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Just kinda wanted to reiterate ... I said you bed the barrel starting from the breech and go forward WELL .....hours now and I'm still working g at the muzzle end ! So ... working g from the breech forward I guess is in a perfect world. LOL ....What is happening here and happens often esp . when doing this with hand tools , is the channel is not perfectly straight and its throwing the barrel off the center line so .... What I'm trying like help to do is get the barrel not only centered , as best as I can , but with no gaps so what I do is blacken the bottom of the barrel hold it off the way I need it to go , tap down and then remove the barrel and look for the black marks in the direction it needs to go .Many timed there are black marks you do not want to remove , you dont want it going that way so ....you just keep going this way until it all straightens out and the barrel gets started down , in the direct you want it to be and no gaps on the sides , fighting that now , very slow going . Now ...once the barrel is done check your center line .The barrel dictates the build and the center line , check center line and remark it according to the barrel if necessary once the barrel is all done and bedded completely .
 

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For those watching this. or who may attempt to build their own in the future ... you cannot realize just how much bonus and benefit a fully 'tapered octagonal breech section' adds to the handling, weight (as in 'less') and overall profile of such a build. I sure wish I knew of this when I built my 1st smoothie kit! As BEWARE that basic kits you see offered for smoothies typically have a straight profile octagonal breech section, as typically the barrel is milled octagon, then turned round from the wedding band transition and forward (which may or may not have a good taper continuing to the muzzle).

The tapered breech makes the gun lighter, more handy where YOU hold it and with a good taper continuing to the muzzle, it makes it LIGHT! Just think of it, Rob makes a 48" barrel 62-cal smoothie weighing in at 6-pounds or less! Downstairs I have a Centermark French Fusil de Chasse (storing for a friend whilst he works out wifey issues ... ), also in 62-cal, that weighs almost 8-pounds with a lowly, shorter 42" barrel! That shows you what a good tapering job can do for you. Oh, and that same Centermark sells their FdC in 54-cal, but they use the SAME barrel blank ... and that weighs in at almost 9-pounds!

I sure hope you all appreciate Rob's work! Besides his talent, of which he is incredibly humble about, what he also accomplishes through sheer determination is impressive to watch/view and a total HOOT to read on here! To take this round blank from this ...

5A48CD5C-9D49-4DB5-AD01-A496CEA05BF4.jpeg


... to this fully tapered breech by hand grinding and filing?

9A85B0D8-E30E-46CC-94FA-5AB228B754EA.jpeg


Freakin' amazeballs to me!
 
Flint62Smoothie said:
For those watching this. or who may attempt to build their own in the future ... you cannot realize just how much bonus and benefit a fully 'tapered octagonal breech section' adds to the handling, weight (as in 'less') and overall profile of such a build. I sure wish I knew of this when I built my 1st smoothie kit! As BEWARE that basic kits you see offered for smoothies typically have a straight profile octagonal breech section, as typically the barrel is milled octagon, then turned round from the wedding band transition and forward (which may or may not have a good taper continuing to the muzzle).

The tapered breech makes the gun lighter, more handy where YOU hold it and with a good taper continuing to the muzzle, it makes it LIGHT! Just think of it, Rob makes a 48" barrel 62-cal smoothie weighing in at 6-pounds or less! Downstairs I have a Centermark French Fusil de Chasse (storing for a friend whilst he works out wifey issues ... ), also in 62-cal, that weighs almost 8-pounds with a lowly, shorter 42" barrel! That shows you what a good tapering job can do for you. Oh, and that same Centermark sells their FdC in 54-cal, but they use the SAME barrel blank ... and that weighs in at almost 9-pounds!

I sure hope you all appreciate Rob's work! Besides his talent, of which he is incredibly humble about, what he also accomplishes through sheer determination is impressive to watch/view and a total HOOT to read on here! To take this round blank from this ...

View attachment 231720

... to this fully tapered breech by hand grinding and filing?

View attachment 231721

Freakin' amazeballs to me!
Click to expand...
You know yer stuff bud . Very kind words from you . Thank you , your very kind . I'm no Hershel House , one of my building hero's , but I sure strive for authenticity . They really knew what they were doing back in the day . A weird observation but .... it seems most folks dont even know that fowlers , esp. trade guns , were made so light and they were so well balanced too . Two reasons , Im speculating .... first the vast majority of folks have never picked up an original fowler or trade gun in their life , there are so few surviving examples and the few that are still in existence are under glass . I handled one original Wilson trade gun with a 48" barrel and it made my guns feel heavy ....I could have held it out and fired it one handed without shaking . Thats no BS . The second reason is the majority of reproductions that are made today and in the last 30 years , are heavy as you stated . Ive handled 8-10 pound fowlers and trade guns before . Very heavy , clumsy and muzzle heavy . The barrels are always too thick . I ve taken dimensions from original barrel and Ken turns the barrels down to my dimensions then I put the flats on ....and not straight 13" flats either . Man , that looks ignorant .... English and French trade guns had certain measurements they adhered to on their barrel .
 
For folks that want to make their own guns or rifle . Bedding the barrel by hand , its a b!+#% . ..its long and drawn out P.I.T.A. but if you can get this part , this process done ...you ve accomplished something ... Even if it ain't great and it has gaps whatever your on your way .. Ive my buddy Larry Corday talk about his buddy that inlet all his barrels for him ....said the guy used a tablevsaw to do it , how I have no idea .... Others ive heard they use a router to do it . Ive never seen that done in real life but ive seen pics . I still dont understand how but I'm.sure a carpenter or a wood worker could help you out even if its just a primary channel to get you started then bed the rest by hand . The whole process is a slow pain by hand but its the slowest part of the build . Just take ur time and know its gonna go slow . This one drug out a bit , ive had a lot of other things going on during this bed so its drug out over many days but I have just under 15 hours in it . Its good to be able to have a place where you can work on it a couple hours and let it sit for couple days then come back to it and work on it a couple more ....ya keep that up it'll get done ....but it is monotonous ! Funny thing ....reading the height at the Breech ....the last 1/8" (.125 ) is the LONGEST drawn out work of the bedding process !! LOL !!
 
Rob M. said:
For folks that want to make their own guns or rifle . Bedding the barrel by hand , its a b!+#% . ..its long and drawn out P.I.T.A. but if you can get this part , this process done ...you ve accomplished something ... Even if it ain't great and it has gaps whatever your on your way .. Ive my buddy Larry Corday talk about his buddy that inlet all his barrels for him ....said the guy used a tablevsaw to do it , how I have no idea .... Others ive heard they use a router to do it . Ive never seen that done in real life but ive seen pics . I still dont understand how but I'm.sure a carpenter or a wood worker could help you out even if its just a primary channel to get you started then bed the rest by hand . The whole process is a slow pain by hand but its the slowest part of the build . Just take ur time and know its gonna go slow . This one drug out a bit , ive had a lot of other things going on during this bed so its drug out over many days but I have just under 15 hours in it . Its good to be able to have a place where you can work on it a couple hours and let it sit for couple days then come back to it and work on it a couple more ....ya keep that up it'll get done ....but it is monotonous ! Funny thing ....reading the height at the Breech ....the last 1/8" (.125 ) is the LONGEST drawn out work of the bedding process !! LOL !!
Click to expand...
I use a set of steel rails screwed down that flex to the shape of the swamped barrel, then a saw to start the sides. This is how Mark Silver does it. The rest is exactly how you did it, elbow grease, gouges, chisels, inletting black and a lot of time.
 
Jack Coray said:
I use a set of steel rails screwed down that flex to the shape of the swamped barrel, then a saw to start the sides. This is how Mark Silver does it. The rest is exactly how you did it, elbow grease, gouges, chisels, inletting black and a lot of time.
Click to expand...
Very cool bud . Love to see you do one
 
If you ever get a chance to see an original gun with the barrel removed. Their not done anywhere as nice as Rob does them. The middle section is hogged out with only the breech and muzzle done with any sort of precision...
 
Jack Coray said:
I use a set of steel rails screwed down that flex to the shape of the swamped barrel, then a saw to start the sides. This is how Mark Silver does it. The rest is exactly how you did it, elbow grease, gouges, chisels, inletting black and a lot of time.
Click to expand...
Im not crazy about doing the bedding and inletting in a modern way but it kinda intrigues me . If I could get a way to inlet the barrel and lock quickly so I could make a more affordable NW for folks I'd seriously consider doing it . But ....those pre inlet stocks are flippin expensive !! I might as well keep doing it the way I am now ! Sure wouldnt be any cheaper .... Wish I could find a way then I could offer a modern made stock and a traditional built style stock . Oh well ...one can dream .
 

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