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General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: oldtravler61 on May 14, 2022, 01:31:37 AM

Title: Goof ups in building.
Post by: oldtravler61 on May 14, 2022, 01:31:37 AM
  Not sure where this should go.  BUT admit it What's the dumbest thing you ever did when building a gun ?  Kit or scratch build...
  Ok I'll go first: ( my idea so only fare )
 About twenty plus years ago I was doing a kit. The kit had the lock inlet an barrel pretty much done. Except the barrel wasn't tapped quite right. I had a half inch breach plug but the breach was tapped well over one inch long.
 Well that was an easy fix I thought. Just cut the barrel shorter to match the length of the breach plug.. Pure genius I thought .
Forgetting the fact that the barrel an lock already inlet.  Except for the fact that it put the touch hole way out of line with the pan on the lock inlet. It's called learning right...?
  Oldtravler
 
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Stoner creek on May 14, 2022, 02:02:32 AM
 I made a gun one time for a feller who was a plumb “A-hole”..
 Was that a mistake???
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: D. Taylor Sapergia on May 14, 2022, 02:04:41 AM
This is a great thread for those of us who wish to admit their mortality.
I've built a lot of rifles, cut my own barrel channels and drilled my own ramrod holes on most of them, all without a single problem - almost!  For my own personal Hawken build, I acquired a piece of the hardest maple God has produced to date, from Tom Curran in NY State.  It was so heavy that I thought it must not be dry, so I checked the SG with my meter and it showed ~ 10%.  Still thinking the wood would lose more moisture, I set it aside for several more months, weighing it every month end, and it didn't lose any weight.  So I inlet the barrel, tang and breech, triggers, lock, etc and shaped the stock.  When I drill rod holes in half stocked rifles, I use the barrel pipes on the under-rib to guide the drill, in this case, a 1/2" brad point drill that I've used successfully many times.  With everything set up perfectly, I started the bit into the end grain maple...I was amazed at how hard drilling it was.  No problem, just lean on the drill a little harder - right?  About two inches from home, I discovered the bit working it's way through the off side of the forestock just ahead of the lock panel.  Naturally I stopped drilling, and assessed my predicament.  As you might imagine, the temperature in the shop went to boiling, and the air was blue from the conversation I was having with myself.  So I carefully used chisels and scrapers at the entrance hole to move the drill in the direction I needed it to go, and started over.  Within minutes I drilled through the bottom of the stock only inches behind the entry pipe area.  I said, hmmmmmmm!
This time, I left the shop for several hours while I attempted to calm down.  Finally, I decided I didn't want to waste the stock - special from Tom, beautiful wood, etc., so I took a 1/2" hickory ramrod, slathered it with wood glue, and slid it into the hole.  When it had cured, I cut off the hickory, flattened the end where the drill must start, and set up my 1/2" TRACK OF THE WOLF RAMROD HOLE DRILL, and started over.  This drilling went smoothly and easily, and the bit stayed right down the centre of the forestock, ending directly under the forward extension of the trigger plate, just as it was supposed to the first time. Now I had two holes to plug, so I took wood that I'd cut from the stock during the bandsawing phase and checked grain and figure orientation, cutting two plugs with rounded ends.  I inlet these plugs into the holes I'd created, and finished the rifle like normal.  This rifle is a personal piece and I have no intention of selling it, so I get to live with these glaring mistakes for the rest of my life. 
I learned my lesson and admit that I'm a mere mortal.  I have my feet set firmly on the ground.  I do love the rifle though, just the same.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Cory Joe Stewart on May 14, 2022, 02:54:45 AM
I attached an underlug to the wrong flat once.  But just once.

Cory Joe
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: David Rase on May 14, 2022, 03:10:43 AM
I have the only percussion rifle featured in American Pioneer Video's Contemporary Kentucky Rifles, and it is a Bedford to boot!
David
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: sdilts on May 14, 2022, 03:15:39 AM
Was building a left hand percussion rifle and for whatever reason (force of habit I guess) drilled the hole for the drum on the right side of the barrel. Not one of my finer moments.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Mike Brooks on May 14, 2022, 03:19:06 AM
I have never made a mistake.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Bill Raby on May 14, 2022, 03:22:41 AM
   I get my screw ups on video. Figure out what I did wrong, what I should have done differently, then how to fix it. Hopefully it helps someone else.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: oldtravler61 on May 14, 2022, 03:32:35 AM
  Just remember this is for mortals who do make mistakes...lol
  Oldtravler
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: smoke and flames on May 14, 2022, 04:56:35 AM
A very talented engraver once said."I never make a mistake,...I do however have lapses of better judgement"
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: HighUintas on May 14, 2022, 07:16:19 AM
This is a great thread for those of us who wish to admit their mortality.
I've built a lot of rifles, cut my own barrel channels and drilled my own ramrod holes on most of them, all without a single problem - almost!  For my own personal Hawken build, I acquired a piece of the hardest maple God has produced to date, from Tom Curran in NY State.  It was so heavy that I thought it must not be dry, so I checked the SG with my meter and it showed ~ 10%.  Still thinking the wood would lose more moisture, I set it aside for several more months, weighing it every month end, and it didn't lose any weight.  So I inlet the barrel, tang and breech, triggers, lock, etc and shaped the stock.  When I drill rod holes in half stocked rifles, I use the barrel pipes on the under-rib to guide the drill, in this case, a 1/2" brad point drill that I've used successfully many times.  With everything set up perfectly, I started the bit into the end grain maple...I was amazed at how hard drilling it was.  No problem, just lean on the drill a little harder - right?  About two inches from home, I discovered the bit working it's way through the off side of the forestock just ahead of the lock panel.  Naturally I stopped drilling, and assessed my predicament.  As you might imagine, the temperature in the shop went to boiling, and the air was blue from the conversation I was having with myself.  So I carefully used chisels and scrapers at the entrance hole to move the drill in the direction I needed it to go, and started over.  Within minutes I drilled through the bottom of the stock only inches behind the entry pipe area.  I said, hmmmmmmm!
This time, I left the shop for several hours while I attempted to calm down.  Finally, I decided I didn't want to waste the stock - special from Tom, beautiful wood, etc., so I took a 1/2" hickory ramrod, slathered it with wood glue, and slid it into the hole.  When it had cured, I cut off the hickory, flattened the end where the drill must start, and set up my 1/2" TRACK OF THE WOLF RAMROD HOLE DRILL, and started over.  This drilling went smoothly and easily, and the bit stayed right down the centre of the forestock, ending directly under the forward extension of the trigger plate, just as it was supposed to the first time. Now I had two holes to plug, so I took wood that I'd cut from the stock during the bandsawing phase and checked grain and figure orientation, cutting two plugs with rounded ends.  I inlet these plugs into the holes I'd created, and finished the rifle like normal.  This rifle is a personal piece and I have no intention of selling it, so I get to live with these glaring mistakes for the rest of my life. 
I learned my lesson and admit that I'm a mere mortal.  I have my feet set firmly on the ground.  I do love the rifle though, just the same.

I'm curious Taylor, what would you say is the major mistake you made? I'm extraordinarily green, so your mistake isn't as obvious to me as the result of the mistake.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Tacitus on May 14, 2022, 07:55:04 AM
I never make mistakes. I thought I had once, but I was mistaken.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Majorjoel on May 14, 2022, 11:04:39 AM
On my first rifle from a blank, some 20 years ago, I placed the rear lock bolt through the locks left upper bridal screw hole.  I had to drill and tap the bridal and lock plate to facilitate my 8-32 lock bolt.  Using a large Siler lock, that rifle still performs very well all these years later.

On the same piece, I bedded the barrel using Acra-glass gel.  Darn thing locked up and the barrel stayed in place for 10 years before I left it out in my hunting shack in sub zero Michigan weather during hunting season. At seasons end while cleaning I removed the barrel pins and gave it another try to release it. WA LA!! Out it came!

I had been planning to write a bucket list article titled "Confessions of a Wayward Gunstocker" but with this post I can now just move on with the remaining time ahead!  Thanks for this golden opportunity!    ;D
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: smart dog on May 14, 2022, 01:30:58 PM
Hi,
My worst mistake was inletting a barrel in a fine piece of curly, but brittle, maple really tightly.  When I tried to remove the barrel, which I had tapped in with a mallet, I could not get it to drop out by tapping the bottom of the stock.  In desperation, I pried it out from the muzzle and snapped the stock in two at the step for the rear ramrod pipe.  The stock was salvaged for a half stocked gun.  I don't inlet barrels that tightly anymore because there is no need.

dave
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: L. Akers on May 14, 2022, 02:38:44 PM
I had a pair of locks I was planning to use on a double flint shotgun and a different lock for a flint flint rifle I was working on.  I spent a Saturday inletting the lock on the rifle, congratulating myself on a good job when I finished.  That night while showering I came to the sudden realization I had put the wrong lock on the rifle.  I had inlet one of the shotgun locks instead of the one intended for the rifle.  Had to buy another lock for the shotgun.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Daryl on May 14, 2022, 06:47:24 PM
I never make mistakes. I thought I had once, but I was mistaken.

So  you have made at least one mistake. You admitted it.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: BarryE on May 14, 2022, 06:54:47 PM
I used the wrong stock profile template to saw out the lovely blank for a fine rifle Thankfully, it was close enough so that with a bit of manipulation it will be ok but I almost had a stroke when I realized what I had done.  And yes, there was lightning and thunder with a blue haze in the shop.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: ed lundquist on May 14, 2022, 07:10:37 PM
Had a router bit get loose and ruin a barrel channel, stupid mistake. Won't use a router anymore. Never let a bit bottom out in the collet.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Tim Crosby on May 14, 2022, 07:19:02 PM
 Back in the mid '80s I just had to try a Dremel to inlet a lock. In the blink of an eye the stock was ruined. The Dremel...is probably still about 60 feet up in a Loblolly pine in Chesterfield Co. Va.

    Tim C.
     
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: D. Taylor Sapergia on May 14, 2022, 08:33:02 PM
HigUnitas:  My mistake was assuming the brad point drill would cut in a straight line, not flex and drill in an unknown direction.  Frankly, I'm still amazed that that 1/2" steel drill bit bent out of true by so much, but it sure did.
The TOW deep hole drill is a solid 1/2" shaft with a milled cutting flute that is much less susceptible to flexing.

And I've got another one:

Years ago, I was commissioned by the wife of a good friend to build a rifle for her husband as an anniversary gift.  I had the specs that my friend was interested in having had conversations around this rifle many times previous.  He wanted a J. Henry trade rifle in flint with good wood.  So I built the rifle, took payment and presented my work.  It was perfect, except for the fact that he wanted it in left hand.  I refunded their cash and luckily for me, found a new buyer for my rifle right away.  The couple cancelled their order for the left hand Henry rifle.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: ed lundquist on May 14, 2022, 08:48:23 PM
Ouch, at least it wasn't for the President.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: WadePatton on May 14, 2022, 09:09:59 PM
I got too much in a hurry and too cocky using a rip cut to narrow the forestock and i got a little bit inside my line--too far to shape it back out completely.  Almost did, but not completely.  It serves as a reminder to measure twice, and ALSO keep an eye on both sides of the work when things are not squared/plumb. Most of the other mistakes I've been able to cover over without much fuss.

If I were to face that situation again, I'd slab it off flat and glue in another bit of wood, then reshape properly.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: smylee grouch on May 14, 2022, 09:34:49 PM
I was going to cut the blank for a 13 &1/4 inch pull so marked the blank 1/4 inch off the13 inch mark on the ruler, after cutting I realized there are two places on the ruler 1/4 inch away from the 13 inch mark, before and after. I ended up with a 12 & 3/4 inch pull. - >:(
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Bob Roller on May 14, 2022, 09:55:07 PM
The few ,maybe 10 that I have made were all  a series of interlocking mistakes but they all worked and shot well.Like Taylor,my hardest one was a walnut half stock and the walnut supposedly came out of Russia.It was beautiful and about as hard as the barrrel I used from Bill Large but I got it done and was pleased with the results.I got that walnut from a man who made modern rifles and decided on no more made from planks and got some from maker of semi finished ones. Bishop?? This was in 1959 and I think the gun might still be in Lexington,Ky. I am not a good builder and all of them were far from what I had hope for but all were useful.One was semi finished, a tiger
striped maple half stock 50 caliber that was shootable but the man that got it was Bob Hunt who did make a good looking gun from it.
Bob was  teacher in Tn.or maybe NC and passed away years ago from cancer.Now there is another 50 callber walnut half stock and I have parts for a lock from L&R,the externals for their Late English lock that I was going to make with the same parts as the Twigg from years ago.
This has been laying around for about 12 years.My best rifle was a long range 451 and I used a precarve from Don Brown that was about 80%done and it made a good looking rifle.I sold it in 2003 or 04.
Bob Roller
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Berksrifle on May 15, 2022, 02:55:41 AM
Remember, gun builders don't make mistakes, they make changes!

Ken
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Majorjoel on May 15, 2022, 11:18:16 AM
Mistakes???  I can still hear the words of my late mentor. "Mistakes are just opportunities to show off your true skills!"   

Quote from the late J.F. (Bud) Vincent ca. 2003
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Marcruger on May 15, 2022, 09:41:55 PM
I am not a gunmaker, but I have a couple of bovines worth of mistake pieces in my scrap leather box.  Many times I end up making a leather piece two or three times before I am happy with it. God bless, Marc
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: D. Taylor Sapergia on May 15, 2022, 10:50:52 PM
Marc:  when I make a single set trigger from scratch, I almost always make some of the parts as many as four times each.  But I don't consider that a goof-up.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Daniel Coats on May 15, 2022, 10:57:58 PM
I was drilling a hole for a vent liner one time by feel. When I finally felt it go through I realized I had drilled completely through both sides of the barrel. I called that a tomato stake. ;D
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Bob Gerard on May 15, 2022, 11:17:35 PM
When I restocked the my first rifle build (a Pecatonica Lehigh County with a busted wrist) I thought I would try my hand at epoxy-bedding the barrel, for some insane reason.
I gobbed in lots of epoxy to make a nice bed along the whole length of the barrel channel.
Unfortunately I forgot about the release agent thingy...
I now have a really beautiful Cherry-stocked Lehigh County rifle with a glued-in barrel.  ::)
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Birddog6 on May 16, 2022, 12:29:45 PM
The second rifle I built was a precarve. Dummy me assumed the LOP was already what it should be & I did a quick measure to be sure. 14.5” just what I want.
So i just trimmed the wood there & inlet the buttplate. I made a patchbox & toeplate. Had the rifle sanded & ready to finish. Man I was proud of this rifle.  😁. Someone asked me what the LOP was & I measured it. Yep, dead on 15.5” 😳 WHAT 😱 $#@*.  I had measured the LOP from the Set trigger instead of the front trigger. 🙄🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Birddog6 on May 16, 2022, 12:35:48 PM
I have never made a mistake.

Mike, after you get a few builds under your belt you may make a blunder.
You being a newbie, you will mess up something eventually. 🤷🏻🤣
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: alacran on May 16, 2022, 01:47:58 PM
There always things I should have done differently or better. I worked for a guy who taught me a lot about general carpentry. He told me " You are going to make mistakes. Just make sure no one sees them".
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Birddog6 on May 16, 2022, 02:12:13 PM
Many years ago a older builder told me the more inlays a rifle has on it, the more the builder
screwed up & is hiding it. And it is especially obvious on oddball inlays that don't fit the style.
Fancy & long entrypipe ?  Plate under the forestock ?, really long toeplate ? etc.  He said that
was exactly what excutcheon plates are for.  To cover up the sloppy wedge pin hole cutting.
I always thought they looked nice, but to him it was to cover up things.

Thinking on that, my first build needs a Full inlay, over all of it !  ;D ;D ;D

And I keep "Ol Ugly" just to remind me of what NOT to do.  It is deadly on deer, but am still
pondering if I actually shot them or scared them to death with the rifle looks. Possible they died
of laughter ?  :o 
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Birddog6 on May 16, 2022, 02:18:06 PM
One time many years ago, I was at Friendship & a guy had 3 barrels for sale at a booth. He said the vent holes were drilled & tapped on Both sides to accommodate the builder for LH or RH builder.  Put a vent on one side & a plug in the other side. I asked him if maybe, just maybe it was drilled a lil deep ?  He said Oh No, it was designed this way. 
I looked all day for a rifle built that way, never found a single one.  When I asked Rice Barrels (then it was  LC Rice & Liston)  about a Rice Barrel being designed that way ?  ol LC about went into hysterics  ;D
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: JBJ on May 16, 2022, 02:30:23 PM

As a sign of both mortality and advancing years, it's really a question of which mistake on which firearm. I seem to manage one or more per project! It truly is a matter of recovery and acceptance. And please don't ask about the saga of ramrod pipes on a certain halfstock rifle.
J.B.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: t.caster on May 16, 2022, 04:09:02 PM
D. Taylor...1/2" ramrod drill ??? That's a biggun!
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: oldtravler61 on May 16, 2022, 06:54:43 PM
  Tom it's for that grizzly bear gun....Oldtravler
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: D. Taylor Sapergia on May 16, 2022, 08:37:35 PM
D. Taylor...1/2" ramrod drill ??? That's a biggun!

It is indeed!  Mostly it means I don't have to taper my Hawken ramrods, but I do it anyway.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Hungry Horse on May 16, 2022, 10:03:27 PM
 Mistakes are kinda like freckles, you just have to learn to work around them. In fact I made so many mistakes that it kind of became my super power. Before I started building from scratch I built a lot of kit guns, and screwed up my fair share. But I’d  seen  a lot of antique gun that had been messed up by the builder, or owner, and then repaired. Some of these repairs were almost invisible. So, I repaired my mistakes, mostly ramrod holes that went awry, or barrel inlets that broke out. Pretty soon I was fixing other peoples mistakes, or getting the gun given to me to fix up. It got to the point where the wife would start ranting the minute some guy pulled up in front of the house and got out of his truck with a stock in one hand, and a rusty barrel in the other.

Hungry Horse
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Dave B on May 17, 2022, 01:12:09 AM
I was tapping the holes for an under rib and broke my 6-32 tap at the muzzle end hole. I had been told the carbon steel can be broken bb using a punch an the bits just fall out of the hole.  I drove the tap fragment into the bore !  6-32  taps are not a good idea. Use 6-40.
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Ken G on May 17, 2022, 02:06:50 AM
Sure I've poured pewter down the barrel channel a couple of times and more than once bedded a part only to fight for days to get it loose. I also have a stock in the corner that refused to be measured and marked correctly but I prefer the enjoyment of smaller mistakes so as to get full enjoyment on every rifle.  Some mistakes I have enjoyed so much I try to work them into every build.  Off-center holes on buttplates  and counter sinking holes too deep are pretty high on my list for continuous enjoyment.  On a little different note, A Japanese pull saw will not cut through a barrel pin. 

Ken   
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Birddog6 on May 17, 2022, 01:34:03 PM

 On a little different note, A Japanese pull saw will not cut through a barrel pin. 

Ken

Ken,

Obviously it was not a Japanese barrel pin or it wold have cut right through it.  ;D
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Ken G on May 17, 2022, 02:12:52 PM
Should have used bamboo pins.  Those are delicate blades for sure.

Ken
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Bob Roller on May 17, 2022, 03:27:25 PM
I was tapping the holes for an under rib and broke my 6-32 tap at the muzzle end hole. I had been told the carbon steel can be broken bb using a punch an the bits just fall out of the hole. 
A 6x32 is a wretched thread and way too coarse for the .130 diameter shaft accommodates it.I make my own screws and used a 6x48 on the "Hawken"I made in 1967. Taylor mentioned rivets when he put a rib on the bag grip Hawken he made.I made a few 6x32 cross screws
last winter for someone too get a  lock mounted and had to hunt for the die to thread them with.Carbon steel taps are not in my tool collection and are a guaranteed failure unless extreme care is used with them. Same carbon a pencil lead to me.
Bob Roller
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Bob Roller on May 17, 2022, 03:41:12 PM
Marc:  when I make a single set trigger from scratch, I almost always make some of the parts as many as four times each.  But I don't consider that a goof-up.
A REAL single set trigger similar to the European types is a job and a half and I made my last ones about 40 years ago for German who was willing to pay for the time.He told me a lot of these were made years ago by watch makers in the French speaking section of Switzerland.
He called them Der Franzochicherruckstecher.I won't even think about making one now at any price.
Bob Roller
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: JLayne on May 17, 2022, 06:59:51 PM
On my second kit assembly, I installed a new lock bolt through the bolster while the cock was attached to the lock plate and in the down position. Because the lock bolt was new and had not been cut to length flush with the plate, it put pressure against the back side of the cock and the broke the square shaft of the tumbler. Just plain inattention on my part.

Jay
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Bob Roller on May 17, 2022, 07:23:19 PM
On my second kit assembly, I installed a new lock bolt through the bolster while the cock was attached to the lock plate and in the down position. Because the lock bolt was new and had not been cut to length flush with the plate, it put pressure against the back side of the cock and the broke the square shaft of the tumbler. Just plain inattention on my part.

Jay
THAT is  one I have never heard of and have been involved with muzzle loaders since 1951.
Just when I thought I'd heard it all comes that one. ;D.
Bob Roller
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Hungry Horse on May 17, 2022, 07:34:53 PM
 On the bright side, if you get good at old gunsmiths workarounds, you’ll never run out of free parts from all the guys that have a cow if they make one miss lick with their file or saw. But unfortunately you wind up with a drawer full of parts that are not good enough to use, but to good to throw away. Ask me how I know.

Hungry Horse
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: LynnC on May 18, 2022, 03:28:30 AM
Between the knot thru the wrist, the bug damage that showed up at the muzzle and the butt after inletting the barrel then profiling the stock, then a couple of my miscalculations,  this gun has been one long correction.....
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Eric Krewson on May 18, 2022, 04:08:19 PM
I drilled a vent hole all the way through and out the other side of the barrel on my last rifle. I asked the guys on the M/L forum if I could dill it to 8-32 or 10-32 then tap and plug the hole with a grade 8 screw installed with red Loctite and be safe. The late Zonie on the M/L Forum site was an expert on making strength calculations, he did the math and said my plug would be 10 times stronger than any pressures I would build in the barrel from shooting it.

I proceeded with the fix which turned out invisible once I slightly countersunk the hole, peened the screw into it and draw filed the area down. This was a C weight barrel with very thick metal at the breech.

TC drilled through on every percussion barrel breechplug they made so I trust my fix completely.

 
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Bob Roller on May 18, 2022, 08:06:32 PM
The breech plugs on high end long range rifles have plugs drilled all the way across and cleverly plugged and covered with engraving.
Don Brown had X ray pictures of his original Alex Henry and it certainly had been drilled from one side and out the other.This allows the nipple seat to be protected from the much higher pressures generated by 100 grains of fine black powder goosing a 550 grain bullet from
under the front sight. The nipple seats on a shoulder with a flash hole that prevents all the pressure from the nipple.
  In the case of modern application like the TC the screw can be removed and then if need be,the gun can be primed in case of a misfire.
Bob Roller
 
Title: Re: Goof ups in building.
Post by: Craig Wilcox on May 19, 2022, 12:00:03 AM
Wayne, aka "Stoned Creeker", said:  " I made a gun one time for a feller who was a plumb “A-hole”..
 Was that a mistake???"

Wayne, I think that guy was an off-plumb "A-hole".

Otherwise, I am like Mike Brooks, and have also never made a misteak.