iron nose cap / swamped barrel

[StevenV]

As you can see in the pics, the swamp at the muzzle end of the barrel. The one piece nose cap I made is .800 inside width and 1.4" long , straight nose cap. I can install it but can't widen it any more. That means the it will not follow the profile of the fore-stock.
Should the nose cap follow the shape of the fore-stock? If so another nose cap needs to be made. I can make a " mandrel " out of wood and  wrap a piece of iron around it. Question is, when hammering the nose of the cap "face" will the wood stand up to that? How is this normally handled, mandrel for each nose cap??        StevenV

[Mark Elliott]

Yes, the nose piece does need to follow the forearm profile.   You will have to make a nose piece the width at the muzzle.  You can bend and file the rest.   A hard maple mandrel used with stainless steel hose clamps will work just fine for one or two pieces.  I normally use 22ga steel sheet for such pieces.  It doesn't need to be very thick.   Make a card stock template for the blank to make sure you have the width of the blank dead on.   It will make your work fitting the nose piece easier.

[rich pierce]

The one piece nosecap is a piece of cake for some and a pain for others to make. I generally ruin one and the second one is ok. Seems the amount and shape of the sheet metal to be peened over is critical. One way of improving a hardwood mandrel is to screw a piece of 1/8” steel to the face.

[P.Bigham]

 I do like Mark and make a card stock pattern. But I fit it directly to the Stock I don't use or make a mandral.