Building me a N.W. tradegun. Again ! :D

[Rob M.]

Do you slab off the whole length a little thicker than bolster thickness,and your feeler holes for the ram rod hole you put about 4” apart from entry hole to breach face which is end of the hole.

.....and that first feeler hole ....keep it back away from the entry hole a bit , say an inch or so ....

 

[Kentuckyjed]

Good God man, have a cold beer or something. Keep cranking em out.

 

[Rob M.]

Measure from breech , and mark on TH side the breech face , dot at proposed TH location , shoot for that later but can be moved if nessessary , dont punch mark it . Put breech plug back in , cut tang to length , file end of tang and sides of plug to taper , leave top alone just sides and just a tad ...

 

[Rob M.]

Bend that tang to the shape of the stock b, flies sides of tang to a slight taper . Find your center at the breech and then make marks for the bolster, the width and the length of that bolster ... start inletting straight down ...

 

[Rob M.]

Inlet straight down until bottom of bolster " hole " is even with bottom of barrel channel ....then start tryi g the barrel with plug attached .... Look straight down at breech and see if there is any gap o. Either side of barrel ,if so take off wood on that side bolster cavity , if no gaps both sides , ...put inlet black on plug and bottom of barrel . Keep checking for gaps , by looking g straight down on it , to know who h way barrel and plug have to go . The plug / barrel will slowly start going down after repeated treat ment . When you are putting g barrel in make sure you are tapping barrel down AND back toward breech by hitting the Muzzle of barrel , with wood of course . Soon youll start seeing the rounded section. Of the bolster coming into play . Only take out the black spots from the inlet black , no further ....repeat ... Extend you inleting lines from down below up , following curve but always stopping where black stops ! Dont not trace sides of tang . Now , hope the pic went on here ...after a bit youll start seek g the bottom of the tang is leaving black ,NOW you can trace the tang ! The rear of tang will always be short till near th end but stay inside the side line , just on the inside of line edge , gaps here look like $hit . Chisel in you tang out line and keep repeating it , always looking inside at bolster cavity too , there will be black in there too.remove all ... Tap down and back !! The barrel will be slowly going down now ....

 

[Rob M.]

And repeat and repeat and repeat .....

 

[WALT53]

The feeler holes , same size as holes for lug pins , finish nails ...and no regular space is necessary ...I usual drill about four and just wing it , just kinda space em.out evenly ... Its great to kerp track of that darn drill bit . make sure it dont go down ... When slabbing off the side , lock side ... The measurement was like .300 and something ...I used the calipers and uped it a tad to .400 and scribed it the length of the lock along the barrel , then used ruler to extend that line the length of the lock , already marked and a bit extra .... Now , down the barrel , lock forward its just haphazard no measurement needed ....I just used marker , about same distance as lock mark , and took it to the Muzzle ....when cutting I just keep saw blade out side of that marker line , when at lock mark I do try to be a bit more straight and accurate , just on outside of the line .... it leaves a tad extra ....take that extra off later ...

 

[Rob M.]

When the barrel is back to its bedded depth , its done .... Here's the black marks saying barrel is back to its original bed depth ....

 

[Rob M.]

@WALT53 And some folks leave the barrel at half depth full length , wood at half depth , many originals too , its just a personal thing . I saw Kens guns and he said he like to show a bit more barrel , makes em look thinner or some such ...just a bit different look is all . Leaving the barrel half down full length is just fine ....

 

[Rob M.]

Made the 3 barrel lugs ....

 

[Rob M.]

Layout , lug positions and RR pipe positions , mark stock and barrel ... X3 Lugs soldered on the barrel ....

 

[TDM]

Great work and progress @Rob M. !

 

[Rob M.]

Great work and progress @Rob M. !

Thanks bud . I .... I can't help myself ! I really want to have a NW trade gun ! funny thing is , and this ain't no BS ... Going back and forth with two guns really does help me ...I dont know if its an ADHD problem or what it is but I work on one , put it down , work on the other , then I get a hankering to go back to the other but only after I accomplish something , back and forth ....weird , LOL.... But it works! Both are coming g along well !

 

[WALT53]

Great work and progress @Rob M. !

What’s that old saying,goes like this jack of all trades master of none.lol
I like it when you have two buildsgoing at a time keeps us old buggers
excited and from being bored .I look for ward to reading Rob’s posts every day and im sure I’m not the only one who looks forward to them .
Plus they are educational and entertaining because he makes it look so easy and we are learning fun stuff.

 

[Rob M.]

What’s that old saying,goes like this jack of all trades master of none.lol
I like it when you have two buildsgoing at a time keeps us old buggers
excited and from being bored .I look for ward to reading Rob’s posts every day and im sure I’m not the only one who looks forward to them .
Plus they are educational and entertaining because he makes it look so easy and we are learning fun stuff.

Easy ?! I'm just making up this $#it as i go along !! LOL ! . I'm gonna take up stamp collecting !

 

[TDM]

Believe me, I know very well that it’s not easy, for me at least. But you give that illusion!

 

[Rob M.]

Believe me, I know very well that it’s not easy, for me at least. But you give that illusion!

LOL ! Oh , sometimes I'm throwing tools and some times I'm like " Huh , that went pretty well ....go figure " . No matter what ...its better than being in an office in the city ....and i get a trade gun at the end ! Every time !

 

[Rob M.]

Blacken lugs , put barrel in stock, make sure centered , , tap on top of barrel and take out barrel ....mark where lugs are , first set of lines . 1/8" and 1/4" chisels ... Remove wood u der black . re black and repeat .... keep removing g black where lug is as it goes deeper . Pip the Muzzle when tapping down , watch for gap at breech and tang. Gap kept reacurring on this one ! When base starts showing black second set of lines and remove black . Doesnt have to be pretty I letting work . Keep so king until barrel starts showing g black , barrel is back to bedded depth . Check your lines on side of stock with depth gauge and mark lug locations . Clamp barrel in stock tight make sure no gap at breech and tang , tap down. Clamp good . Center mark on wood just below barrel line . Drill pin holes , go slow ... Pin that sucker ...

 

[Shiloh]

This is one crappy piece of walnut ! I could never use it for a build for a customer but ....for cheap $hit me ?! and I hate to waste things , I'll make this into a NW gun for me . There will be a chuck of wood missing at the toe of the butt stock when its done , I'll graft in a piece , and a gawg awful knot above the comb area , I'm hoping most if not all is gone by the time I get to the comb , we'll see .... So much for building one gun at a time ! LOL !! ...A.D.D. is so strange !!

That is one angry looking knot. I hope the stock works out for you.

 

[Rob M.]

Strip yer lock down to plate , mark your T.H. position , at T.H. position mark stock , barrel out and drill a hole so you can see proposed T.H. position ... Take lock plate , line up pan to optimum T.H. / pan orientation and then draw around your lock bolster top and sides is all you can get to . Take off lock , measure bolster thickness , mark and scribe bottom line . Start inletting straight down . Lock can be adjusted or fine tuned a bit better after bolster is inlet . When close to barrel use sacrifice chisel , youll be hitting the barrel .