The Bastard Gun

[Zonie]

As some of you long time members know, I built a "transitional" gun using a .54 cal Colrain swamped barrel which I screwed up.
The damage required removing 5 1/2 inches from the muzzle making a rather short gun.
I decided to pattern it after a 1755 era gun using a French Type C fusil lock (Davis), Type C fusil Pipes and side plate.
The rear sight is a brass Fancy Jaeger (TOTW). The buttplate is a rather plain early style.
Because the barrel is only about 1/8 inch thick at the muzzle, I choose not to dovetail in the front sight. It is soldered in place.

The lock and barrel are left in the white (with a bit of polishing on the lock).

The completed gun weighs a whoppen 6 3/4 pounds.
The finish is hand rubbed True-Oil.

For those interested, I added a part 2 to the Photo Forum.

 

[Rebel]

Where are all them fancy inlays you are noted for? :: Nice looking rifle. What do you think of the Davis lock? Is that the same lock that Track uses on their N.W. Tradegun? If so, it is the same as the one on mine. Sparks good, but frizzen spring is weak. It lets the frizzen close, after opening, back down on top of the flint. So far it hasn't damaged any flints. I have been getting at least 60 shots out of a flint, so can't complain. With that kind of flint life i don't know whether to replace the frizzen spring or not.

 

[musketman]

Because the barrel is only about 1/8 inch thick at the muzzle, I choose not to dovetail in the front sight.

Does this mean you can't load it up with a heavy charge, like a .54 with a straight walled, thicker barrel?

 

[Zonie]

Rebel: The real reason there are not a lot of inlays on it is I wanted to keep it simple.
I know I'm wierd, I made up a story which explains the reasons for a Jaeger like gun with American wood and French parts. This story is in the post "Whats a B gun" in the Builders Bench forum.
This whole story line says it would be somewhat plain.

Also, from what little knowledge I've gathered on the guns made in the 1750's, they didn't use a lot of inlays. That came later during the "Golden Age".

Musketman: The reason I soldered the front sight on is because I was concerned about the barrel thickness and am fortunate enough to have a high power computer at work, so I built a "solid model" of the barrel. I modeled the round bottom rifling grooves so they would be in line with the external flats.
I then analysed the stress levels using an educated? guess of 20,000 PSI internal pressure.
The results said the stress levels would be well below the ultimate strength of 1018 (low carbon steel).
I then cut a dovetail thru the model and repeated the analysis.
That said that the stress levels were below the ultimate strength of the steel, but it was approaching the yield strength. These high levels of stress were at the sharp corners of the dovetail (.010 radius), and did not take into account residual stress caused by pressing a front sight into the slot. That's the reason I decided to solder the sight onto the barrel.
I really think my pressure guess is way high out at the muzzle so I expect this barrel to handle charges up to 120 grains of FFg without problems.

Old salt: The barrel was damaged when I was installing the underlugs.
I used the "staple" style which require two small holes to be drilled for the "legs". The staple is then inserted and peened in place.
Anyway, I had set the drill depth stop incorrectly and ended up drilling thru the wall of the barrel into the bore.
I thought of several ways of fixing this, but all of them had a good possibility of screwing up the barrel, so I decided to just cut off the damaged area.
It's a good thing it didn't happen at the breech or I would have ended up with a mighty strange looking gun! LOL :crackup: :crackup:

 

Absolutely gorgeous.

I gotta get you to give me a class on wire inlay. :winking:

Have you shot her yet?

 

[shmrck1]

Zonie,
if you ever want to get rid of that " bastard"
i'll pay the shipping from you to me out of the
goodness of my heart. i would only do it for you though,
so don't let anyone else know how easy i am.
snake-eyes :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: eace: :thumbsup: :hmm: :huh: :: :: :: ::

 

[bshultz]

Awesome job, beautiful gun!!!! :RO: :thumbsup: :redthumb:

 

[TexasMLer]

Another typically gorgeous example from Zonie! Thanks for sharing! I still think you're crazy for not doing that for a living!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[greymount]

Zonie, Your gun looks great. I love the color. What did you use for the stain? I like the reddish/gold color. I also like that soft satin finish. It looks especially smooth. What material(s) did you use to achieve that "hand rubbed" finish? Everytime, I use Tru-oil or Chambers I get a glossy finsh. Again a job WELL done. Greymount

 

[Russianblood]

If that's a "bastard", I'd love to see the legitimate rifle. :bow: :bow:

 

[Halftail]

Very Nice Zonie,
Beautiful gun!!I might have missed it but what calibre is it?

 

[spitfire]

Nice :thumbsup: !