4 Bore Blunderbuss Update

[Zoar]

Just give you guys an update-- I am just about to drill the flash hole for my 4 Bore Blunderbuss build. And will be loading it up with Powder later TODAY!!! It is basically done except for that, and I haven't stained the wood yet. But I wanted to "fire" it after I got it all basically done and before I did the stain and finish.

I plan on starting with 50 grains of black powder and a cotton ball and work my way up to 80 grains and some pellets.

 

[widget350]

pictures?

Most blunderbusses I've seen/fired could handle quite a bit more load than that. Have fun.

 

[Zoar]

Well.... Some things are so much fun you wonder IF they are legal...

All I can say is WOW! Shooting that 4 bore blunderbuss was terrific! It fired flawlessly and it made one large appliance box wish it never lived.

As far as the load I ended up at 100 grains of black and twenty-five 38 caliber round balls, so about 4.5 ounces (128 grams) of shot! That load had a stout kick that made me laugh out loud. It is definitely a small cannon. I shot it at about 30 feet and it had approx a 30 inch "pattern". As some may recall I bought alot of the parts from Michael Lea and the barrel from Stone Creek, a Rayle's steel 4 gauge 20 inch barrel. I also bought 4 bore precut WADS and over shot cards from Michael Lea which worked very well and kept the powder and round balls very tight. I have to order MORE of those!

I'm going to load it up with 4 ounces or so of #4 shot and I would say I have my Turkey gun! Sure, I will experiment increasing the powder some however 100 grains of 3 F seemed plenty and out of that short barrel more powder just may be a waste.

I will post pictures after I stain/finish the wood.

Even though it was more work than if I had bought a readily available 10 or even 11 gauge KIT, I am very satisfied I went all the way to a 4 bore. This is the gun I wanted. Now to get the wood the colour and finish I want... If anyone is thinking about doing a four bore blunderbuss my advice is: Do It.

 

[Zoar]

Does anyone know where I can buy some .995 to 1.020 Lead Round Balls???

 

Have Jeff Tanner make you a ball mould, would be my suggestion.

C

 

[Zoar]

I don't want to get a mold because I know me well enough to know I will NOT have the TIME or setup to POUR the lead balls. I want some already made up. I do not intend on shooting a TON of single round balls in my 4 bore blunderbuss; I mostly plan on shooting shot. I do have a Tanner Mold now and I used it ONCE. But thank you for the recommendation, Tanner Molds are nice.

 

[Zoar]

The build is going well. I am in the final phases of finishing the stock.

However the more I look at that shiny silver colored steel barrel the more I want to BLUE BLACK it!

I tried to do a search here for BLUING a barrel to make it look OLD but found nothing. I also went to TOTW and StoneWallCreek but it looks like they have NO products to completely BLUE a steel barrel. I want it really really dark almost black. From my research STEEL Blunderbuss barrels were often Blue Black. Doe sanyone have a source for Really Dark Blue Bluing for a Steel Barrel?

Thanks. I love this place!

 

[BrownBear]

Consider your options for using LMF to rust blue. Easy, and dandy to my eye.

 

[Zoar]

Can you explain this LMF a bit? Thanks!

 

[BrownBear]

There's a permanent thread at the top here on the gun builders section called LMF Browning Instructions. I've provided a link so you don't have to scroll back.

It provides a link to the instruction page for Laurel Mountain Forge browning solution. In there you'll also find instructions for rust bluing with the same product.

I havn't done the LMF rust bluing myself, but a couple of friends have. It's a deep blue, probably lots more black than blue, and looks really good for my eye. Best of all, the results are more uniform than I've ever seen with cold bluing solutions and one heck of a lot more durable. I'm guessing, but from what I've seen on the sidelines it may be even more durable than hot tank bluing.

 

[Zoar]

I guess I just don't understand how the same product can be used to Brown and Blue a barrel. I guess that is where I was and remain confused. I even went on their website and it shows the same product that will do BOTH. Befuddled????

 

[bioprof]

To blue a barrel with LMF browning solution, you just have to pour boiling water over the barrel after each coat of the browning solution is applied. I tried this with a pistol barrel and it turned mostly black.

 

[Zoar]

THANK YOU!

NOW I understand.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Zoar: Both processes involve oxidizing steel. Browning takes place at a lower temperature. Boiling water is higher, and uses the water molecule to change the brown to blue. Its a dark blue/ almost blue black color, but will fade with handling, somewhat, unless you put oil on the hot barrel to burn the colors into the pores of the steel. Dipping a barrel into a tank of boiling water for 10 minutes or so raises the temperature of the barrel high enough to change those colors to Blue/black.

When you remove the steel from the boiling water, spray the barrel or parts with wD40- both an oil, and a water displacing component in that-- and let the barrel cool down to room temperature slowly.

I found that leaving the barrel dripping wet with oil overnight gave me the deepest and darkest color.

I also heat the barrel up much hotter than 212 degrees F., the boiling temperature of water. The hotter the barrel, when I spray it down with WD-40, the deeper the color goes into the metal, so that the blue finish lasts much longer with normal handling. I use a propane torch, on the blued barrel to heat it hotter, before spraying it with the oil.

 

[Zonie]

For the nurds in the crowd, the soft red rust that no one wants on their guns is Ferric Oxide.

Ferrous Oxide is the hard brown rust that many people like to see on their guns metal parts.
It absorbs oil well and once this is done it will prevent further rusting of the iron or steel that is under it.

By exposing unoiled Ferrous Oxide to steam or hot water the rust is converted to Ferro-Ferric Oxide which is blue-black.
Actually it is more black than blue.

John Bivins feels that Rust Bluing was seldom used prior to the 19th Century although I am not sure how many English or European guns and armor he studied.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Thanks, Jim. Its been a long time since I had any chemistry, and I probably wasn't taught that back then, either. Seem to recall there were only 10 elements on the Periodic Table when I took Chemistry, but that might be just a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe that is how many I managed to study before falling asleep! Do you think??? :rotf: :blah: :thumbsup:

 

[Zonie]

In all honesty, I had to do a little digging myself.
Personally, I found that Amy Hollingers expanding assets were more interesting than most of the Chemistry lectures. :rotf:

 

[Zoar]

I have taken pictures of my FOUR BORE Blunderbuss, but I must be challnged because I cannot figure out how to post pictures here yet. If someone would send me their email I can send to them and if they could POST them here, that would be terrific. Thanks!

 

[Roy]

I'll post them if you want.. :v

 

[Roy]