Beck Nosecap Rivets

[far55]

After looking through a lot of old posts in the archives on J.P. Beck guns, I still cannot find a definite answer on the material he used for his nosecap rivets. Were they steel, copper, or brass ? The photos in the books that I have do not show enough of the nosecap to  see his rivets or the spacing. I was fortunate enough to handle one of his guns at the Baltimore Gun show a couple of years ago, but did not look at this detail. I am leaning toward steel. Any thoughts ? Thanks, Roland

[timM]

Iron on at least one rifle.

[B.Habermehl]

Brass, on at least two I have seen, copper or reddish brass on one. I've never seen iron used for nose cap rivets. BJH

[jerrywh]

 What makes you think he always used the same kind of metal. Iron is not a good rivet for a brass cap. The rivet should be softer then the cap to prevent distortion.  Besides that his apprentices probably did a lot of them or his stuff.  In many respects they weren't much different than we are today. They used what they had on hand.

[far55]

Thanks for your response guys, I was out of town for 2 days and did not have computer access.  Roland