Matchlock mechanism drawings, anybody?

[RAEDWALD]

I have tracked down Volumes 1&3 of the Manuel de Pyrotechnie à l'usage de l'Artillerie de la Marine 1882 to go with my 1880 Volume 2. In that it (amongst so many useful things) is a recipe for 'papier amadou' which is to make paper act as amadou tinder for fuses. 20 parts of lead acetate to 1 part saltpetre in 100 parts of water. Boil the paper for 15 minutes in the solution, roll and dry as fuse.

So there is another possibility. Being a cannon fuse it may burn faster than one wants for a matchcord but it gives us a clue with which to experiment if one wished. I might use it to treat fungus tinder to see if it will burn differently. The lead acetate may retard burning and ash production. As it happens I made some lead acetate last winter, as one does...

It is interesting to note that pieces of amadou tinder fungus are still being quoted as ingredients in 1882 fuse use. Principally to tip a port fire so that only a glowing tip is presented to the fuse with no open flame or spitting spark.

 

[Pukka Bundook]

I'll be very interested to know how it works with the fungus, John.
Said fungus burns hot as very well without any treatment, but if the lead acetate slowed it down, so much the better!

(Tried some such fungus a while ago in an Indian Toradar, and even found 1F as priming to burn just as fast as 4F)

 

[CapnJack]

Used 4F powder in the pan Thursday. Reliability was 98%, two shots were slow to ignite. Accuracy was a lot better too. Progressive Bifocals started causing trouble off of the bench at 25 yrds and things were getting fuzzy.
I think I'll buy a cheap pair of single vision. Either that, or quit drinking coffee before I shoot.

 

[Cpl. Ashencheeks]

Something I have worked on for far too long.
Sorry about the blurriness of the photos; the camera I am using has been temperamental lately.
I have to admit that this particular lock does have some design issues, but with minor tweaking it should present a serviceable lock.

This is a wooden prototype that does work but a few change will need to made on the metal one.

Here are the metal parts used for the lock.

Here it is assembled, but changes will be made later because this configuration has some problems.

Here is the slow going partially assembled rifle build these parts belong to for the time being.

Also here is some hemp slow match cord I made for it using potassium nitrate.

After soaking the cord in a ziplock bag of saltpeter solution they were dried flat on a metal rack turning at even intervals in a hot sun. The twisted cord is quicker to make, but can spread apart after flash. I made the braided cord using a 4 plated spiral top braid, it performs better by keeping a uniformly tight coal but takes a considerable amount of time to make a good length of it. They both burn at about 3 minutes per inch. Decent, but not quite like the match cord of the old days that could I believe could get about 1 foot per hour from what I read in historical texts.

 

[CapnJack]

While waiting for parts for my rifle build, I've been fine tuning the Matchlock. I made a new rear, (peep) sight and I made new barrel retaining pins. I liked the looks of the ones I've seen that are threaded into a button on either side of the forearm, so I made some.

First, I over drilled the existing holes in the stock, 3/16" down with a 3/8" Forstner drill bit. That was a trick to do.Then I threaded the rods on each end. The buttons were fairly easy. After drilling and tapping an aluminum rod on the lathe, I turned it down to fit the new holes, cut off 6 , 1/4" wide buttons and slotted one side with a hacksaw, so they could be tightened with a, "Tamper Proof" screw driver tip.

After reinstalling the barrel, I tightened the buttons down until they were tight and then filed off any material sticking out. As I was filing away, I had to keep renewing the slot with a hack saw.

When finished I re-stained anywhere I had buggered up the finish.

 

[CapnJack]

Couldn't stand not tinkering...PhotoShoped a Dragon to fit the side plate, etched it on and then filled the etching with Aluma-black.