What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

[Jake2454]

i have been curious about the lightening the flintlock mainspring as discussed in the thread "smashing flints".to that end i have been experimenting in an attempt to quantify the amout of material to remove for a given lock. when i feel that i have reached a conclusion i will share.

 

[Gordoncourtney]

View attachment 130714easy peasy! i don't argue. just say "yes dear" then sneak out and do what i want!
worked some more on my pistol.
got tired so got out the TC .45 Hawken Flint. after i hardened the feather on the thing it just shoots. instant ignition and every time.
am at 48 shots on this flint. sharpened once today. and i was going to sell it!!! i
it has a permanent spot in my collection now.

Ha ha she is (75 4 years younger than me ) in the Z3 with me no walking away. Off to a 60 th party She was moaning the Garmin was no good. Impatient , (We have some at the sailing club, called self opinionated ). I let her use her old iphone but she put the wrong school in, yes she knows best. Always the same. Married back in 1968. Seemed a good idea at the time , but 55 years. !!!!!!! This mornings it’s I must have a 4 th jab. No thanks had enough. So I bought another bit of pipe to cheat me up 1” OD. .5 bore 38


Things grow on you I have a 22pcp pump for garden range , then I bought a 177 pcp. BSA usles at 50 yards However seems the barrel took a long time to wear in now I love it. Holes through holes at 50 yards and up to 2” groups at 70 yards garden range. Best money spent.

yes got a few short 32” 625 bore rifled barrels And photos below of a rusty 27” .450 barrel , bit short but I did good riffling ( police took away my shotguns the other year, being old I might shoot intruders. But I can keep my wall hangers no chance of real a fire arms ). But I don’t need a police for BP guns in France just got to take a test to shoot almost simple

Sorry to ramble on but great to chat so many lovely people on this forum

they say french flints are better than English but it’s the same chalk hills. Keep meaning to raid the chalk only 20 miles from us. It’s difficult getting big chunks. But they fall down the chalk quarry at my mates shooting range in Norfolk 160 miles away. Love knapping and if I can get my act together I have a few friends that want some chips

it’s turned cold nr London freezing on patio Got immunology this after noon Having tablets and infusions kidney cancer.

Rest assured am getting no real system it's almost pleasant at Marsden we get fee sandwiches cakes tea etc quite enjoy it There’s is life after cancer now ultra sound trials USA and UK. Can burn tumours away in 7 mins

Ps I finished my little stone mill the 12v speed controler was £8 on eBay. Magic it’s for grinding up charcoal for making pain as I do a lot of painting, well that’s my reason for making it Might not be yours or even mine.

finaly I bid £860’at Holts auction on a 1875 original Gibbs percussion target rifle needing a good bit of restoration the hammer went down at £2750 plus like 25% buyers commission tax

regards to Tommy and Jan in USA and Ewan in France and your good self. Suns coming up Gordon

 

[Gordoncourtney]

View attachment 130714easy peasy! i don't argue. just say "yes dear" then sneak out and do what i want!
worked some more on my pistol.
got tired so got out the TC .45 Hawken Flint. after i hardened the feather on the thing it just shoots. instant ignition and every time.
am at 48 shots on this flint. sharpened once today. and i was going to sell it!!! i
it has a permanent spot in my collection now.

It’s days of pondering. I have an Indian flintlock for the octagonal .625 bore and an a LH one from eBay USA $46 for the rusty .46
27” rusty barrel I have one heavy .6 bore drawn tube. More for Germanic rifles

I am not keen on carbine type rifles. Hence eBay 39”. Drawn tubing, not the best I agree, but I love long rifles. Dare not import a barrel from USA

But the .5 bore pipe eBay comes Wednesday.

The big double with L&R locks .6”. Smoothly I made the other year Tommy up in Main loves it. it would cost £700 with paperwork to send it too him

my big cape rifle 1864 was £860 in need of rescue from London holts auction. It’s shot . ,622 bote but the other barrel is two grove rifled. I have madloads of moulds. But with the new engraver I can now cut groves for bullet wings

I want to make another long rifle and one I’m the image of a Gibbs percussion target rifle.

very pleased with L&R locks but migh go for a so called more up market locks. I should have all the makings for next winter. My only problem is getting a bit of wood and I cannot afford like £250 as a pensioner. Got one walnut tree I could cut down

do love to chat with you all

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

Started cleaning up an area in my basement to extend my shop. I filled two big lawn and leaf bags with old CD cases. I was thinking why did I keep all of these? I'm thinking I will set up Grandpa's old lathe that I learned on when I was a boy. I'll teach my 11 year old son how to turn and use it for making powder horn plugs and such. I also got in some more carving practice.

 

[FishDFly]

Slings are nice , If you want the Rifle slung over shoulder when that Buck Jumps up and Takes off- I try to only use when Needed. Perhaps climbing or… Dragging . I will look into a universal Sling and keep that with me, for some of my rifles-when it’s needed.

Best to have rifle in hand.☝… When it’s needed.

I use the sling from The Leatherman, do like it.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I have a rebarreled Dixie Tennessee Mountain rifle, that is now .54 calibre and 36” barrel length. Spent the day building a jig to hold the barrel, then filing the barrel to get it ready for browning…or maybe a nice aged grey color.

Arms are a bit sore right now, wonder why….

 

[deerstalkert]

finished the RR channel on my pistol.
drilled and tapped the Haddaway lock i am using.
positioned the trigger and guard to finish wood removal.
keep thinking i am taking off too much wood but realized the stocks on these pistols are barely slivers!
did final layout of the butt and cap. starting to look like a pistol.

 

[Ames]

Sat inside and listened to the wind howl. Put my time to good use.

 

[painter]

Sat inside and listened to the wind howl. Put my time to good use.

Very nice!

 

[R Ellis]

Found a deal got 150 pounds of lead and 8 molds for sinkers which will be sold cause the lead is for bullets not fishing also got a lee production pot and a palmer hot pot

 

[Eric Krewson]

Getting down to the wire, I did the final wood removal with a file and removed as many of the file marks as I could find with a card scraper.

I went over the stock with a damp paper towel and dried it off with a heat gun to raise the grain.

These whiskers came up after the wetting in spite of a good sanding before I wetted the stock.

The wetting and sanding makes every file mark you thought was gone show up, I removed them with a cabinet scraper. I whiskered the stock twice and had a smooth surface after the second time, no whiskers.

This was once a very rough stock, now it would pass for new. I will look it over with a new set of eyes tomorrow, if it looks OK I will start sealing the wood with a walnut stock sealer. I checked my bottle of Birchwood Casey walnut sealer and found it had set up. I filled the bottle with mineral sprits and stirred the contents up. Next I did a test with the resulting goop on a scrap piece of walnut to see if it will dry and do the job, I will check my test piece in the morning.

 

[Gordoncourtney]

Been stuck in waiting fir a delivery so I thought I would have a go making wings on a .6” ball it’s for my two grove cape rifle. Just a bit of morning fun my new 1955 engraver not setup yet so I just did it by eye and bit of a clumsy bullet I made. The dremmil will save it but you have to go for a challenge that’s how you learn. All I can say is interesting pig of a bullet/ ball . Guess in time it will fly It was a ball mold I made back in 1960s Glad I did not attack my new .6” Lee mold it only needs ting wings I guess. Ha ha ha

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Cold dreary and rainy outside. I’ll take this time to caste some .530 RBs

 

[Gordoncourtney]

Some say “ if at first you don’t succeed give up “ no keep trying , never give up

so pondering I cast a couple more winged bullets and a quick going over on grinder then a file I have a nice fitting winged bullet. How will it fly cannot try it in UK er legally great fun. Photo one ex mould one finished ready for bear

 

[crgator]

I finished my Traditions Trapper pistol last week (Friday), so I took it to the range today. I had taken my Traditions Frontier rifle a week ago for the first time, and it shot every time I pulled the trigger. So, I was pretty optimistic about the pistol today. I also took the rifle and shot them both. With every pull of the trigger, the target took a hit. Well, once the rifle didn't fire, but there was no flash in the pan. Added a bit more powder and all was fine. My fault, not the rifles. So, although Traditions my be the Harbor Freight of black powder, I'm very happy with my builds.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Ordered a bag of flints from Stonewall Creek.

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

I searched for a lead melting ladle I had made along with a pill bottle full of .45 cal bore buttons. I've no idea why I cant find those two things. I KNOW they were there. Still have not found them.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

What a difference 24 hrs makes, beautiful sunny morning. Headed to the Ft Lupton range here in about 40 minutes…shooting my .40 calibre Natchez TVM…still trying to find that sweet spot.

 

[Eric Krewson]

My nephew has never done any gun work, he tried to inlet a patchbox into a Lyman Great Plains rifle stock, having never inletted anything he used a Dremel, yikes. I showed him how to inlet and cleaned up the rear of the inlet, the front has such huge gaps from a skipping Dremel bit that it will need to be patched. Seeing as how I am out of projects when I get the TC stock refinished I told him to leave it and I would straighten it out.

He had the barrel pugged with a oily rag, I thought OH NO! my suspicions were realized when I ran a patch down the barrel. He didn't have the cleaning process down apparently. A further look with my Teslong scope proved this to be true. I told him a rebore by Mr. Hoyt might be in order. I took pictures of the worst spots, there is still plenty of good rifling in the bore so it may shoot OK..

 

[Rock Home Isle]

My nephew has never done any gun work, he tried to inlet a patchbox into a Lyman Great Plains rifle stock, having never inletted anything he used a Dremel, yikes. I showed him how to inlet and cleaned up the rear of the inlet, the front has such huge gaps from a skipping Dremel bit that it will need to be patched. Seeing as how I am out of projects when I get the TC stock refinished I told him to leave it and I would straighten it out.

View attachment 131286

He had the barrel pugged with a oily rag, I thought OH NO! my suspicions were realized when I ran a patch down the barrel. He didn't have the cleaning process down apparently. A further look with my Teslong scope proved this to be true. I told him a rebore by Mr. Hoyt might be in order. I took pictures of the worst spots, there is still plenty of good rifling in the bore so it may shoot OK..

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I really enjoy your posts…you would be a really cool neighbor to have in my neck of the woods.