peening pin heads

[MAC1967]

Well . . . It's your gun . . . removing a pin only one way makes some sense to me . . . moreover, I think what you did looks pretty neat. Just my two cents.

 

[Notchy Bob]

My dad had a bunch of old muzzleloaders when I was growing up. He taught me how to take them apart and reassemble them. I remember him telling me pins go “in from the right, out from the left.” That was his habit, although now I don’t think it was a universal practice. We know that original Hawken rifles had the barrel wedges inserted from left to right, for example.

I don’t remember peened pins on any of those old originals. Not on the barrel pins, anyway. I don’t think I ever tried to remove ramrod pipes, but as far as I know, those were permanently installed, and the pins were meant to be unobtrusive. Peening the ends would make them larger and more visible.

I can’t think of a historical precedent for peening the ends of pins for barrels or ramrod pipes or triggerguards. I think the “return” on the buttplate of some old smoothbores was also pinned, but I don’t recall seeing one peened.

I can think of reasons not to peen the pins for barrel lugs and mountings, but, respectfully, I don’t know of a practical reason or any historical precedent for peening them.

I’ll admit, I learn something new every day, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this before.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[Slip6]

guess I should add if anyone would ever want to learn about peening pin heads just let me know.

I'm willing to share what I've learned.

camo

Yes, I would like to learn how to do that.

 

[Alexander Efremenko]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think

You can lead them to water, but you can't drown them.....

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Yes, I would like to learn how to do that.

Why? Just curious.

 

[LRB]

Cant speak for guns but I usually peen the pins when I do knife handles
Of course I guess at that point they are rivets as they are not to be removed.
KC

Apples and oranges! Knife pins need to be either tight fitted, glued or peened, but guns do not.

 

[camoloc]

Yes, I would like to learn how to do that.

maybe I can work up some step-by-step photos soon and add in explanations

camo

 

[ord sgt]

The only pinhead to peen is the ones on my ramrod tips. That secures the tip to the rod so the tip cannot be pulled off.
The pins through the stock are slightly rounded to prevent wood tear out when being inserted.

 

[Slip6]

Why? Just curious.

So I don’t try to push the pin out the wrong way and make the hole bigger

 

[user 34300]

The best practice is to chamfer the end of hardened steel pins. Just break that cut sharp edge and flatten the end. Music wire is excellent. Make the pins a bit short. Cover the hole in the stock with bee's wax or whatever. Making the pins a bit short has a purpose. IT guides your punch later when it is time to remove the barrel. If you don's do that the punch will not line up with the line perfectly and you will damage the surrounding wood. Using hard pins prevents them from bending and binding up in the wood. That will also cause damage to the stock. This can happen especially if the pin get rusty.