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Greetings and Howdy from Fort Bend county. PM me a list if you have one. Most of my contacts are pre-1840 types, but not all. I've seen the Elephant and am mostly a flint type now.

Cosby, part time.

We have a 20 year old Hand Tool subgroup in our local woodworking club. The most popular by far sharpening jig is this one from Lee Valley. I do not own one as I am stubborn and do most of my sharpening by hand and eye like our forefathers. Others say I am too cheap to pry open my wallet. I...

Hex or octagon handles really cut down on tools that roll off the bench and hit the concrete floor point first!

Welcome from Richmond, Texas!

That's about the right time for the Alafia too.

First two things I thought of have been mentioned: dead cap build up in the cup and mushroomed nipple. My rifles were made before they started to cut a V-notch in the cup and stuck, fired caps is the most common cause for me. I dig them out with a patch knife. Light filing removes the...

Here is an excellent discussion of gun building tools. You don't need all these to get started. My first build used a bench top mini Workmate as a vise, a couple Stanley bench chisels and an Xacto knife.

IMO, learning to sharpen is more important than the quality of the tools themselves. You need to sharpen more often and do so as soon as you notice dullind. Having said that, still buy the best you can afford and only cry once. A long time ago I made some decent, small inletting chisels...

Invest in a building book. I like Alexander's "Gunsmith of Grenville County" best of the four I own, but Blevins and others out there are very good too. The archives here are a terrific, free resource too. https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/books-building-flintlocks.94189/

Yep! You can ruin a piece so fast with power tools. Been there, done that, and have the scrap to prove it.

PM sent.

I don't think I ever adjusted the sights on mine in 40+ years. Might have, but don't remember it. I shoot only round ball, conicals not as accurate IME.

It once was a measure of number of posts and likes. I have stayed Pilgrim myself after almost twenty years. I have a bunch left to learn, so never minded that label. You can change it in your Profile IIRC. .457 ball works well in my ROA. I smear a bit of white wheel bearing grease over the...

I can't believe I missed this thread until now. Magnificent!

My parents were avid antique restorers. They had dental tools everywhere to help refinishing their project du jour. I still have a couple dozen and some times use them on a hand plane's wooden innards.

Shot an EMF Navy in 1970 to get started. Built first rifle in 1978.

Like every one else. I carry the fixin's to shoot the firearm of choice that day. I have a bag for each caliber and add/subtract contents for flint or percussion. I call mine a shooting/hunting or possibles bag about equally. Learned the "possibles" name in the late 70's and have not broken...

Just found this thread and will look for the missing posts. Great read with many experts chiming in. I have a Jackie Brown rifle with 0.022" gap between barrel and pan. You have given me things to look for. Thanks to all!

At my age I am lucky to still remember the topic after wading through three pages of ttt. :D