Ruggles Patent Underhammer Pistol

[enfield]

Today , I finally reached the end of the first part of my Ruggles journey - she's finished !

Now I'm eagerly waiting for next sunday , when I can try her on target for the very first time !
The only pills I could find , are .283 , but I hope with a little thicker patch it will do either . Not too precise in this small caliber but I'll see ...
Starting load will be a huge 6,5 grn Swiss 1 .
Next part of the journey is to find a neat piece of maple for the planned shoulder stock !

 

[Mark Herman]

Enfield,
Very nice work on your UH. If it shoots as well as it looks you should do well. Re a .290 mold, I picked up a .285 by Lee from Mike Eder at Flintlocks Inc. Jeff Tanner, in England, is who I would contact for a true .290. Very good quality and very reasonable.

 

[enfield]

Enfield,
Very nice work on your UH. If it shoots as well as it looks you should do well. Re a .290 mold, I picked up a .285 by Lee from Mike Eder at Flintlocks Inc. Jeff Tanner, in England, is who I would contact for a true .290. Very good quality and very reasonable.

Oh , thank You for this address !
Unfortunately , Jeff Tanner has passed away , but it seems , his shop still exists .

 

[enfield]

Couldn't sleep tonight , so flipped through my " underhammer bible " of H.C.Logan , and I learned , that nearly all of the quite scarce specimens of these " poor man's guns " , which are equipped with an attachable stock , had one made from ( most ) steel rod .

Shall I try my hands on such a skeleton stock ?

I also think , that such one were much more authentic since the client , who bought such a gun , was not too wealthy and I also think , a such item was much easier ( and cheaper ) to make than a wooden one .

Tell me , what You think !

 

[Anthony Wilson]

Hi Enfield

Try this place here in Australia.

http://www.castbulletengineering.com.au/bullet-moulds/rifle/round-ball/300rb-triple-cavity

CBE do a .300 round ball mould. I’m not really sure if they do anything a little smaller but it would be worth asking. CBE make beautiful brass moulds.

Another great advantage of buying from CBE is the exchange rate of the Euro/Aussie Dollar.

Please let us know how you go with your mould search.

Cheers/Prost mate!

 

[enfield]

Having not got one single answer to my question about the stock , now I've made one from silver steel rod , warm bent , silver soldered and cold blued . My " poor mans buggy gun " is ready to shoot .

Is there still an interest in this topic ? If so , I'll show You , how I build the starter ond other accessories . Please let me know .

 

[sourdough]

Having not got one single answer to my question about the stock, now I've made one from silver steel rod, warm bent , silver soldered and cold blued . My " poor mans buggy gun " is ready to shoot .

That stock has quite a drop at the heel! How did you attach it? Curious.

Jim

 

[enfield]

There is a brass bushed drilled through hole for the upper tang , a brass bushing for the lower and a also brass bushed , threaded tube in the butt . The screw from the base reaches the top tang and clamps it to place .
The drop of the stock is such , that when I place it to my shoulder , the view of sight is directly to my eye without bending the head too much .

 

[enfield]

There is a brass bushed drilled through hole for the upper tang and a brass bush for the (narrowed ) lower tang in the stock . From the base of the stock , there is a threaded tube reaching the bushing for the upper tang and the screw clamps it to place . Quite easy !
Fortunately , I already have installed all the bushings when I made the stock , because from the very beginning of this project , I've planned to make a " buggy gun " . Don't know , if there ever was a such made with a Ruggles patent gun , if not , then it were the very first and I think , it really looks authentic !
If it shoots like I expect , I'll love it !

The drop of the stock , I've made such , that I don't have to bend my head for sighting too much .

Rgds , Markus

 

[tallpine]

Hey Enfield, I'm all in, This is an interesting project. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ray Settanta]

I am very interested in your project. Please continue with more information.

 

[wiksmo]

The skeleton stock gave a hugely different look to your pistol....most interesting. Yes, please do continue with any project work you do. And then hopefully with some of your experiences shooting the underhammer, too. It's a thread, enfield.

 

[Mark Herman]

Enfield,
The contact for Tanner molds is:
[email protected]

Keep up your pics and description of your work. Great piece you've created.

 

[Jacobeen]

I have the Logan book and been following the build from Australia with appreciation of your endeavors.
J

 

[caspar25]

Please continue with more information.

 

[enfield]

Because of the Corona - Virus , they have closed our shooting ground - now I have to wait until I can eventually try out my new toy .
For today , let me show , what else I've tinkered over the last years .
The one at the far right is the one , that started my journey , being a rather rare steel stocked , signed original Ruggles gun .
Except of the old violin case and the vintage telescopes , each single part ,pins , screws , springs , tools etc. are home made , having used old cutoffs of vintage barrels , hand filed to shape . Enjoy !

 

[Mark Herman]

That's quite a collection of UH pistols. I'm impressed!

 

[enfield]

Being an optometrist , I normally work 5-6 days a week from 8:00 in the morning when I leave home until I reach home again at 19:00 in the evening . As You've already learned , I'm a quite restless person , so after a small dinner , I mostly go to my home shop for tinkering a little with my old motorcycles , knives or guns . Sundays are for recreation , enjoying shooting , motorcycling and my partner , who is ( thanks God ) extremely patient with my interests . Luckily , she shares my motorcycling with ( as You might expect ) old ( British ) ladies .

Today , I had a free day , which I used for building my bullet seater and ramrod , both made from brass and boxwood .
The ramrod has a free rotating tip , having altered a cleaning rod end of a Swiss SIG 210 ordonnance pistol .
The starter fits exactly over the muzzle , ( what sooner or later will wear off the brown of my barrel ) , a 18mm patch and bullet are inserted and with a gentle whack of my palm , the patched bullet enters the barrel exactly concentric , which should improve accuracy and easens loading .
The diameter of the drillings of my starter is exactly the field caliber of the barrel .
The tips of the starter and ramrod , I filled with epoxy metal , into which I pressed a greased bullet for getting a perfect fit .

 

[caspar25]

Being an optometrist , I normally work 5-6 days a week from 8:00 in the morning when I leave home until I reach home again at 19:00 in the evening . As You've already learned , I'm a quite restless person , so after a small dinner , I mostly go to my home shop for tinkering a little with my old motorcycles , knives or guns . Sundays are for recreation , enjoying shooting , motorcycling and my partner , who is ( thanks God ) extremely patient with my interests . Luckily , she shares my motorcycling with ( as You might expect ) old ( British ) ladies .

Today , I had a free day , which I used for building my bullet seater and ramrod , both made from brass and boxwood .
The ramrod has a free rotating tip , having altered a cleaning rod end of a Swiss SIG 210 ordonnance pistol .
The starter fits exactly over the muzzle , ( what sooner or later will wear off the brown of my barrel ) , a 18mm patch and bullet are inserted and with a gentle whack of my palm , the patched bullet enters the barrel exactly concentric , which should improve accuracy and easens loading .
The diameter of the drillings of my starter is exactly the field caliber of the barrel .
The tips of the starter and ramrod , I filled with epoxy metal , into which I pressed a greased bullet for getting a perfect fit .


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Neue Frisur- cool,
wenn du deine Teile auf "der Bank"drehst dann steigt meine Hochachtung noch mehr.
Aber mal ehrlich wo und wie fräst du deine Teile?
Die sind doch nicht mit einer Feile gefertigt?
Ich hatte in den 1960er eine Ausbildung zum Starkstomelektriker (Industrie);da standen wir 3/4 Jahr am Schraubstock;
das hieß "Eisen erzieht" einschließlich mit Kreuzmeißel Schmiernuten schlagen;
15 Lehrlinge in dem Jahrgang; als meine Knöchel blutig waren bei den Kreuznuten bin ich zum Ausbilder gegeangen und habe ihn gefragt ob es nicht einen leichteren Weg gäbe;
"ja min Jung" hat der gesagt, "aber pssst, nicht weitersagen, komm mal her"
er nahm ein stück Kreide, machte auf den Meißelkopf einen Punkt und dann auf die Hammerbahn ein Kreuz.....
"so und jetzt mußt du nur noch darauf achten das Punkt und Kreuz...."
ich hätte ihn umbringen können, echt, ehrlich passiert.
Ein richtiges Schwein; und auch noch Jugendleiter der Falken.
Ich muss immer zum Maschinenbauer wenn ich ein Korn einsetzen will.
Wie machst du das?
Geniale Idee das mit dem Epoxyd, muß ich unbedingt ausprobieren.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I sure wish I could remember my German studies from 50 years ago. It pretty much has all gone away from lack of use.