Question of the day #2

[Mike W Terry]

I received a kit and as i say kit it is not CV or Thompson. I recived my second box of parts to make a gun from Pentatonic.Anyone that has received a gun from them or TOTW OR Chambers knows what i am talking about and know they give you great stuff AND ARE A CLASS ACT.They gave me a beautiful piece of wood grade #5.I think they grade there wood to low. Now i already inlet the lock to 99.9 and now i need to know what do i do. My barrel has to be moved back 3/4 of an inch to line up to where i need to put the flash hole.. Is it best to pull the plug or leave it in and work around it? Once i have that taken care of i have it whipped. My Grandfather told me along time ago in 1970 that if you make a Black Powder gun you have to take each step as a project. Well it it true. If you don't know ask. The only dumb question is the one you did not ask.Look at all that goes in to a gun, Lock Barrel Thimbles, sights and more. Thank you all for your input. Mike T

 

[galamb]

There a couple of ways to skin a cat - or build a gun.

What I would do - put a rough mark on your barrel where you want to put your flash hole. (using a liner or just a touch hole - if using a liner compensate so you don't end up having to groove the plug face for clearance)

Pull the plug and get the barrel back where it needs to be, fully inletted.

Re-install the plug and inlet that using the (finished) barrel channel as a back stop.

I personally find it easier to get the barrel settled first so that it doesn't "creep back" when you messing around trying to get the breech/tang settled in.

 

[tenngun]

Wow. Thats a good Idea. will try it on my next gun

 

[fusil de chase]

Wont pulling a tapered barrel back by 3/4 of an inch open up the barrel inletting an awful lot?

 

[tenngun]

Didn't think of that...I have never done a tappered or swamped barrel.

 

[Zonie]

I'd be real careful about measuring things before I would move any barrel in a Pecatonica River stock a whole three quarters of an inch back.

Do a double measurement for the distance from the face of the muzzle to the face of the installed breech plug.
Darken the barrels side flat around the area where the lock will be and transfer the measurement to the side flat by measuring and scribing a faint line on the barrel.

Position this scribed line 3/16 to 1/4 inch behind the center of the locks pan.
If the lock is percussion, the line should be a similar distance behind the center of the drum cutout in the lockplate.

This is where the barrel needs to be when your finished.

I'm betting you won't have to move the barrel aft more than 1/4 of an inch at the most.

As for finishing the barrel channel, yes. Remove the breech plug and install the barrel without it.

After the barrel channel is finished so that you are getting at least a 90 percent metal on wood fit between the end of the barrel and the end of the barrel channel, then you can install the breech plug and start inletting the tang into the wood.

 

[Vaino]

Remove the breechplug as was said and I depth mike from the bbl breech end to the bottom of the threaded ctbore. Usually on my Rice bbls, this dim. is around a 1/2"...but measure it precisely. Then add half the dia. of the TH liner plus 1/32". Take a square set at this dim. and lightly scribe a vertical line using the breech end of the bbl. That's the line that centers w/ the pan of your lock.

I agree that a 3/4" bbl setback is more than most that I've done.... remeasure and double check your figures.

A reasonable bbl setback will not cause gaps in a swamped bbl inlet that will cause problems. In fact, I don't drawfile until the bbl is to be browned which is the last thing done before completion......Fred

 

[frogwalking]

I had this same problem on the last rifle that I have now finished. My barrel was about 1/4 inch too far forward, or the lock too far to the rear. Since this rifle has a flared tang, moving the barrel to the rear would have caused some real inletting problems. I chose to enlarge the pan cavity, direct drill the vent, angling it very slightly to avoid the bp, and used an out side coned vent. It worked fine, but the speed of ignition is not what I get from using a white lightning liner. The good news is that I have no tendancy to flinch when shooting a flintlock so the rifle is quite accurate for me.

 

[galamb]

This is exactly why I dislike pre-inlet stocks.

Having the barrel channel and rod grove done is one thing, but if the lock is inlet you are at the mercy of the pattern as cut.

If your breech plug is not exactly the same as was envisioned when the pattern was done you can end up with some alignment issues. In extreme cases you can replace a straight or flared tang breech plug with a Hawken style flint breech.

The tang can most often be altered to look exactly how you like and because the plug itself has a powder channel, you can move your flash hole (or drum) back and forth a fair bit. It does however, add 3/4" to 1" to your overall barrel length.

If you have an extreme aversion to a hooked patent breech, you can create your own powder channel in any breech plug and then drill your flash hole through the barrel AND the forward threaded portion of the breech plug to intersect with channel you have drilled - effectively creating your own version of a patent breech.
(similar to the new CVA breech pictured below - just use a liner in place of the drum for flint)

If you are working with a straight barrel moving it back or forth a touch won't have any effect on the inlet.

But as noted, with a swamp or a taper even an 1/8" of movement can leave unsightly gaps which is probably why the few pre-inlet stocks that utilize swamped barrels are quite particular about using the exact barrel/breech plug as specified in their parts list.

Alternately, many who will inlet for you want the breeched barrel "in hand" before they will inlet to prevent these issues.

The method I suggested above is for use almost exclusively with straight barrels - works really well in that case.

 

[Mike W Terry]

Thank you all for your input. I have pulled the breach plug and it still has a ways to move back. I have done 2 guns but in years past and it seems like this one is a horse of a different color. I marked the spot where i want to put the vent hole and it is a hair in front of the breach plug but still 3/4 of an inch in front of the pan for the lock. I will get it and if not i will try again with a new piece of wood from the same maker. They have never let me down and give the most beautiful wood for the money. To me Penatonica is a great suppler for what ever gun you wan to build.I have made a Kentucky rifle and a fusel and now this time it is a Kentucky pistol.

 

[Mike W Terry]

Mr Galamb. Thank you for your input. Thank you so very much.If i was able to put photos in i would for all to see and everyone would be able to see what i am up agents. But Thank you all