cheap trade guns

[Hungry Horse]

I was just pondering if many of you guys have built cheap trade guns? I wanted a trade gun so bad I could taste it about thirty years ago. About the same time, I read an article in muzzleloader Magazine about trade guns, with short barrels. Armed with a Dixie Gun Works sales flier, and a fresh paycheck, the project was in high gear. I built a chiefs grade with a thirty inch barrel, a Lott lock, modified blunderbuss furniture, and a Madrone stock. When she was done I had just about a hundred dollars invested. I never had a trader that shot better. I had no qualms at all when it came to bending the barrel, so she would shoot center, heck it was a ten dollar barrel. My buddy Tall Pine accepted the challenge and built a plain version for sixty buck, and then proceeded to wear it out. Any of you guys build any of these?

                              Hungry Horse

[brobb]

Yes and I still have it.  It has a 36 inch 12 gauge barrel.  It was a modern unchambered barrel that was rejected because of a profiling error. I believe that I bought four of these for ten dollars each.  I think that I purchased two Lott locks for forty dollars each.  I stocked this gun in black walnut that I cannot remember how I obtained.  I constructed everything else pretty much from metal on hand.  The total expense would have been a little more than fifty dollars.

Bruce Robb

[Hungry Horse]

Bruce;

  I bought a bunch of 12 ga. 41" long round barrels from Numrich Arms years ago, that were full choke, centerfire, barrels that were rejects, and never chambered. I'm building two revolutionary war muskets out of a couple of them, one with an english musket lock, one with a 1763 Charleville lock.
 Just for every bodies information the choke in these barrels is in the last couple of inches. So you can either run an expanding ream down the barrel 3 or 4 inches and expand it and slowly rotate it out, to remove the choke. Or, just drop a bore sized ball down from the breech, and cut the barrel off just behind the ball.

                                 Hungry Horse

[Hungry Horse]

My chiefs grade trade gun is stocked in Madrone. I know,I know, its not traditional, but it was cheap at the time, and since it was my first trade gun, I figured I shouldn't take the chance of screwing up a good piece of stock wood. With a cherry stain it looks for all the world like cherry. It works beautifully, and is pretty forgiving. It really isn't hard enough to hold elaborate carving, but is plenty strong. When I was planning the built, my friend Ted Smalley, at Cali'Co hardwoods in Windsor Cal. suggested it. i asked if it was strong enough. He replied that several of the big production modern rifle companies use it on their lesser grade guns, and stock 7mm magnums with it.  He said its natural color is quite pleasing, but it has the ability to take almost any stain, and mimic several types of wood.

                                   Hungry Horse

[JCKelly]

Nearest I ever came was a "canoe rifle" 24" .45 rifled barrel, filed it half-octagon. Made iron trigger guard, flat brass butt plate nailed on & serpent sideplate myself, used a very good but inauthentic Shoults pattern lock bought from Red Farris (yeah, a while back). Handy, when one is in the lead canoe coming down river it is fun to put a ball through that wasp's nest hanging over the river. Even more fun to hear the yelling from the canoes following. Ah, the good ol' days.

Sold the gun for reasons Politically Incorrect to say here about the barrel, but removed & kept that fine Roller lock.