Had a guy wanting to build his own scratch m/l longrifle. The first day , he did pretty well for his first attempt at inletting the lock. Only the amusing thing was the amount of paste inletting black on his hands , clothes and face and of course the stock.
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First build: Sitting Fox Squirel Rifle
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old ugly
40 Cal.
the dove tail.
the first thing is the location, make that decision.
i use my digital calipers to determine the thickness and length of the sight or underlug. then i mark on the barrel the shortest/upper part of the dovetail LESS about 1/16" (room to work into the correct length). you can carefully cut little sections within those marks with a hacksaw then file them OR remove the all that metal with a file. If you use the hacksaw be very careful it is easy to go to deep. and its easy to go off of level. go slow, this first part of filing the dovetail is really important. it must be level with the plane of the breachplug and it must be the same depth front to rear. i lay a tiny straight edge across the bottom of the dovetail as im working on it and sight it down the barrel to insure it is level. i use the digital calipers to measure the depth front to rear, don't file deeper than the sight's base's thickness.
you now need a small safe three cornered file, (a three corner file with one side smooth). you can buy one or you can grind the teeth of of one side but don't try filing the corners until you have the correct file.
so at this point you should have a square slot filed in your barrel that is shorter than you need and just about the correct depth.
with you three corner file safe side down start filing the ends of the dovetail slot. work slowly removing metal from both ends until you are close. NOW. check that sight, in the slot, from both sides because for me i know i can't file exactly straight and you don't want to tap the sight in from one side and it fall out the other.
once you have the sight fitted so it will tap in about 3/8 of the way you are probably done, it should tap in tightly the rest of the way with a brass drift, if not just the tiniest amount of file strokes until it can be driven in
ou
tom
the first thing is the location, make that decision.
i use my digital calipers to determine the thickness and length of the sight or underlug. then i mark on the barrel the shortest/upper part of the dovetail LESS about 1/16" (room to work into the correct length). you can carefully cut little sections within those marks with a hacksaw then file them OR remove the all that metal with a file. If you use the hacksaw be very careful it is easy to go to deep. and its easy to go off of level. go slow, this first part of filing the dovetail is really important. it must be level with the plane of the breachplug and it must be the same depth front to rear. i lay a tiny straight edge across the bottom of the dovetail as im working on it and sight it down the barrel to insure it is level. i use the digital calipers to measure the depth front to rear, don't file deeper than the sight's base's thickness.
you now need a small safe three cornered file, (a three corner file with one side smooth). you can buy one or you can grind the teeth of of one side but don't try filing the corners until you have the correct file.
so at this point you should have a square slot filed in your barrel that is shorter than you need and just about the correct depth.
with you three corner file safe side down start filing the ends of the dovetail slot. work slowly removing metal from both ends until you are close. NOW. check that sight, in the slot, from both sides because for me i know i can't file exactly straight and you don't want to tap the sight in from one side and it fall out the other.
once you have the sight fitted so it will tap in about 3/8 of the way you are probably done, it should tap in tightly the rest of the way with a brass drift, if not just the tiniest amount of file strokes until it can be driven in
ou
tom
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Thanks for the tips, old guy. Did the underlings a while ago. Hopefully the lessons there help with the sights
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Got up the courage to drill the tang bolt today. Went amazingly well. Smidge off center but I can live with it. Not like I have a choice now. Also went a bit too deep on my lock inlet.
Only thing left is drill the rear trigger guard crew hole, trigger guard pin holes, and the ramrod pipe pin holes, install the sights, shape up the stock and finish it all up.
Only thing left is drill the rear trigger guard crew hole, trigger guard pin holes, and the ramrod pipe pin holes, install the sights, shape up the stock and finish it all up.
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Got the trigger bar completely installed. Hammer drops! And, the trigger isn't horrid! Could be better but that's for a different day
old ugly
40 Cal.
shooting soon
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Still some stock shaping to do. Hopefully get it done this month.
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Before bed the other night I decided to drill me a joke for a ramrod pipe pin. Should have waited till I wasn't on a time crunch. Made some mental ****oo's and drilled the hole crooked but not all the way through the stock. Should I....A. live with it? B. Fill the hole with some scrap and give it another go next to it? I'm leaning toward B.
old ugly
40 Cal.
a picture to see what the mistake is? is it the hole for the pin that is crocked?
ive done that a couple of times. the drill bit walking off of centre line. for me it happened when i tried to drill the stock and thimble in one go and not paying attention to the fact the bit wasn't cutting properly, slid on the thimble lug a bit when it hit it.
i have left them on mine. i didn't want to have a visible repaired mistake. the off centre hole was only noticeable from side to side if you really did a close comparison.
ive done that a couple of times. the drill bit walking off of centre line. for me it happened when i tried to drill the stock and thimble in one go and not paying attention to the fact the bit wasn't cutting properly, slid on the thimble lug a bit when it hit it.
i have left them on mine. i didn't want to have a visible repaired mistake. the off centre hole was only noticeable from side to side if you really did a close comparison.
How about fill the hole and drill from the other side or through the plug?
No sign if you get it right
No sign if you get it right
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I'll get one up tomorrow. I think what happened is I just didn't have the barrel flat up against my makeshift fence on my drill press and the rifle was just rotated a bit. I basically didn't measure twice and cut once.
I was pretty irritated and just put it down till my next days off.
That is what toothpicks are for, they make dandy errant pin hole fillers for the next try, I put them in with superglue, they hardly show on the finished gun.
I don't think I have made a gun without at least one toothpick in the stock somewhere.
I don't think I have made a gun without at least one toothpick in the stock somewhere.
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All the major components are fit. Now to wood shaping and fixing a few ****oo's here and there. Very excited to be at this stage. All the inletting was driving me insane 
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old ugly
40 Cal.
i drilled a crocked hole like that before, not quite that far off, it bothered me for a while but after i used the gun for a while the worry went away and the gun was lots of fun. the next hole you drill will be straighter.
ou
tom
ou
tom
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Ya 2nd one was perfect!
Got the stock pretty much shapped. Went a lot faster than expected.
I had originally planned this to have no butt plate. Then thought it would be neat to add a flat metal butt plate on it. Either way...Scratching my head about the best way to get the crescent shape into the butt stock. I was thinking just scribe the crescent and rasp down to the line toward the center of the stock to prevent tear out. I don't have the right saw and would probably mess up the cut anyway. Any thoughts?
Got the stock pretty much shapped. Went a lot faster than expected.
I had originally planned this to have no butt plate. Then thought it would be neat to add a flat metal butt plate on it. Either way...Scratching my head about the best way to get the crescent shape into the butt stock. I was thinking just scribe the crescent and rasp down to the line toward the center of the stock to prevent tear out. I don't have the right saw and would probably mess up the cut anyway. Any thoughts?
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I switched to prussian blue awhile ago and never looked back. Much easier clean-up than inletting black. A small tube goes a looooog way!!
Rasp then file then paper.
Then boil a bit of horn and hold it tight till it cools and conforms!!! Almost no weight and looks cool as!
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