First build thread 45 cal flintlock

[WyomingWhitetail]

Well i started on my first build today. The general componets are a maple stock, 13/16x42x45cal green mountain barrel, a siler lock kit, a trigger kit from TOTW, a hawken trigger and buttplate in german silver. I was thinking of making a few small inlays, the nose cap, and maybe the ramrod pipes out of whitetail antler.

 

[Jason Lewis]

good luck! keep us posted and ask questions here when you are unsure of something.

 

[WyomingWhitetail]

Got my lock kit and my trigger kit from TOTW so thought i would throw up a couple of pics of them. I have got a lot of work ahead of me but im really excited to get to work on it. About all ive got done on it so far is started roughing out the trigger guard and buttplate. Ill keep posting as i start making more progress.

 

[WyomingWhitetail]

Well it was snowing out today and i had nothing better to do so i got out the file i made a 15/16 breech plug into a 13/16 breech plug. after about 3 hours of filing i get the top filed down flush with the barrel.The tang is still to wide so just as an experiment i filed the corners off to match the octagon of the barrel. Im debating about doing some more finish work on the corners and leaving it like this. I would then inlet the tang into the wood up to the bottom of the angle. This would leave the tang less that a 1/16 of an inch proud of the wood but the edges would be blended in.I think it might look ok and it would match my trigger gaurd. Or i might file it down to the right width. what do ya guys think. I also need to taper the tang lengthwise as its really thick down at the end.

 

[Erzulis boat]

I would eliminate the angled "sides" and go with a classic flush fitting tang IMO, and I get the desired tang curvature before filing........saves about 2 hours and fifty minutes! :grin:

No worries, the time spent is all good.

To add: Since you might not get a perfect curve, don't thin the tang (thickness, not width)as this gives you some meat to get the wrist and tang mated perfectly at final shaping IMO.

 

[Erzulis boat]

Is that stock pre-inlet for the lock?

No one buys a Siler lock kit to save money! :haha:

Anyway, you have your work cut out for you to a degree that you might not realize, but it can be done.

 

[WyomingWhitetail]

No the stock is not inlet for a lock yet and im definitely not going to save any money building the kit. But by the end of it i will know the lock inside and out and i got lots more time than cash right now. Still debating on the tang.

 

[Erzulis boat]

What just happened is you dipped your tang/barrel junction. Your tang has that profile because you started mating the two surfaces with a missed step. This can be fixed, but don't file any more metal from the tang. Tangs are cheap ($9.00) and you might want to start fresh with a new tang and index the dipped flat on the bottom (hidden). You are not there yet, but keep this in mind.

Your next move is to pull the tang (remove it) and get the barrel mated to the breech sans the tang. This should have been done first.

I will dig out some pics of this process-

 

[Erzulis boat]

Inletting the barrel sans a tang/breech asssembly- Nice bearing surface for the barrel, and easy to do.

Now the tang/breech assembly gets inlet, this is a Patent Breech build from years ago, but you get the idea. Pulling the tang is part of the process.

 

[Supercracker]

This is certainly going to turn out to be a dumb question but that has never stopped me before.

Is that a hole in your barrel just forward of the breech on the side flat?

 

[Erzulis boat]

This is certainly going to turn out to be a dumb question but that has never stopped me before.

Is that a hole in your barrel just forward of the breech on the side flat?

On my very first build, I just inlet the whole shebang at once, but have since learned there is a better way. With a swamped barrel, this step is even more time saving-

Not a hole, probably a spot of inletting black? That build was many years ago.

 

[WyomingWhitetail]

The barrel it's self is not dipped more than a few thousands I kept checking things with a straight edge. It looks really bad in the picture but it's just the lighting. What I think happened was that the farther down the tang the file was the easier the tang deflected causing the file to cut less at the far end which is what caused that end to be thicker. either way I think once I get it bent to match the stock and finished smooth it will be fine. Hopefully later this week I can get over to my friends house who is helping me build it and see if I get scolded lol.

 

[WyomingWhitetail]

ok so got over to my friends house yesterday and messed around for a few hours. I decided to flush mount the tang and got it filed to width. It has a very slight flare profile (more of swamp profile really wide at both ends and thin in the middle). Also got the hole drilled and tapped for the flash hole liner and got the barrel channel squared up.