Jimbo's Underhammer

[jimbo15563]

BS,

I sure appreciate your patience. Let's see if I understand this correctly. My barrel starts at 1.200" and tapers. Until it gets here, I won't have the exact diameter where the nipple goes, but let's use 1.195" as an example. 1.195 diameter minus .54 caliber equals .655". Dividing this by 2 equals .3275". This should be the distance from the outside flat to the bore.

That means both the nipples with 3/8" of thread (.375") and 7/16" of thread (.4375") would protrude into the bore, possibly interfering with cleaning jags, etc.

According to Bruce at Blue Grouse, the idea of the custom nipple was to get one that fitted exactly flush with the inside of the bore. In the example above, that would mean that the ideal thread length would be around .3275 - closer to 21/64".

Is this correct, or am I missing something?

Jimbo

 

[BS]

Yes, sticking into the bore is bad! It becomes very hard to remove.

But don't forget to add the thickness of the splatter cup bottom.

 

[walruskid1]

bs - what/who is totw? always interested in anything underhammer. someday i hope to afford a zepher.

 

[BS]

Track of the Wolf
web page for TOTW

 

[walruskid1]

thanks, went to the totw web site, damn i need more cash!

 

[dd832]

... someday i hope to afford a zepher.

I would sell you mine 20 bore zephyr, but then I'd have to kill myself. ...wait, did that come out right? Mike

 

[walruskid1]

... someday i hope to afford a zepher.

I would sell you mine 20 bore zephyr, but then I'd have to kill myself. ...wait, did that come out right? Mike

Mike, just leave it to me in your will, my wife says i'm mean enough to live forever. Dave

 

[faw3]

jimbo fred here, i tryed the old patent breech idea took care of my extra barrels problem, had riley smith of hamoocks make me a 50 cal 1 1/4 by 26 1 n 26 twist 8 and 1/2 pounds shoots as good as it looks,he has a way of squing the breach plug so it goes the same place everytime. took 5 weeks cost 200 and damn well worth it hes working my 62 cal now.happy shooting guy. :huh: :front:

 

[BS]

Just thinking of you..............while trying to find a load that shot well in my 54 with a 1-36 twist.......tried 4 different slugs and loads from 70 grains of FFF to 150 of FF...............and was getting disapointed......then I got out that small pc of barrel and swedged out some old 460 Buffalo Bullets and used what Goex's site reccomened for load...90 grains of FF...........and three shots 1 - 13/16s..............I had about given up on that short 25" barrel!

Three smacks of the mallet and the bullet swells out just fine!

So how are things looking?

Bruce

 

[jimbo15563]

Bruce and Fred,

Still waiting on the barrel from Ed Rayl - he said it would be ready sometime in September. I saw a nice combination of colors at this website:

Pacific Rifle Company

They build their Zephyrs with a case-hardened receiver, blued hammer, trigger, and triggerguard, and a browned barrel. There's a small color picture partway down the page and it looks very nicely done. I'm considering those finishing options and maybe adding some engraving to the receiver. Since I can't do anything else until the barrel gets here, I'm just reviewing all the details. The Zephyrs use musket caps and I'm wondering whether the extra fire would add anything to the performance or if it would just burn more "crud" into the breech. They certainly would be easier to handle.


I'm looking for an original H&A threaded tang sight, but they seem to be pretty scarce. Dave said he could make one if necessary.

I sold my Omega and will use the cash to pay Dave for the underhammer work. I'll use my flintlock for the early PA muzzleloader season since this one probably won't be ready. Hopefully, I'll have it in time for the regular rifle season in Dec.

Fred, I'm glad you got your barrel. I'm also going to get a .62 from Ed.

Jimbo

 

[jimbo15563]

This thread has shown some interest in Zephyrs. There's a guy in Pittsburgh who has one for sale.

Hello Jim,,,,,I bought this gun in Sept. of 1999... I believe they close down, and reopened since then,and i hear the quality is not the same as the old ones.... This gun has a 28 inch tappered barrel, 62.cal. 1-144 twist,,I had them case color the receiver, i have them up-grade the wood ,peephorn rear site,,,,and i also have a veriner peep site at the rear also,,,.The gun comes with a mold, and i have around 500 ?? balls that goes with this gun...I instaled a fiber optic front site, to see better, and have the original front site also,,, I have all the original paper work, the original box that it came in... I used this gun on one hunting trip for mule deer in Utah.. The only reason iam selling this gun is cause i cant see open sites any more.. Iam 52 ,and cant see far, and now i cant see close..... I havent shot this gun in 4 years, and it shoots very well , i could see then, You can adjust the vernier sites to hit at two hundred yards , no problem, I used to put sheet, or clay peigons at that range and break them, now i cant even see them... I have some pictures, that i can e-mail you if you want.. The gun is in exellent condition,, I want 1300.oo for it , nothing less, and no trades... If still interested, let me know, and i will give you my phone #, and we can talk. I have a shooting range 5 min from my house ,if you deceide to shoot it...

It was available as of Aug 17. If anybody is interested, PM me your email and I'll forward it to him. If I wasn't involved with this project, I'd jump on it.

Jimbo

 

[faw3]

jimbo i got to shoot the 1 1/4 50 cal today it was better than ill ever be, got it up to big loads and withthat 8 1/2 pound barrel no problem! i did have a problem with the hammer hitting the nipple because of the bigger barrel got a extra hammer from DC had it cut, bent, so it5 would hit flat (in case you hadnt thought of that, did you read the building DC rifle thread they said the same as ive been saying great barrel, it seems they had 3 barrels sent back out of well a bunch, and all of the complaints came off this site, intresting no ?.cant make everyone happy smith cut the breach plug so it looks like a cross from the back end, it slides right in lines up right every time the screws line up with the tips of the cross a lot better than the stock set up . dont worry about the DC parts,youll see they work just fine just find out for yourself.good shooting :front:

 

[walruskid1]

if anybody wants a numrich .45 heritage barrel, i have a take off from when i built my .50 buggy. bore good but rear dovetail is bad - needs to be recut or oversize rear sight used. has ribbed top surface. pm me for details dave

 

[faw3]

i wonder why 3 barrel makers didnt want to make a fast twist 54 wondering if this is why ? :front:

 

[gmww]

Hey Jimbo, any updates. Pictures? Range reports? I'd like to see what the case hardening looks like. I got my underhammer the other day and I'm waiting for my order to come in from Track the Wolf so I can brown it. Also, Bruce says he has a couple of options for me since I'd like to put on a shotgun barrel for turkey to quail.

 

[jimbo15563]

gmww,

I ordered the .54 fast twist conical barrel from Ed Rayl in June with an anticipated delivery date of September. To date, I haven't heard from him and will call him Monday.

In the meantime, I fell in love with the Zephyrs after shooting the one pictured below.

Pacific Rifle Co.

I'm probably going to make some changes to my original concept by going with a short forend, peephorn sight instead of a scope, ported barrel, and musket cap ignition. My second barrel will be a slow-twist .62 for shooting BIG PRB's.

Dave has picked out a beautiful curly maple blank and is ready to go when the barrel arrives. He's going to put it together "in the white" and then we'll shoot it to make sure everything is working properly before he does the finish. The receiver and buttplate will be case-hardened. The hammer, spring and trigger will be blued. The barrels will be either browned or blued.

I anticipate my "Zephyr Wannabe" will be ready in the spring. You can't rush "artistes".

Jimbo

 

[gmww]

:applause: Wow. I sure like the photos of the Zepher. I'm done with my sanding on the Blue Grouse. Waiting for my Cherry stain to come in from Track the Wolf. Is the case hardening hard to do? I saw that someone sells a product to case harden but it reads the small parts can be done using a small torch. The larger products need aceteline (sp?) and so on. I'm wondering if the receive is small enough for a propane torch to handle. Also where did you get that Tang sight!? I want one!!!!

Bruce wrote to me and he has several options for a fouler barrel. I might take him up on it. If your interested I can forward his suggestions.

Anyway, keep on posting updates and I need encouragement with this kit. I like it so far but I think you know the feeling.

GMWW

 

[recycle33952]

Hi jimbo followed your link from my post on the underhammer 4 bore im making. we are basically doing the same build exept for callibre. I called blue grouse a few times was not able to reach anyone, could be my timming lol.. I have a deer creek h&a style rifle in 45 it has some lock issues where it was not fully hitting the primer cap. it was fixed with about 15 minutes of work by a friend of mine. my barrel will be breeched for this action and breech plug exactly it seems a very easy build to me,. I will watch your build as it goes along sofar it's looking pretty good. me I gotta wait till feb untill my barrels done not a biggie thats the way it goes for custom orders and to be expected. Although I opted for smooth bore so it dont kick my brains out as bad. You will enjoy your underhammer and bruce at blue grouse seems to have alot of people who recomend him highly and thats enough for me. Best of luck on your build I cant wait to see your finished stock

 

[big bore 75]

I did not realize that the underhammer barrels were able to come out of the action untill I read up on jimbo's rather large thred, and now it has captivated me too, Jimbo Now in p.o.ed now I have I'm going to have to do overtime ,now I want one too but will havee to wait till next year. I personally cannot wait till you shoot it. bb75

 

[gmww]

Hi Jimbo. It's been a couple of months now so I'm wondering how the Underhammer is doing? I've shot my .50 and .45 barrels. Both work well but I'm still developing/breaking in the barrel.

For me the maxi-ball in .45 seems to do well in the 1:66" twist.