Roy Stroh Beck...Blog Site

[Don Getz]

Did you all check out the Beck "barn" gun made by Roy Stroh on the Contemporary blog site?   Son of a gun, he beat me
to the punch.   I've never seen anything posted by him before, nice looking gun..check out the thin lock panels.......Don

[Ken G]

Don,
I've seen several of Roy's guns before.  He is an excellant builder and this gun is pretty represenative of his work.  Outstanding. 
Ken

[David G]

Don, he is Tom's son. Roy calls that his Georgia gun due to the .45 cal. being legal for any critter that walks around here. He is doing some really nice work now.

[Roy S.]

   And fiigures.. it was the first morning that I had forgotten to check the blog..

Thanks for all the kind words 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Wonderful rifle Roy.  I think it is very representative of a common man's rifle without looking rough or crude - the rifle has excellent lines.  I'll bet it's a joy to shoot.

[Don Getz]

Roy.....was looking at your gun again.   I noticed that you do not have a trigger plate.   I thought about doing the same
thing on some of my "barn" guns, it just seems appropriate, along with a wood screw down thru the tang.....once again,
nice job.............Don

[Roy S.]

Don,
 I did a few little fun things on this buid, by  no means is it my fanciest work, but I do like a plain gun.  I actually built this for me, so I wanted a patchbox.. I may be one of the few that actually use them LOL. 

anyway I instead of inletting a plate for the spring to catch I did this seen on a Jaeger last year..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/RoyStroh/DSC_0243.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/RoyStroh/DSC_0244.jpg

a few nicer touches like double pinned both pipes

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/RoyStroh/DSC_0245.jpg

and used a 5/16 flared split ramrod to make it a bit more slender

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/RoyStroh/DSC_0246.jpg

So far so good on not using a triggerplate,  I figgured since I got a nice clean inlet on the trigger why use a plate? LOL

You will notice from the above pics that it is a bit thin in the butt... thats because I used some maple that I picked up from a saw mill here locally.. I think I have about $10 or $15 in this stock. 

Thanks once again for the compliments. 

[Roy S.]

Wonderful rifle Roy.  I think it is very representative of a common man's rifle without looking rough or crude - the rifle has excellent lines.  I'll bet it's a joy to shoot.

  Thanks    It is fun to shoot..

 Now do ya think I will win the lock polishing contest?? LOL

[Don Getz]

Roy.......we seem to think about the same way....that should scare you.   I too have been putting two pins in my ramrod
pipes, not for any specific reason, but it sure makes them more solid, I guess.    I also like your tapered ramrod, they
always look good on a gun.   The fact that the butt is slightly slimmer is no problem for me, many of the later period Beck
rifles were not big bulky things.   As for the patchbox catch, I have even just pounded a 6 penny nail into the stock and
trimmed it off flat, then removed wood in front of it for a catch, so that the spring was hitting on metal.....it's nice to be
innovative but simple here.  Since you live in Georgia, you should try to make it to the CLA show in Lexington, would be
great to meet a fellow "barner"..................Don

[Roy S.]

Looking forward to it.  I'll be there, and will be sure to introduce myself.  I should have the gun with me too.

[WElliott]

That is nice work, Roy.  Good to see a Georgia based maker's work.
Wayne Elliott
Marietta, GA

[ronpardue]

I know Roy and have seen several of his rifles.  He does great work and I think he is an up and coming gunsmith.

[Collector]

Roy S. 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/RoyStroh/DSC_0244.jpg

The little things that sometimes escape us- your breech plug scraper/jag appears to have been made from a old 'bit & brace' drill bit.  If so, it's a great adaptation of a tool that a common man would certainly have had access to.  It just adds to the 'character' of this piece and I'd love to see more detail, of it, if at all possible.  Thanks for sharing these photographs.

[Roy S.]

Thanks

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/RoyStroh/DSC_0336.jpg

Its just a simple flat twist worm that I made.  One of my other favorite worms is the one beside it.. I use these with patches or tow.  I keep both of these in my gun. I have looked over old bits, but never really found any that I would want to cut down to make a worm out of.   

[RobertS]

Roy, that is a great looking piece, and thanks for sharing it with us.  Regarding the flared and split ramrod, is the end flared because it was split and another piece inserted to make the flare, or am I reading more into this than you intended?  I always thought a larger diameter rod was worked down most of its length, leaving the flare at the end, but this suggests otherwise. 

Thanks again,

RS

[Roy S.]

Nope sorry for the misunderstanding.  I split out all of my ramrods from hickory and then make them with a flared tip, instead of a typical straight 3/8" or 5/16" rod.  Looks really good on a .54 or larger rifle or smoothie.  I have considered cutting an x and using two wedges for the flare.. just not too sure how that would hold up.

[Habu]

Roy, I used to make footed arrows using a similar process (though I used a bandsaw to make the split).  I never had one break at the point of the insert, so I'd think it would be fine for a ramrod.  There is a discussion of the procedure used here:  http://www.africanarcher.com/footed.html

To do a double insert as you described, you'd basically do the first insert, let the glue dry, rotate the shaft 90 degrees, and then do another.  It is easier to do a double while the shaft is still square.

Hide glue seemed plenty strong enough for use on an arrow shaft, though today I think I'd use epoxy just for the waterproofing.