Earlier this year, while attending the 18th Century Artisan's Show, I asked a couple of accomplished builders of the Allentown rifle how they went about making the open ended nose cap that shows up on many of the Lehigh Valley rifles. I listened to what they had to say and last week I finally got around to making one for a Rupp influenced rifle that is currently on my workbench. I hope you all enjoy reading the following post on how I went about making the nosecap.
This first picture shows how I prepared the forestock to receive the nosecap. One of the problems a lot of builders have when inletting a nosecap is obtaining a good enough wood to metal fit to keep the nosecap tight without the use of epoxy or other glues to fill gaps and hold the nosecap secure. After determining the material thickness of the nosecap, I remove the same amount of wood from the forestock of the rifle. To ensure I do not get any dips, tapers or low spots in the wood during wood removal, I use my adjustable T-square to check for squareness. You can see in the above photo that I place the head of the square on the muzzle of the rifle to ensure the inlet is perpendicular to the barrel. In this case, I am using .015" thick brass. I use the nosecap material to check the depth of the inlet.
This next photo shows the .015" brass material. You can easily cut .015" brass with a good pair of tin snips mush easier, neater and safer than using a hack saw. You will need to anneal the brass after cutting out your piece for the nosecap.
Here is a picture of the fixture I made to form the groove for the ramrod and get the corners nice and tight and square. I made this fixture from a block of aluminum but you could probably get away with a hard piece of maple. Since my ramrod was 5/16" diameter and my material is .015" I drilled an 11/32" hole near the edge of the block. Next I sawed a couple of flats that intersected the middle of the 11/32" hole. I did not measure the included angle but it is somewhere around 90 degrees. The angle is not important, what matters is that you have sharp corners at the ramrod groove to side angle intersection. My block is about 2" long by 1 1/2" wide.
This photo shows the annealed brass sandwiched in my vise between a 5/16" mild steel rod and the 11/32" groove in the aluminum block. Make sure you take the time to line everything up and ensure the groove is perpendicular (90o) to the long edge of the brass blank.
You can see in the above photo that the corner is tight, sharp and square. I used a piece of polished brass about 1/2" x 1 1/2" by 2" long to form the tight corner.
After repeating the bending process on the second side this is what your nosecap should look like.
Using the 5/16" mild steel rod to hold the nosecap in place on the stock, start to form the sides of the nosecap by gently bending them around the curves of the forestock. Do not bend too far at this time. You can see in this photo the wood that was removed from the inside of the inlet.
Continue bending 1 side of the nosecap up and over the top corner of the forestock and start to form the inner curve. Since the brass is still soft from annealing, you can use your thumb and fingers to get the nosecap formed to this rough shape.
Now place the barrel back into the stock. Slide a hose clamp over the nosecap, barrel and the 5/16" mild steel rod. 2 aluminum scraps are used on the lower flat area to distribute the pressure of the hose clamp and keep the .015" sheet brass from becoming dinged and dented. I have used pieces of wood in the past with good results. I just happened to have the aluminum sitting around. Tighten up the hose clamp enough to draw the barrel down into the stock and start forming the brass to the inlet. Do not over tighten the hose clamps as you will need some movement for the brass when you sharpen up the bend in the next step.
Using that same piece of polished brass block I used to form the ramrod channel corners in photo 5, I start massaging the nosecap to tighten up and sharpen up the upper corner.
This photo shows me continuing to form the radius and sharp corner. You will have to loosen and tighten the hose clamp a couple of times so you can slide it forward and aft exposing the nosecap that was under the hose clamp so you can bend the radius and sharpen the bend the entire length of the nosecap.
This is how the nosecap should look after you remove the hose clamp. Since I was using an octagon to round barrel I choose not to have an overlapping seam in the barrel channel. I initially tried an overlapping seam and filed a scarf on both ends of the brass but the joint looked too bulky so I opted for a butt joint. The faint pencil line you see is the center line of the barrel channel. I removed the excess metal until my nosecap seam was centered in the inlet.
Now repeat the clamping, bending, forming and tightening process for the other side. Don't forget to remove the excess metal to form a butt joint at the nosecap centerline seam.
Here you see the completed nosecap. I removed the nosecap and soldered the seam together. I then slide it back on and made sure the rear of the nosecap was tight against the stock. Once the inlet was tight I filed the forward end flush with the forestock end.
Straight on muzzle view of the completed nosecap. All that is left is to remove the barrel and drill 2 holes on the side flats through the stock and inner nosecap material and rivet the nosecap permanently to the forestock.
Another view of the completed nosecap.
