Help with Hand Mortar build

[gof]

I posted this before the great server transfer of 05 but it seem to have been lost in the move.

I got a Handmortar kit from TRS and as a newbie builder, I have no idea where to start....

Here is what I have (does anyone know what the brass thingy in picture 15 is?)[url] http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/handmortar.htm[/url]

Thanks in advance!

GoF

 

[Itegorm]

The brass thingy in picture 15 is a trigger plate. Inlet it in the area of the trigger, the trigger will go through the slot in it and thread the front end of it (likely the blunt end) to accept the tang bolt.

 

[Zonie]

Before things got moved (and lost) I mentioned that the assembled gun in the photo seems to have a tang at the back of the barrel, but I didn't see anything that looked like a tanged breech plug in your photos.
Does the back end of your barrel have a large threaded hole in it? If it does, this would be for the breech plug/tang which looks like a large thread with a projection about 1/2 wide, 3/16 thick and 2 1/2 to 3 inches long sticking out of the back.

Anyway, where should you begin? After buying the book (s) you were thinking about getting which tell how to build a rifle, the first thing you will need to do is to seat the barrel in the stock channel. This will probably require removal of some wood at the back of the channel where the barrel will seat and this surface needs to be very flat and perpendicular to the center of the barrel.
Speaking of the barrel, the back end of it needs to be very flat and also perpendicular to the center of the barrel. If it is not machined, you will have to file it smooth, flat and perpendicular to the bore.
The reason for all of this is this interface will take the full recoil load when the gun is fired, so it should have full contact with the barrel.

The stockmakers usually make the barrel channel in the stock undersize so you can fit your barrel into it.

 

[blackbeard]

When you put up a picture on your website you should give credit to the person who built it. And John Bosh is who built it. I know this because i was the one who took that picture. He had it at a reeanactment i went to. Did John give you permission to use that picture? You should atleast give credit to him.
Thanks

 

[gof]

My mistake BlackBeard. But in your original post you said that John Bosh HAD a handmortar, you didn't say he built it.
So, not knowing you or John from Adam, I thought you were just making a statement as in "Track of the Wolf had a Queen Anne for sale".

Bad on me for not contacting you for the full story. Most of the things on my website are credited if it is known.

I'll take the photo down and extend a peace lily to you.

GoF

 

[gof]

My barrel has the breech plug and tang installed. Does this just screw off? Should I take it to fit barrel to stock?

Thanks

GoF

 

[blackbeard]

I just wanted to give John Bosh credit where credit was do. Maybe you should change the writing to tell who the mortor was made by.

i thought that it was implied that he built it, because no one asked who built it.

thanks

 

[Zonie]

I think everyone now knows that John Bosh made the weapon in the photo and also the alias of the photographer who took the picture. A nice picture it is, too.

Moving on, if you can remove the barrel tang without damaging the barrel, it would make inletting it into the stock much easier.
After the barrel is fully inlet into the wood, then you could install the breech plug/tang and work it down into the stock.
This tang area should have some "draft" on it. That is to say, it should have a slight taper inwards from the top surface down towards the centerline of the barrel.
This draft is helpful for getting a precision wood/metal fit and I would suggest that if the sides of the tang are not slightly tapered inward (if they are parallel), you should consider filing them so that they have this "draft angle".

 

[gof]

Its tapered from the front to back, but not from top to bottom.

Hmmmm.....

Any suggestions for getting the breech plug off the barrel?

GoF

 

[gof]

I took a good look at the tang and it is tapered top to bottom.

Any Ideas how to get the breech plug out?

GoF

 

[Mike Brooks]

A solid vice and a large wrench.