Author Topic: Original Blunderbuss - Making the proof marks (Read 6491 times)

Adrie luke · « **Reply #100 on:** November 12, 2024, 12:26:26 PM »

Dave

Post the video on youtube then post the link in a new topic.

Mick C · « **Reply #101 on:** November 12, 2024, 06:40:10 PM »

Holy cow that was a LOT of powder!!! I'd call it good too. Well done, indeed!

Daryl · « **Reply #102 on:** November 12, 2024, 09:20:09 PM »

Good job, Dave. Glad it's good to go.
Had there been any cracks, one of more of the OD measurements would have changed.

davec2 · « **Reply #103 on:** November 12, 2024, 09:40:35 PM »

I have a bore scope and will examine the ID end to end.

davec2 · « **Reply #104 on:** November 13, 2024, 01:48:50 AM »

Brief videos....all the same test, I just cropped each one so you could see the firing a little closer each time....I hope this works as I don't know what I'm doing posting videos to YouTube....

Daryl · « **Reply #105 on:** November 13, 2024, 01:51:32 AM »

Your "sled" worked perfectly, Dave. Had it not being able to slide and push dirt, it likely would have flipped & perhaps damaged the barrel's flare.

davec2 · « **Reply #106 on:** November 13, 2024, 04:50:23 AM »

Daryl,

That was the idea. I didn't want the barrel damaged on the outside by virtue of being thrown 50 feet in the dirt by trying to hold it down too hard.

Daryl · « **Reply #107 on:** November 13, 2024, 05:12:53 AM »

Just enough weight, a perfect design and voila'.
Bravo!
You must be a rocket scientist, after all, that's where you tested it.

dadybear1 · « **Reply #108 on:** November 13, 2024, 05:18:55 AM »

I BET SHOOTING THAT BY HAND WOULD "SMART" ABIT!!! LOL NICE JOB!!

Pukka Bundook · « **Reply #109 on:** November 13, 2024, 08:42:18 AM »

My thoughts exactly Dadybear!!

Good job Dave!

Mick C · « **Reply #110 on:** November 13, 2024, 08:12:28 PM »

Wow! Thanks for sharing.

JTR · « **Reply #111 on:** November 13, 2024, 08:31:37 PM »

Great video! Thanks for sharing!

davec2 · « **Reply #112 on:** November 19, 2024, 06:31:10 AM »

The fellow that commissioned this duplication of a blunderbuss asked if I could mimic the original proof marks and I said I would give it a shot. Now that the barrel has been proof fired, I spent some time trying to duplicate the original proof mark tools. I have a set I purchased from Track of the Wolf some time ago but they are 1) really too large and 2) they are made in reverse....they stamp the design into the metal rather than "coining" the design so that it is raised above the back surface in a small cartouche. So I dressed down a couple of pieces of W-1 drill rod and started in with a graver. These oval tools are not much bigger than a quarter inch in the long axis so it's tiny work but I think they came out OK. I changed the design enough so that, in the future, no one knowledgable would mistake the marks for originals from the 18th century. I may need to do some additional refining but so far so good.....

Tools.......

Struck in lead.......

Lead compared to original barrel marks.....

Pukka Bundook · « **Reply #113 on:** November 19, 2024, 04:26:45 PM »

Very nice work Dave, and may I say, Close enough to get you locked up in the UK!

flatsguide · « **Reply #114 on:** November 19, 2024, 04:58:16 PM »

Yes, very nice work.
Richard

davec2 · « **Reply #115 on:** November 19, 2024, 07:14:57 PM »

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I would love to know how the proof houses made those marking tools in the 18th century....and how striking a mark that deep in a barrel doesn't put a dimple in the bore. They must have put some sort of steel mandrel inside but I can't find any description of how that was done. Right at the end of the following short video, the inspector puts what looks like mandrels in the chambers of the shotgun before he hammer stamps the inspection marks.....but then, by the 1950's when this film was made, I believe the inspection marks were not of the "coining" type that require so much additional striking force to be seen clearly.....

?

And Pukka....after 26 years in the Navy, there were several times when I was threatened with incarceration overseas for one thing or another.

Falsifying a British blunderbuss barrel proof mark is probably the most benign reason for me to be locked up....

whetrock · « **Reply #116 on:** November 19, 2024, 08:59:07 PM »

Exciting to see your work on the punches.
Forgive my ignorance, but how will you support the barrel when marking it with these punches? I mean, do you put a fitted rod inside to support it?
It has always puzzled me that barrels are proofed, and then after the proofing someone takes a punch and drives it into the side of the barrel, right in the breech end. Always seemed counterintuitive to me. But that's not an opinion or a suggestion to do otherwise. Just my puzzlement. Eager to learn here.

Daryl · « **Reply #117 on:** November 19, 2024, 09:22:51 PM »

I have had the same feelings, whetrock.

flatsguide · « **Reply #118 on:** November 19, 2024, 09:43:59 PM »

S&W put mandrel’s in their thin walled .45 cal revolver barrels prior to roll stamping them.
Richard

davec2 · « **Reply #119 on:** November 19, 2024, 10:51:35 PM »

Whetrock,

I will install a mandrel that is a very close fit to the bore (0.875") and then use a hydraulic press I built quite some time ago now to apply the stamp. I don't want to take a chance on messing up the barrel by trying to use a hammer. I have much more controll with the press.

davec2 · « **Reply #120 on:** November 19, 2024, 11:20:59 PM »

Whetrock,

Here is a link to the press I built and will use to stamp this barrel......

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=1138.msg11556#msg11556

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Author Topic: Original Blunderbuss - Making the proof marks (Read 6491 times)