Bean boy's rifle

[Ben Quearry]

I've started building a 3/4 size copy of an original Bean rifle for a friend's grandson. I roughed out the buttplate and the guard over the weekend. The buttplate has a rivet to hold it together, then brazed (or sweat) together with copper as was the original. The guard is made from 3 pieces, with  "mortise and tenon" joints then copper sweat.



I'm working on the set triggers now. As you can see by the 6" scale everything is tiny.

Ben

[Acer Saccharum]

Cool project!


Word of advice Make it a little bigger than what he needs now. Plus: hurry up and get it done, kids grow fast.


I made a small gun for my son, and he got about two seasons out of it before he was too big to use it. But always it's something he has to treasure, that will never diminish. And if he has kids, well, he's all set up!

[Ben Quearry]

It is going to be fun. Jason at Rice Barrels is making a custom barrel for it. I remember when Myron Carlson made a couple of half size Southern Mountain Rifles and brought them to Friendship. They sure were neat. The boy is only a toddler now, I think they want it for a family heirloom more than anything else.

Ben

[Acer Saccharum]

Boy's (child's) rifles are pretty neat because of their scale. They indeed can become heirlooms. I wish you the best of progress and enjoyment on your project!

This is a gun I built for my son when he was ten. He's now 24. But he treasures his little rifle.

[JB2]

nice work!  could you give more details about the joints on that trigger guard?

[Ben Quearry]

Years ago I was fortunate enough to befriend Myron Carlson and he let me examine several of the original guns in his collection. I eventually wrote and published a book on what I learned "the Southern Mountain Rifle Sketchbook", so I try to emulate what was done on the original guns I studied;
The back of the bow is drilled and filed into a rectangular hole. The front of the grip is filed into a tenon shape to fit into this hole. The two are then fit together and the tenon is peened to hold it in place for brazing. Copper sweat actually. The rear finial on most of the originals was lap welded to the grip, just in front of the curl. I think this may have been done first before the bow was fit to the grip. On this little one I just sweat the finial to the grip with a lap joint. This is really a test guard; I made it from .060" stock but I think I will make the final guard out of .090" stock so I can file more detail into it with out losing too much thickness and I'll weld that joint. The hardest part is holding everything for brazing, that's why I try to peen the joints whenever the original design allows for it. I use several of the big visegrip welding clamps and some fixturing I have made over the years.
Ben