Hawken Breech Plug

[David Rase]

I am rifling a 7/8" x 42" barrel and am thinking about making it into a Hawken squirrel rifle.  My problem is that the smallest patent breech plug I can find is 15/16".  The one I am looking at is the Hawken squirrel patent breech in the TOW catalog. Has anyone build a Hawken percussion rifle and filed down the breech plug to fit a smaller barrel?  We are talking about removing 1/32" per side.
David   

[WaterFowl]

This will help!
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=26698.msg254587#msg254587

[Bob Roller]

If you don't have a milling machine or access to one,
get a "Vixen"file from a car parts shop or an industrial
supply business. Car parts shops may know them as "body files'.
They have very sharp semi circular teeth and will move a lot of metal in a hurry.

Bob Roller

[Curtis]

Dave,

I have done the same thing, on the first rifle I built. Not that difficult or time consuming with the proper files.

Curtis

[David Rase]

Thanks for all the responses.  My main concerns were that removing the excess metal would not make the breech unsafe and that the lock would still fit and look right.  I know I will nave to align the hammer a bit but that is typical for any cap gun.
I will finish up with the rifling on Saturday at our annual primitive youth day.  Once again I will Tom Sawyer the kids.  They love pulling on the handle, seeing the swarf and watching the grooves appear. 
David

[Dennis Glazener]

I am rifling a 7/8" x 42" barrel and am thinking about making it into a Hawken squirrel rifle.  My problem is that the smallest patent breech plug I can find is 15/16".  The one I am looking at is the Hawken squirrel patent breech in the TOW catalog. Has anyone build a Hawken percussion rifle and filed down the breech plug to fit a smaller barrel?  We are talking about removing 1/32" per side.
David

David,
Several years ago I built a 32 caliber Hawken Squirrel rifle using one of Don Stith's stocks. I used a DeHass tapered 32 barrel and I am pretty sure its was 7/8" at the breech. I used a 15/16 patent breech. I remember it had a lot of metal to remove. I used a mill on the flats and filed forever around the bolster for the nipple. Never had any problems but I suspect you are going with a larger caliber than 32.
Dennis

[ironwolf]

  Yes, I've done it.  Unfortunately I left the tang and the aft portion of the plug shaped similar to the "as cast" shape, much like the "plains" rifles  After  studying the "light sporting rifles" in the Jim Gordon books, after everything was inleted, I discovered the tangs were rather straight and the aft ends primarily flat.  Oh Well.

  Kevin

[Herb]

Yes, I have done it three times.  Made two Hawken squirrel rifles in .40 caliber, fitting the 15/16" Hawken squirrel patent breech to  7/8" barrels and filing down the plug.  It is easy to do.  And  I made a scaled-down Hawken rifle with the same size plug and barrel. Top is a 1" .54 Hawken I made and below is one made with the smaller plug and barrel.

[smylee grouch]

Nice job Herb. I have used that plug on several smaller dia. barrels too. Its not that hard or much work as stated befor.