STARTED ... FINALLY.

[Topknot]

 Well, i finally got started on my first rifle yesterday and have already made a mistake. I have a pre-carved stock and pre -inletted for lock. barrel and the ramrod drilled. I was inletting the barrel back to the breech end to sqare it up against the wood and i cot in to the ramrod channel a little bit. very small hole . any suggestions for a fix?

[heinz]

Topknot.  Do not worry about it. The barrel will cover the hole up.  Actually not an uncommon event, even in originals.

[Acer Saccharum]

Sometimes the rr hole comes out in the lock, or goes toward the sideplate, or comes out the bottom of the stock. Consider yourself lucky.  No need to fix what you gotz.


Now is the time to start thinking about your lockbolts. If you can't get your front lock bolt between the rr and barrel, can you get it UNDER the RR?

Maybe your build doesn't need a front lockbolt?

Somebody, I wish I could remember who, invented a neat scraper on a rod so you could open the rr hole up on one side only. A rod with a hook on it. Pull out, cut a long shaving off one side of the hole.

[Eric Smith]

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=258.0


Here is a link to that. I havn't seen a post from Dan for quite some time. Anyone heard from him.

[Topknot]

 great idea. but my ram rod hole is a 5/16th . I guess i can look around and
try to find some thing smaller. TOM, you mentioned that i might have to go under the ramrod channel with the front lockbolt. how is that done?
 thanks guys for all the replys`.

                                                        topknot

[Acer Saccharum]

TOM, you mentioned that i might have to go under the ramrod channel with the front lockbolt. how is that done?

Again, it really depends on the gun style you're building, and the lock. You might be able to really drop the nose of the lock down, but the style of lock has to be suitable, say, one wth a tall plate a lot of banana. The gun would be a beefy style, like a jaeger, with plenty of real estate under the barrel.

[Topknot]

TOM, the style rifle that im trying to build is a Dickert, but im using a large siler percussion lock. would it work on that style of rifle? I am ordering one of drill guides from mr. rase. The lock bolts are 8x32 . also i caused the wood to split/ crack some inside the lock mortice while i was squaring up the breech area behind whe barrel area. its a very small hairline split.
can i glue it back together? what type of glue should i use?

                  thanks in advance,

                                                topknot

[rich pierce]

The topic of glueing cracks has been addressed here a bunch of times.  Gluing that up is the first step.  Try searching "crack" and "glue".

A percussion Siler could represent a conversion of a Dickert rifle from flintlock to percission.  In fact Chambers has one with remnants of a pan cast into the lockplate.  In such a case to represent something historically accurate, the gun would need to show 20-60 years of use, depending on when Dickert made the rifle originally.   Dickert worked from the mid 1760's into the early 1800's if I recall correctly, and a percussion conversion would post-date 1825, most likely.

Howsomever there are plenty of percussion era Lancaster guns to model yours after and they would use a later lock style.  You'd need narrower hardware and to modify the stock accordingly.  Usually but not always the stocks would have more drop than earlier ones as well.  Look up a Fordney or two for percussion era Lancaster rifles.

[Acer Saccharum]

Well, now, with a percussion lock, you are going to be using a drum, I presume. The lock can really only pivot around the drum. When out of the stock, you hold the lock into its drum on the bbl, and rotate it to see what angles you can get, and how much space you have under the bbl for a bolt. If you need to rotate the lock Clockwise far enough to miss the ramrod, it may be at a real dumb looking angle. You need to pursue alternatives.

Take some modeling clay, and you can stick the lock in place on its drum in various positions. The clay will hold enough to allow you to turn the assembly over for measuring. You can even mock up a piece of ramrod, and stick that with clay, replicating the web you have.

To find your exact web thickness, drill a little hole from the barrel channel into the rr hole. then you can use a small pin to measure how far down that is.

T

[Don Getz]

Top........here's an idea that will solve all of your ramrod hole/front lock bolt problems.   Since you are doing a percussion
gun, I would just eliminate that front lock bolt, after all, most percussion guns only had one lock bolt....the rear one.   If
you agree with me, you might put a fake lock bolt on your side plate.    If you are going to build guns, you must learn how
to cheat............Don

[Acer Saccharum]

CHEATER! 

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Top........here's an idea that will solve all of your ramrod hole/front lock bolt problems.   Since you are doing a percussion
gun, I would just eliminate that front lock bolt, after all, most percussion guns only had one lock bolt....the rear one.   If
you agree with me, you might put a fake lock bolt on your side plate.    If you are going to build guns, you must learn how
to cheat............Don

Don........you are giving away the secrets!!!!!! 

[Don Getz]

I have only done this two times, but have struggled many times trying to get around that darn front bolt........Don

[54ball]

 Lets look at this...

 He has broke through the barrel channel and cracked the lock mortise.  Why?  Dull tools? Being too heavy handed?
 A dull tool will cause you to be heavy handed and will split wood rather than cut it.

 Assuming the rr hole is straight, the only reason to break into the rr hole is taking way too much bite with the chisel.  Also the method of removing the rounded wood at the end of the channel may not be ideal.

 Topknot, is your barrel straight?  If so you can blacken the breach end, place the bbl in the channel and slide the barrel back into the round unfinished breach area.  Tap the muzzle with a soft object to transfer color to the wood.  Remove only the blackened wood with a sharp chisel.  Repeat mark repeat and mark until the bbl is flat against the stock.
  If it's swamped you'll have to procede differently.  It's to complicated to describe but you'll need to bring that bbl down straight into the channel.  Having the muzzle in the channel is not good, you'll have to support the muzzle above the channel and bring the whole barrel straight down.  Make sure you keep everthing aligned and straight.  Measure mark fit, repeat and repeat and you'll get there.

 The mark and fit method is slow but it's practice for later inlets like the lock.  It also prevents too big of bites.

 Topknot, you can build it into anything you want.  Keep in mind at this point you could go with a Slier flintlock.  This would save some fit work.

 Topknot, go slow do not rush.  Just take it a little at a time.  It's not the mistakes you make that define greatness, it's how you adjust and recover.

 I'm a new builder myself.