Build A Blunderbuss

[Capt. Jas.]

Try this:

Michael Lea
2109 Summit St.
Columbus OH 43201

614-291-4757

 

[mastrsgt]

Zoar,

Mike Lea's name shows up on a rev war list I frequent. There hasn't been a web site mentioned, but his address is:

2109 Summit St.
Columbus, OH 43201
614-291-4757

Don R

 

[mastrsgt]

Darn, Capt Jas replied while I was answering a phone call.

Don R

 

[Zoar]

Cool. Thanks guys.

After I call him I'll post what I learn.

 

[Zoar]

I just spoke with Micheal Lee. His wife had a heart attack recently and he has been sleeping in a chair in a hospital room for the past week. My best wishes are with him and his wife. He said she is much better and coming home now.

We also did have a nice chat about the Blunderbuss. He has all the parts but no barrels in 4 bore right now which is fine for me because I had already ordered a 4 bore barrel from Troy at Stonewallcreek.

So for about another $500 beyond the cost of the barrel I can get my choice of Chamber's lock, the stock, the trigger, buttplate etc---in essence everything else I would need.

So, bottom line, here are the approx costs:
4 Bore Blunderbuss with BRASS barrel $1000
4 Bore Blunderbuss with STEEL barrel $725

Again these are rough costs.

And that is just for the parts.

Not a cheap proposition. But a 4 BORE Blunderbuss!

It should be an intersting build. I am looking forward to seeing the stock and getting to work on it.

 

[anika]

Zoar order the parts and start in. Your driving me nuts. While I'm working on my current project (a Bivins Lancaster) I'm constantly thinking about my next which will be a fowler. When I have finished my current and started my next I hope to be fantasizing about a 4 bore blunderbuss build!!! So get to it!!!!!! odis

 

[Zoar]

I know I know! Micheal Lea spent the week in the hospital with his sick wife and when I talked with him yesterday he said he needed to get home and see what he actually had on hand BEFORE I could order anything... he needed to see what he had in brass verses iron etc and he didn't know which wood he had etc... believe me I want to order all the parts and get going... I did order the barrel two weeks ago so at least I should get points for that, eh? :thumbsup:

But I hear ya! And I'm glad to know you've got two projects ahead of you BEFORE you start your 4 bore Blunderbuiss build, so at least you won't be sucking parts away from me... :wink: Geeez, this stuff isn't very common nor available off-the-shelf.

For the life of me I just can't figure out why everyone doesn't have a four bore Blunderbuss by their front door????? :wink:

 

[Zoar]

I'm thinking about options for loads.

One of the loads being MAX destruction. I am thinking of a mix made up of---five 50 cal balls; five 35 cal balls; about thirty BB's; and then some #9 shot to fill the air spaces sort of like a buffer.

All over 110 Grains of 2F possibly 3F.

I've read that the boarding parties on ships it was common practice to use shot of varying sizes in their blunderbuss and other smooth bore guns. Also in close combat land battles blunderbuss often were loaded with multiple sized shot and ball for maximum destruction.

I plan on using 4' by 8' boards to "test" pattern some of these loads in the 4 bore.

 

[Rollover Jack]

Greetings...

Many years ago when I lived in Brazil, I heard that some of the interior people would simply chop up some nails and tie them in a handkerchief. An undetermined amount of powder,yeah -- that looks about right, and ram the "package" down the barrel. This was used for chicken thieves. You may not want to try this. I have personally never seen it, so it may just be :bull: . However, I did hear of it from several different sources, so there may be some truth to this rumor.

"When you see the smoke on the wind, look for me."

 

[Zoar]

Okay, my orders for parts are all in and if you go back to my first post on this thread I wrote I wanted to build a blunderbuss for about $500 bucks.

Well, I've gone a bit over that already...

But I am also building a FOUR Bore so I was quite limited in terms of suppliers and parts. Quite limited.... That 1.5 inch breech of the 4 Bore Blunderbuss barrel limited the numbers of stocks I could use. I found one by Mike Lea.

So far I've got about $720 into this Four Bore build. (I could have gotten an 11 gauge kit for $449...)

 

[Capt. Jas.]

But did the 449.00 kit give you as correct a repoduction or the comparable quality of parts as the 720.00 one?

 

[Zoar]

Capt--- Excellent question. I would say the quality appears to be about the same. Although I must say---I will better be able to answer that AFTER I see the quality of all the parts I've ordered. However, the 11 gauge barrel is cheap compared to a 4 bore and certainly the stock is much cheaper for a "little" eleven verses a big fat 4 bore breach. There's about $200 difference right there! So toss in another $50 bucks for bigger accessories to make a 4 instead of an 11 and the cost difference is all right there.

 

[Zoar]

Okay. I received all the parts I ordered for the 4 Bore from Mike Lea. (The barrel is coming from StoneWallCreek).

Overall the parts looks pretty good. I started sanding the stock. The wood is bone dry. Nice. The stock is precut for a Blunderbuss and the basic shape is terrfic. I a few flaws but I can work with it. It is really WIDE to accept that 4 bore barrel. I intend to reshape some parts of the stock to slightly slenderize where you hold the fore-end and the cheek. Of course I will keep alot of the meat but some parts can be thinned without compromising strength.

I am taking my time with the wood. The barrel is expected in a couple of weeks but I can get the stock sanded really smooth and do the fitting for the buttplate all before the barrel arrives. I plan to call Mike Lea back though because the buttplate he sent seems really too small and I would rather have a larger buttplate that covers the entire stock face. That 4 bore blunderbuss stock is WIDE!

I want to either treat the wood with LYE or that mixture of nitric acid and steel wool that was posted here a week or two ago. Although it is a Walnut stock I really like the rich, deep, dark red (and dark brown) look that most old stocks have. I hope the nitric acid with dissolved #4 steel wool will work on the Walnut as others have said it works on Maple. Any comments on this would be appreciated.

I will post pictures after I figure out how.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Those pre-carves are left "fat" on purpose and made to be slimmed down.
I would like to see a picture of the buttplate with the stock to understand what you mean by it not covering the "stock face". Do you mean it's not tall enough to cover from heel to toe or it's not wide enough?
If width is the problem, then what is the width measurement of the buttplate adn the width of the stock butt? Could it be that the stock was just left wide in the back for fitting the buttplate and it is meant to be brought to the width of the BP?

 

[rabjr]

Every piece of walnut I tried nitric acid on turned it black, even diluted quite a bit.

 

[Zoar]

Yes on both accounts. Not wide enough and not long enough. The other gun builders I showed it to yesterday agreed.

It is not just a matter of slimming the stock down some. I would need to take a ridiculous amount off in all directions to get this butt plate to cover the face of the stock. If I put this plate on with the idea of "sinking it into" the stock so that some wood shows (when looking straight on from the face of the butt) that would be the only way to make this work and that is not what I wanted at all.

 

[Bob Miller]

I made my own buttplate from brass sheet. It was easy, and you can make it as wide as you want!. As I mentioned before, I purchased the 6 bore barrel from Troy. Excellant !

 

[Zoar]

yea, it looks like I may have to make one myself. That 4 bore stock butt is really wide and longer than most buttlplates from TrackOfTheWolf (I have the catlog and compared the sizes. There is one but they only show the side view in the picture and not the face view so I cannopt determine if it would be wide enough. But making one from thin brass is not what I want. I want a fairly thick piece of metal there. I may have to go to my black smith buddy and have him make me one but it won't be brass. But first option is to call Mike Lea and see if he can direct me to a wider/longer buttplate. However, all good info here and I appreciate the comments. I am still wondering if that nitric acid and #4 steel wool would work on Walnut.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you get sheet brass thick enough you can heat it up and bend it correctly to make that plate. Its easier to work than steel, altho' " easy " is a very relative term.

 

[Zoar]

I spoke with Michael Lea. He said the stock is way oversized and I should wittle away at the stock to get the butt plate to fit.

Alot of whittling ahead....

I worked on shaping and cutting into the stock some last night to accpet the buttplate. Very time consuming aspect trying to get that buttplate to drop in flush. It has a number of angles and steps in the design, it is not a straight flare so the work is even more tedious. But that is what a signed on for.

I won't be sitting around doing nothing while I wait for the barrel to show up, that is for sure! hahaha