

    Home made wads

    I guess this is only for those of us up north, but felt boot liners eventually get worn and the soles get compressed. I punch wads out of the sides of worn felt boot liners and soak them in melted beeswax/olive oil mix. They compress in the bore nicely.
  6. Canute Rex

    Matchlock Range test

    If you work up a good load for it your matchlock can compete with flintlocks and caplocks. The zero lock time is such an advantage that German target shooters retained the system into the early 18th century. On a good day my Len Day matchlock smoothbore can do this for me: Important note...
  7. Canute Rex

    Matchlock Pistols did they exist?

    私はあなたが何を考えているか知っています。彼は3発を撃ったのか、2発しか発射しなかったのか (Japanese for "I know what you're thinking. 'Did he fire three shots, or only two?'"
  8. Canute Rex

    German Wheelock Pistol Builder

    Search on eBay for "iron pyrite" and you'll find all sorts. One caution: A lot of it is from China, and they tend to exaggerate the size of the pieces. If they say 12mm the pieces are probably 7-10mm. The Spanish stuff that looks shiny and smooth is for display and way too expensive. The rough...
  9. Canute Rex

    Matchlock age

    There is a museum in Canada that has a matchlock that was issued to a French garrison regiment in 1662. I guess the thought was that the artillery would do the actual work and it gave them something to carry around on guard duty. Or maybe it was just that they were on the tail end of the...
  10. Canute Rex

    Pure lead or Alloy in rifles

    In my 54 smoothbore I shoot lead that is some crazy percentage of zinc. A friend calls them my "armor piercing" round balls. They are significantly lighter than pure lead, 203 grains vs 212 for pure lead. (0.520") They shoot fine and leave a moon crater in a steel gong. In a rifle I use pure...
  11. Canute Rex

    69 -70 caliber rifled musket ID help

    I would bet the rent that the rifling was added later. The early 19th century flintlock military muskets were smoothbore. The sights were most likely added during the mid-century rebuild or later. Any sign of a former bayonet lug? Another thing to think about is that not all so-called Potsdam...
  12. Canute Rex

    69 -70 caliber rifled musket ID help

    That's some oddball rifling. Really deep for the barrel thickness and a lot of lands and grooves. (16?!?) The bolster for the nipple reminds me of one I saw on a Potsdam musket. I did some research on it and found that it was an 1818 flintlock that had been converted to percussion in 1842. The...
  13. Canute Rex

    Getting Into Matchlocks?

    Leonard Day in Easthampton MA makes matchlocks, although the ones I have seen (and the one I own) are more 17th century. He has a waiting list, which I hope I am near the top of right now. Brian Anderson in Bristol Vermont has made a couple of 1500s style snapping matchlocks that I have seen. I...
  14. Canute Rex

    Just finished my first matchlock

    Nice job! Welcome to the League of Hemp Burners. The buttstock/lever combo looks like an early style. What were you aiming for? Please do report back on your first shots.
  15. Canute Rex

    Tall safes again

    I'm thinking maybe a big metal cabinet with large electrical conduit coming out of it and into the wall and a "Danger: High Voltage" sign.
  16. Canute Rex

    Tall safes again

    Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm probably going to go for a combination of locker/cabinet and "security through obscurity."
  17. Canute Rex

    Tall safes again

    I have been looking all over the internet (and on this forum) to try to find a tall safe that isn't the size of an apartment building. I know I can get a 60-gun safe that is 72" tall, but I have neither the need, nor the budget, space, or rigging equipment for that. There was a Sentry safe...
  18. Canute Rex

    Sight picture, Brown Bess

    Two ideas: Make a short leather "sock" that goes over the butt and put a piece of half inch thick *closed cell* foam in as a pad. Alternatively, salvage felt from the side of a boot liner. It will protect your shoulder from the thump and get your nose and cheek a little farther away from the...
  19. Canute Rex

    Horse Pistol: Battlefield Account

    Great footage, great stories! My own grandmother was born in Lynchburg Virginia in 1894 and lived to be 98. Her father was in his fifties when she was born. He was born in 1842 and served in the 45th Virginia. She was desperate for him to tell her war stories but all he would tell her was how...
  20. Canute Rex

    Any difference in point of impact when using different powders?

    Another thing to consider: Does your new rifle have a harder trigger pull than your previous one? I have seen an effect where a stiff trigger can drop the POI. You end up taking a little of the weight of the rifle on the trigger itself and when it releases the rifle "falls off" the trigger...
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