34hrs build time:
Proceeding on past yesterday's screw up for the time being, last night I tackled the task of finishing the barrel and a few other odds and ends. I started by shoving a foam ear plug in the muzzle and breaking off a toothpick in the flash hole, after which I gave it a scrub down with hot soapy water followed by drying and a final wipe down with alcohol. I was careful to only handle the barrel with gloves after the soap and water bath. I placed the muzzle end in a large plastic dish and suspended the barrel vertically using a piece of .040 stainless wire looped through the tang. A healthy coat of Jax black was applied using a sponge and I allowed it to remain on the barrel for 3 minutes before dousing the barrel with several gallons of water to end the reaction. After drying the barrel was rubbed back with 0000 steel wool to produce the result shown below. After rubbing it back I again cleaned with alcohol and applied liberal amounts of barricade before setting the barrel aside. I have never had this good of luck using any other cold bluing products so I am a firm believer in Jax black and will use it again on future projects!
View attachment 193493
With the barrel finished I took care of a few other small tasks. I installed and pinned the ramrod end along with filing down the screw heads to fit the counter bores in the butt plate and barrel tang. I also slotted the barrel pin holes in the lugs and final trimmed the pins to the correct length.
All that remains this evening is for me to Jax black the ramrod pipes, install the sights, and put all the little pieces together!
Chris