My first build and muzzleloader, inspired by Herb and JB

[Jakob]

Woah, that picture initially looked like the inlet was protruding out and not going into the wood. Took over a minute for my brain to flip it around.

[HighUintas]

I have a very hard time getting good pictures in my garage with the lighting positioned as it is!

[HighUintas]

More updates.

I posted this in another thread for advice but will put it here just to keep this thread consistent.

I drilled the lock bolt hole very crooked and it exited the off side too high. I decided to patch the holes and drill again. I have an extra lock bolt so I cut some of the threads off, put that piece in the hole with extra sticking out on both sides, and swaged it in with my shop press and files it down. It's nearly invisible.

Then I glued a piece of snug fitting dowel into the hole in the stock, cut out a slightly larger diameter plug of maple from the piece that came off the side plate side of the stock, drilled the dowel out a bit on that side, stained the interior hole surface and plug mating surface, then glued the plug in.

Old hole



Fixed lock plate. Needs polishing again



$#@* looking dowel patch



Then I drilled the holes again. This time, using my drill press. You can see the new plug. I believe the grain and color matches. The freshly cut plug hasn't darkened yet.



I cut my first dovetails ever. I used a hacksaw and a slim 6" file with one side ground smooth. The first one was horrible and I had to peen down the edges to hold the lug. The second one was better but still ended up having to peen the edges down. The third one is a snug fit and is just ok. I'll do much better when I do my sights!!

First


Second

Third


I am now making barrels keys from 1/16th sheet. I cut a 0.270 x 1.75" strip, filed down the edge to get the width to 0.250 and get the edge flat. I then heated the end to red hot and put in my voice very snugly with about 1/8-3/16" stuck above the jaws. Then forged the sheet down to form a head. This took multiple heatings and repositioning in the jaws. Then I filed the head into a suitable shape. I'll finally polish these later.

Sawing strips


Forging it. Mostly when in the vice it wasn't hot enough due to the vice being a heat sink. So I had to pull it out and anneal it then forge some more.


Right side is the lower foreend key, two on left on upper foreend. One more to file.




Then on to drilling the stock and tenons, which are not slotted yet and very narrow... Only a 0.420 wide tab. That will be nerve wracking.

[borderdogs]

HU,
Your project is coming along nicely. Drilling for the tenons and getting them to fit right is one of the hardest things for me to do. I hate fitting the breech and tapering ramrods but about the only part of building a rifle I approach with some apprehension is drilling and fitting tenons. For me it seems even with all the layout and measuring done and checked twice (or many more times) I always seem to create a problem. I'd much rather cut and fit dovetailed lugs. Good luck with the job I like watching your project proceed.
Rob

[HighUintas]

Here's an update on my progress. Since making the keys, I've done the following:

Drilled lugs for keys and inletted them. I found out that when using the heated key fitting technique, temperature is really important! For me, I found it worked the best and didn't burn too much wood when I heated the key to just under glowing or to when it barely hits a dull red. The first one I did ended up being a touch loose, so I had to bend the lug loop a bit to snug it up.

Inletted and installed trigger. Ignore the goofy bend on the front trigger! I need to finish cutting that off and filing it. Since I'm using the Davis dst6, my front trigger bar was too short and I had to take up too much trigger before contacting the sear. I cut off a piece of an old flat needle file, ground it down and polished it, then soldered it to the top of the existing front trigger bar. I now only have a tiny bit of playing the front trigger. The front unset pull is about 3.5lbs. higher than I want, so I may work a little on that. Trigger is fully functional and needs some finishing work to pretty it up.

I shaped the top of the wrist a bit more, giving it some curve and removing the hump on the top right behind the breech. Then filed down the tang a lot more... It's tapered to only about 3/32" at the rear. I think I may have worn out that file.

Drilled and threaded the tang bolts with a homemade quick and dirty point to point jig on my drill press. That operation was very stressful. Trying to balance the gun with the left hand while operating the press with the right was tough. I tried to get the gun stabilized with blocks so that I didn't have to hold the weight, but that didn't work as well as just holding it. Because my press is a POS, my front top hole is a bit off center even with a heavy center punch. The quill is very loose on this thing.

Now to countersink those holes, cut off the extra thread length, finish front trigger, and then I'll inlet the RR pipes and installing the butt plate. I sadly will not be making my own BP for this gun.

I think the shape of the wrist is much more pleasing to look at now.

[HighUintas]

Making more progress, albeit slowly due to July's vacations and getting ready for elk archery season.

I've got the buttplate installed, with only one minor gap that should disappear with swelling when I stain it and if not then it will be filled with wax and be invisible. It's on the cheek side in the upper corner and barely visible in the picture. I've got it screwed in with the countersinks done and screws filed down. I apparently am not capable of drilling a centered or square hole, no matter how careful I am! My screws are slightly off center on the buttplate and on the barrel tang. The buttplate screws arent bad enough to fix... it's not noticeable unless you really examine it. The barrel tang screws are another story. It looks like garbage and I'll have my kid weld up the holes later this year when he starts his welding class and then I'll redrill them, hopefully centered next time.  I've got an early start on shaping the butt and I'll be working on that and the wrist for the next week.

My desire to make my own 2 piece buttplate will have to wait. That will be a winter or next year project when I have more time to devote to figuring out how to do it with my limited set of tools and skills.

I chose to go with the early Hawken buttplate from TOTW because it's so thin and looks much more like a 2 piece than cast plate. I also like that it's fairly wide for a curved plate and I like the long toe on it.

I installed the buttplate with the toe being pitched out to the lock side more than the heel, so the buttplates vertical centerline is pitched  slightly counterclockwise in relation to the barrel's top flat. This was a mistake at first because my toe centerline was apparently not straight and I realized it partway in to installing it. But I removed the bulk of the wood on the butt stock so I could shoulder it comfortably and taped the buttplate on in that position with the toe out. It is mighty comfortable that way! It allows me to put the bulk of the buttplate on my shoulder and have the toe under my armpit. It should shoulder very very well when I get the shaping done.

[HighUintas]

Update.

Buttplate done, thimbles in, all of stock is shaped but needs some adjustments made on the butt and molding cut on the forestock.

What's should be next, the nosecap, toe plate, key escutcheons? I would do trigger guard next but waiting to get it back from my neighbor for a welding fix.

[Bill Raby]

It looks great so far.

[HighUintas]

It's been quite awhile since I've updated this thread.

I have the escutcheons, nose cap, trigger guard, and toe plate installed. The trigger guard took a different turn than I had originally intended, but I like the one I've come up with.

Left to do is the cheek piece inlay, patchbox, and potentially some forestock molding but I'm not sure yet on that one.

Below is a picture of my patchbox finial.

Does it look like it's bent to match the contour well enough?





Here are some more recent photo updates, but it doesn't show my trigger guard installed.
























Also, the nosecap is purchased. I made the escutcheons. Here's how I bent them. It seemed to work ok. I was going to pin them in, but filed too heavy a draft on the edges and after inletting them realized that simple pins may not hold well because they weren't very tight in the inlet. I put some wriggle engraving on the backside, used some JB 5 min epoxy in the screw holes and inlet, put the escutcheon in, used size 0 wood screws, then filed the head off the head so the screw slot was gone but left enough of the head to seat on the hole countersink and appear as a pin.




















get url for photo

[Preacher Dave]

I went back and read the whole build documentation today after following the story for some time. It has been very interesting to see all of the solutions you have come up with and gunsmithing kinks you have used to overcome barriers to success. I haven't done a Hawken or Plains type build since the late '70's, but your build has somewhat renewed my interest in doing one again. Do you have any idea of what the weight of the rifle will be when completed?

[HighUintas]

I went back and read the whole build documentation today after following the story for some time. It has been very interesting to see all of the solutions you have come up with and gunsmithing kinks you have used to overcome barriers to success. I haven't done a Hawken or Plains type build since the late '70's, but your build has somewhat renewed my interest in doing one again. Do you have any idea of what the weight of the rifle will be when completed?

I think I found nearly all the tricks I utilized on this forum. I owe a huge debt to the gentlemen here that have made their knowledge available.

I think it will end up being around 8.5 pounds, but potentially less.

[HighUintas]

Here's where I'm at with my project.

I've got the door/finial and first side plate in. I need to take the rear corner of the side plate a little deeper. Then I'll get the second side plate cut out and inletted.

I unfortunately filed down the finial too early. The door near the hinge sits higher than the end meeting the buttplate, so it will be a bit thin near the hinge.

I have some gaps that bother me. Not sure if I'll glue a little wood in or see how noticeable it is after it's finished.

Getting the bends of the patchbox and side plate to match my butt stock was tougher than I thought. Hopefully, she turns out looking ok.

[Ed Wenger]

I think it’s already turning out much better than ok, especially for a first time build!  It sounds like you have a good handle on what’s supposed to be “right”, and have endeavored to work that out.  From a craftsmanship point of view, the overall “look” is very pleasing.  I think it flows well, is neat, and your wood to metal and metal to metal fit is very nice.  That can be difficult to do when working with steel parts.  Nice job…, looking forward to seeing more of the progress.   Best,

          Ed

[Herb]

HighUintas, I think your work is impressive!

[HighUintas]

Thank you both for the kind words.

Patchbox is done and everything is shaped and flush and smooth. Now it's time for sanding, whiskering, and deciding if fluting or any incise lines are appropriate before stain.

I think likely not, as this is sort of a mix between a mountain working gun like a Hawken and Philip Creamer's fancy work. I'll put some engraving on the metal after I learn, but I think fluting the forestock and doing an bead line similar to the Creamer rifle, would likely be a little out of place for what this is supposed to be.

[Spalding]

That’s some very nice metal fit/ finishing on that patch box HU. Metal work/finishing is my favorite part of this hobby and I can see the time, effort, and sore fingers that went into that. Well done.

Bob

[Martin S.]

Your workmanship is superb.

Your lock inletting is fantastic.

Please tell me you are going to replace the Phillip's head screws with slotted screws.

[HighUintas]

Your workmanship is superb.

Your lock inletting is fantastic.

Please tell me you are going to replace the Phillip's head screws with slotted screws.

Thanks. Absolutely. That will be one of the last things I do. I'm good at buggering them up even after hardening with the cherry red stuff

[HighUintas]

Finished (very nearly) rifle https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=77529.0