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You don't need to get a lot of tools but get GOOD ones when you do. Stay away from cheap starter set chisels, get a few really good ones and a good set of stones to keep them sharp! I have about 3 straight chisels from 1/8" to 3/8" and a couple of round gouges that do 90% of my inletting. Check...

Thank you for posting! Have never had a .32 and have wondered what they might do in the real world.

From what I've read and seen most Bedford's had long, straight barrels. Part of the problem with the precarved stock is the thickness. Bedford's were THIN! It scares me to build one but remember the words of an old timer "Take wood off until you are scared and then take off some more." Without...

People were VERY thrifty! Nothing useable was thrown away. I've seen many 1760's rifles with numerous upgrades done over the years...converted to percussion, barrels shortened, full stocks that had the forearm broken were shortend to half stocks and so forth. They wasted almost nothing. If it...

I build a lot of mule eared target rifles and always place the nipple about 1/4" in front of the breech face. Cleaning is easy that way but a long flash channel would cause fouling issues and hard to clean.

The forearms were usually attached by two pins that pass through the forearms and the bottom of the barrel. Drilling these can be difficult and I usually will mill a small flat spot on the oblique flats so drill will not try to walk off.

Did you do your own casting or send the waxes to a foundry?

Just WOW! That was quite a project!

1950Dave just mentioned it but I will second it - Get this book by Bealer. Starting with just a hammer and a home made forge you can start making your own tools, once you have made them you will have learned enough to move on to actual projects. Keep in mind though that most "Old Time" builders...

Never tried holding parts with my feet...may have to give it a try.

Happy to extend an invitation to you as well. Longrifles of the Canadian is the ML branch of the Okla. City Gun Club. We are located just a bit north of Arcadia so not a bad drive from Shawnee. Probably the easiest way to introduce the club would be for you to go to...

If you are close to OKC drop me a PM. We have an active ML club that shoots 2-3 times a month and would love to invite you out.

If you want something a bit different think about using wood. I've seen it on many old originals where the forearm had been removed and the rifle rebuilt as a half stock. The wood rib is easily contoured to fit the barrel and often pinned to the existing lugs. Thimbles pinned to the rib. Looks...

Nice collection!

Fully agree that the customer service is terrible. I've really slowed down on selling there since they started forcing us to collect sales tax (which I just don't think should be my job) and those user fees drive me nuts! They never explain what it is we are paying for...just got to pay it. No...

Over the past 12 years I've sold over 2000 muzzleloaders on Gunbroker with over 600 positive feedback (about 1 out of 3 bother to post one). I try to list all defects that I can find and most people comment that the item was better than they expected. I try to answer all questions sent to me and...

Many originals were provided a ball mold specifically sized for that rifle and outside of military arms there was little standardization. Even today I have 6 commercially produced .54's that range from .530 to .558 but all are marked .54 and made by leading suppliers.

Yes, I recently had a customer who wanted his .40 smoothbore original into a .50 rifled barrel but the breech plug was just barely large enough to allow it taken out to .45. There was plenty of barrel thickness but would have had to make and fit a whole new patten breech.

I like to smoke a pipe when I have the time to sit and enjoy it. Around a campfire with a mug of Bent's Fort special and some old friends is pretty hard to beat,

Not a fan. Some things a machine just can't replace a human on.