My Traditions Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log

[wiscoaster]

Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log #1

Like another hole in my head I need yet another black powder pistol, but I got one anyway, as a kind of a Thanksgiving "make-work" project: a Traditions .50 caliber Trapper flintlock pistol:

The parts all look really good. I'm particularly impressed that all the brass is very nearly finished, very much unlike a Pedersoli kit. Also, this barrel isn't going to need any dry-filing. A light sanding will do. The barrel and lock fitments look really very good. The tang sits very deep and much wood will need to be removed. Since my experience of a near-disaster with my previous Traditions Kentucky pistol kit's trigger guard, I gave that a closer inspection, and it looks like I'm dealing with the same problem with this kit:

Oh well, this time I know how to deal with it.

The barrel did turn out to need a little filing, just on the breech end of the top flat, where it doesn't quit align with its tang:

I really have no idea of whether there's supposed to be that much offset, but what the heck, it's my pistol, I don't like it, and I'm fixing it.

So, within two hours of opening the box, the first application of Laurel Mountain Forge had already been completed, and like, wow!! I don't know why, but it's browning MUCH faster than anything I've tried it on before. After only 15 minutes:

We'll see how it looks after its first scaling, but I'm guessing two applications might do it. At this rate, I might be done by Thanksgiving, and looking for another project.

 

[wiscoaster]

Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log #2

After steel-wool carding the barrel is looking really nice. I don't want a barrel as dark as on my Kentucky, so I'm thinking maybe one more application of LMF will do it:

Meanwhile, I'm prepping the barrel channel for barrel dry-fitting, and discover, oh no!! a crack:

I'm thinking this crack pre-existed milling because it runs right through a cutout. I'm planning to stop-drill it and glue it. But after stop-drilling where I think the end is, wedging the cutout to spread the crack shows it runs right into the next cutout.

Once again, Starbond to the rescue!! It saved me once before with a stock crack, and so it's put to work here again so I can get on with it:

 

[wiscoaster]

Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log #3

While waiting for the crack glue to cure, I found something else to work on. I had noticed that the triggers were kind of gritty and also that the trigger plate didn't fit into its inlet, by a wide margin. Looking closely at the trigger plate, I saw that it was pretty rough, and the casting sprues hadn't been completely filed off, not to mention the usual burrs and stuff all around. It was too hard to address that with the trigger parts in place, so I just disassembled the thing, after which the plate can be worked until I'm happy with it, and then rust browned.

It should be noted that the plate easily dropped right into its inlet after working on it.

 

[wiscoaster]

Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log #4

Next is dry-fitting the tang. The tang in this type of barrel design takes the recoil force, so it needs to be nice and tight against the wood. It's not. Yet:

First of all, the inside corners of the inlet were obviously rounded. So the first thing done was to square them up as best as possible. Then a Sharpie was used to apply some transfer marking to the tang, it was fitted and removed, and the places needing work were obvious:

Also, the casting roughness, including a couple parting lines (note dark line in above pics), were filed out. Tang fits much better now:

Though ... truth be told, maybe I did cheat just a little bit ... by rounding off the corners?

Nah.

 

[wiscoaster]

Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log #5

I changed course on the trigger plate. The LMF browning was working very slowly - probably a different metal than the fast barrel - but I wanted to get on with it, and so decided to blue it instead. Triggers also. It was black (painted) to start with, anyway. Polished the trigger bars and reinstalled the parts. The primary trigger spring was a real pain. I think the trick is to get the spring engaged before pushing the trigger pin through. Anyway, the trigger group is now done, it runs smooth as snot, and it drops neatly into its inlet. (There's actually some slack on both ends, giving me some leeway to line up with the tang bolt and/or the trigger guard.)

 

[64Springer]

A build log wouldn't be a build log without splitting the wood through the ramrod channel.

Looks like you got off easy with the inletting.

My Kentucky barrel channel was so screwed up that I had to inlet the tang/barrel channel down more than .100 inches.

Good luck with her.

 

[wiscoaster]

Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log #6

Disassembled the lock:

(Not to worry about the parts stew. I take pics of each part's removal, with its screws and orientation, like this:

... and reassembly is easy by referring to those pics in reverse order.)

Nothing really wrong with the lock. I'll probably polish a few parts where they rub against each other. Mainly it's the lock plate that needs some serious deburring. After doing that, it's much easier to dry-fit it without all the internal parts:

I'll probably just leave it disassembled until I get the mortise sanded down to flush.

 

[64Springer]

Never saw a bridle on a Traditions lock.

But all I have are their nipple guns.

This is making me want a flinter.

 

[wiscoaster]

Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log #7

Always looking for something else to do while waiting for the barrel to rust: the escutcheons are preinstalled in the stock, but they're pretty rough from file marks:

So I'm going to sand the escutcheons in place to remove the file marks, and at the same time sand the surrounding wood, as needed, both to level and to remove milling marks:

Now the wood is ready for finish and the escutcheon is ready for polish, absent any further stock shaping in this area, which may require revisiting this area, depending....

 

[CuNosecap]

Glad to see you are back in the saddle with another build log. I learned a lot from your Kibler build.
Thanks for posting

 

[longcruise]

Not impressed! Clean bench, magnetic parts holder! Guess I'm not going to se the "lost fly post"

I have a CVA frontier kit waiting in the wings. The escutcheons look just like that. Ground down to where the grooves in the screws are almost gone. Think I'm going to remove them to polish and replace the screws.

Enjoying the log.

 

[Rich44]

You did try putting the back end of the trigger guard in first, didn't you?

 

[64Springer]

^^^Then either inlet the front of the guard or remove some brass or both.^^^

I'll channel my inner Joe Biden and say DON'T don't don't don't try bending that trigger guard.

 

[Rich44]

Just try putting trigger guard in correctly, back end in first.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

Coming along nicely, Wis. Especially the barrel finish. What are you thinking of for stain and finish?
Always a great idea to smooth and polish those lock parts. Helps insure the "bang" part of the process. Keep your log rolling along!

 

[64Springer]

Hey, OP.

Mind if I ask where you found that small mainspring vise.

My big mainspring vise is too big.

Thanks.

 

[wiscoaster]

Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log #8

... depending ... (from #7, of course) ... on how much wood needs to be removed to fit the nosecap.

(Can this piece be rightly called a "nose cap"? It's a half stock ... )

Anyway, quite a lot as it turns out:

(piece of wood dowel to hold nose cap in position).

Wood to be removed marked with a fine point Sharpie:

That's a lot. This is a job for a belt sander. A hand-held belt sander held in a vise improvises:

After some very quick and easy belt sanding, the wood is now down to where it can be addressed with hand files and sandpaper:

... to a point where it now fits nicely:

As a side note, I did need to do some minor filing of the bottom edges of the escutcheons so as to accomodate a more graceful and natural contour.

 

[billraby]

Belt sander is the very last tool I would use! A good rasp would do the job almost as fast and with far less risk.

 

[wiscoaster]

Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log #9

Testing some stain. I want a stock that's fairly light and somewhat reddish. Stain is being tested on the inside wall of the lock cavity because it's the largest flat surface not visible on the outside. Keeping in mind the front half of the barrel channel has been compromised for staining by the crack repair glue.

Varathane Light Walnut:

Hmmm ... pretty nice; maybe a little too light and a little too red. Will mix in some Minwax Dark Walnut, in a 1/4 dark/light ratio:

Naw, don't like that. Too brown and too dark. Might be OK somewhere in between. A little Dark Walnut has a huge effect. Better to start too light. Can always go darker later. Tough to go the other way.

 

[wiscoaster]

Trapper Pistol Kit Build Log #10

The barrel is coming along much more slowly than initially hoped for. After carding the second application of LMF I noticed what I took to be some tool marks on a couple of the flats. Funny how a little rust brings out imperfections. So they had to be filed out, and that precipitated pretty much just starting over. Now, after three subsequent applications, the finish is still looking really patchy. This is before carding the last application:

I'm thinking maybe I got the surface too smooth for the rust to take well. If this finish doesn't start evening out after the next application, I might try taking some sandpaper and scuffing it up a bit, in a linear direction (just as if it had been dry-filed to start with, hah).