First blank build

[Larry (Omaha)]

The barrel channel maybe not so much. But the ramrod channel on a fusil with a barrel longer than 48" is going to make it tough to find a drill bit that long. And here I'm admitting that I don't know how to make one in my meagre shop. My guess is that it would take some welding skills I don't have, and some equipment that might be as expensive as the barrel, itself.

I am not a welder by trade. With my first blank rifle I purchased a 5/16" diameter rod. All I did was file the end like a spade bit. I used my father's brace to power the new drill bit. Granted, there is very little room for wood chips so very frequent clean out is imperative. On another rifle I needed a larger diameter drill, so I just took the cutting torch and brazed a new drill bit onto the end of a chunk of cold rolled round. If you lay the drill bit and cold rolled on an angle iron inside corner they will line up. Alignment of course is the key here. Worked for me.
Larry

 

[Cruzatte]

I am not a welder by trade. With my first blank rifle I purchased a 5/16" diameter rod. All I did was file the end like a spade bit. I used my father's brace to power the new drill bit. Granted, there is very little room for wood chips so very frequent clean out is imperative. On another rifle I needed a larger diameter drill, so I just took the cutting torch and brazed a new drill bit onto the end of a chunk of cold rolled round. If you lay the drill bit and cold rolled on an angle iron inside corner they will line up. Alignment of course is the key here. Worked for me.
Larry

Yeah, I thought of most of that. It's the brazing part I have no experience with.

 

[billraby]

I have heard of some people using a angle grinder with a wod carving disk to shape the stock. Is it worth it

Really, really bad idea!

 

[SwanShot]

it would work but just like a dremel it would not take long to ruin things if you loose focus.

I have used these angle grinder thingies when making stocks for those other things. They are fantastic for removing waste material fast. Too fast. Sean is right, it is just too easy to rip off more than you intended. stick with rasps, spoke shaves. and planes.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

Here's a free tutorial written by Mike Brooks:
https://americanlongrifles.org/PDF/tutorial.pdf

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

My build along. Barrel channel and ramrod cut in the shop. It's not difficult but the barrel channel is time consuming.

Thread 'Moravian inspired build' Moravian inspired build

 

[oldwood]

Don't think I would use something as violent as an angle grinder . Little to no control there. If you like screwing around w/Epoxie glue and sizable chunks of replacement wood , use an angle grinder. I'm assuming you chose a nice pc. of wood , like most nubees do , try to not destroy it w/ "time saving" tools not meant for rifle building. Building from a blank of wood , can be done easily , using band saw, Surform files , then cabinet rasps to clean up the coarse marks left by Surform rasps. Kinda like the same principle as using sandpaper coarse to fine grits. If you got the right tools , the job is easy. I'm guilty of using a die grinder , and dremel tool , to install butt plates ,but only after doing it 50+ times ,or more. .........oldwood

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

This is shaped with an angle grinder.

 

[oldwood]

Congrats ,Mr. Comfortable..........U done good.

 

[tenngun]

Get on to Rumble and subscribe to Bill Raby channel.
I learned more about gun building watching his vids then thirty years of building on my own

 

[waksupi]

I have heard of some people using a angle grinder with a wod carving disk to shape the stock. Is it worth itu sti,l lnedd to really pay at

Too aggressive. When starting from a plank, I do use a power planer to remove a lot of wood, but you still need to really pay attention to what you are doing.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Really, really bad idea!

Ha ha, ( I agree!!) I have an 80 year old friend who has made fine rifles in the hundreds since the 60s. He uses a hatchet and a sometimes has used a router free hand. He tells me: Just take off what ya don't want. He is amazing!
Larry

 

[cannonball1]

Sounds like you have plenty of advise and I'll add this, you better have a lot of patience. I have a friend who was reasonable handy and wanted to try his ability to make a gun along with me. He was to impatient, took to much wood off, ground to much of the metal off where the breech and tang hook. Thirty years now and his project is still in the basement unfinished and never will be. Inletting black is your friend, but takes time. I like the blank because you don't need to be careful with it until shaped. I route the channel to the smallest dimension, then hand fit with the inletting tools, drill the ramrod hole with the lockside up which usually has meant most wander follows gravity and is away from the lock, but not always the case. I drill a 1/16" hole every 4 to 6 inch in the middle of the bottom flat of the barrel channel to see if it is wandering and have a undersize 12 inch drill bit to get it on track again should that be happening. My shaping and inletting is a bit un-orthodox so no sense in confusing the issue.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

I might shape my next stock with my chainsaw lol!

 

[Col. Batguano]

You have lots of good advice so far on HOW to proceed, but to proceed to a rifle that fits YOU the best hasn't been offered yet.

Since you have other ML'ers, and assuming your style has been chosen I suggest you use one of them to find out the following (in the clothing you will be shooting in);

1.) How far in front of the butt does your cheek land when you're mounting the rifle in the position you will most often shoot it? ( In the butt plate style you're going to use.)
2.) How far below the sight line does your cheek have to be for your eye to naturally align them? These 2 measurements are used to determine your drop at the comb. From there you can go to determine the additional drop you're going to need to get your drop to the butt plate.
3.) How far off the centerline does your cheek have to be for your face have to be for it to be upright when it engages the stock? This determines your cast-off.
4.) When you get fully in to position, does the gun have any appreciable cant or twist to it one way or another? Measure it. That will determine your toe-in or toe out.
5.) Lastly, in a comfortable position, measure what is most comfortable for you to reach the trigger. Most people with a very light trigger are more comfortable with a slightly straighter trigger finger engagement (better fine movement control) and engaging it closer to the tip and longer LOP than they are with a heavier trigger where they prefer a more bent trigger finger, and engagement more in the middle of the pad. This will determine your overall length of pull.

With rifles, because they are mounted and aimed more deliberately rather than mounted quickly and pointed like shotguns are, most shooters are able to adapt to "non perfectly fitting" guns much better than they are with shotguns, where you might only have 2-3 seconds to mount, point, lead, and shoot.

All this ought to be done as you are laying out your blank for your band saw cuts, but BEFORE the saw goes to work.

Take your time with these measurements. Do them quite a few times. Position is important as well. If the gun is intended primarily as a prone position gun the measurements are going to be different than they are for a standing position gun.

 

[Flintandsteel]

There is NO quick way to build a long rifle from a blank. Get rid of angle grinders, Dremel tools, etc., and use conventional hand tools like the originals.
If you want to build a gun like the originals, use the original tools.
I’m not a total purist, but I believe that to get the ”feel” of a gun, you gotta put your hands on it.
These are plank builds, the only power tools used, are a battery drill for pins.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I bandsaw off the corners on a plank and do the rest with a #49 Nicholson rasp, I can do some serious wood removal in a short period of time.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Flintandsteel;

Those are the best executions of Moll and Rupp guns I've seen here in the last 10 years. That double radius wrist is exceedingly tricky to make the whole gun "flow" through that area. Most builders wind up taking too much material away under the TG, which results in somewhat of a "clunky" look. Or they make the curve too deep in the butt area, which results in the same thing. You spend a lot of time studying that before you ever picked up a tool, and it shows.

Bravo!

 

[Flintandsteel]

Col,
My first couple were not very good. Allen Martin tried his best to straighten me out. These are the results.
The carved one, is my grandson’s rifle. Weighs about 6 lbs. Very difficult to transfer all those intricacies from a full size gun to a REALLY little one.

So sorry, did NOT mean to take over this thread!!!

 

[Vaino]

I used a Dremel w/ the small grinding wheels and also the cutters every so often when building.....much faster than some other tools. The main reason for the Dremel's bad reputation is that grinding wheel or cutter rotation "climbs" the mat'l and grabs. Was in the toolroom and w/ the older milling machines and never climb milled....just asking for trouble.....Fred