Formed nosecaps

[BP]

Any tips, tricks, etc. to cutting and hammering out a formed, one-piece nosecap (brass)?? Just thinking ahead...and considering my options.

 

[Roy]

Make an inside and outer mandrel from hard wood allowing enough of a gap between the two to hold the brass tightly. The inside mandrel should be the same size/shape as the muzzle area that is shaped on you stock.

you want to cut out your cap with this sort of shape...

the convex part will stick above the mandrel that you have made and will become the part that will fit around the barrel.

You need to anneal the brass several times... heat up red and quench in water. Form the sheet brass around the inner mandrel, slid the outer form over the piece and then put it in the vice and pinch it together so it will not move. Start to role the convex bit over the inner mandrel. Remember to stop and take it all apart and anneal it again. Keep at it untill it looks like a nose cap :grin:

You will have to then fit it to the stock and file it to fit the barrel :v

 

[Vaino]

Have made quite a few 2 piece muzzlecaps but never a formed one piece. Outside of Reading guns what other areas used a one piece MC? Comparing the process, which of the 2 is more difficult to make?....Fred

 

[Roy]

I started out making them all one piece, here lately I have been making them two piece. I had to basically make a new mandrel or alter one for every one piece that I made. If you do not count that they are about the same to make.

 

[BP]

Thanks! Other than making the mandrels, seems like it would be easier than a two-piece - don't have to do all the positioning and clamping for soldering......

 

[flintriflesmith]

Have made quite a few 2 piece muzzlecaps but never a formed one piece. Outside of Reading guns what other areas used a one piece MC? Comparing the process, which of the 2 is more difficult to make?....Fred

Many of the various "schools" of riflebuilding in Virginia use one piece caps.

Gary

 

[BP]

I thought I had read that somewhere and since I'm attempting something in the spirit of an "early virginia" style.......

 

[mazo kid]

Roy, thanks for sharing the tip on forming a one-piece nose cap; another tidbit of info to file away! Emery