Frankenstein Pistol

[Cowboy]

I was given two free BP pistols when I bought a Sharon Trade Rifle. The first pistol was a Pepperbox in which I posted it in the pistol section of the forum. This is the second pistol that was given to me. It is a .32 cal. ( I Think? ). I measured the bore with my calipers. It is not a production pistol but has some production parts on it. The pistol was in pretty rough shape when I got it with alot of surface rust. The nipple was rusted into the Powder Drum and could not get it out. I ended up placing the barrel in a small bucket of Acetone and Transmission fluid and let it sit for about a week. Put the barrel in a padded vice and was able to finally remove the nipple with a pair of vicegrips. To my surprice the threads in the powder drum were in great shape. I scrubbed the bore with a bore brush and 0000 steelwool. Bore was not pitted but did have some surface rust in it. To my surprise I looked on the bottom flat on the barrel and found it was marked " 22 Long Rifle" Someone had used a .22 LR barrel and had it bored out to a .32 cal. with lands and grooves. Looks like a pretty good job in all. The hammer looks homemade. The Lock would not stay cocked so I made a new sear spring for the sear so it would catch in the tumbler notches and that seemed to fix the problem. The main spring is definately homemade but drops the hammer with pretty good force. Put about 8 hours into cleaning it up and getting it to function properly. Finally replaced the nipple and popped about 4 caps with it. I think she is finally ready to be fired. Have to get me some balls for it. Would like some advice on ball size and powder load? Here are some pics. of my Frankenstein pistol. Respectfully, cowboys1062.

 

[Cowboy]

 

[Cowboy]

 

[theoldredneck]

I like the way it looks. Want to hear how it shoots

 

[MSW]

looks kinda cool - I like it!

 

[Nativearizonan]

Sweet looking little pistol. It looks like "Buck" whoever he was, was quite handy.

Have you tried seeing if a 00 buckshot would roll down the barrel? That might give you a starting point, or you could just stick bullets (still in their cases) of known diameter, like 8mm, .30 caliber, .338, or .357 in the bore to get a rough idea. Of course pulling the breech plug and driving a slug down the barrel would tell you exactly what diameter the bore is.

 

[M. De Land]

Looks like a home made gun, even the lock. Probably a section of rifle barrel would be my guess.
I've made two very similar from spare rifle parts left over from other projects.
They shoot fine with a patched ball even though the twist is slow for a hand gun.