W.E. Kellar nosecap

[David Rase]

While attending the Tennessee / Kentucky rifle show in April I came across a unique, (to me at least) nose cap on a W. E. Kellar rifle which I happen to be making for my grandson.  What was unique about this particular nosecap is that it is formed from sheet steel and is open at the muzzle.  The wood is recessed a bit back from the muzzle and there are two holes drilled and countersunk at the oblique flats through the forestock into the barrel channel.  A furrow is carved from the muzzle end of the forstock back to these holes.   Pewter is then poured into the nosecap recess which runs down the furrow  and out through the countersunk holes in the nosecap thus securing the nosecap to the forestock.  Since this feature was used on the rifle I cam copying I decided to give it a try.  I have not posted a tutorial in a while I thought I would post some photos of the sequence documenting how I made the nosecap.  Turned out pretty cool, if I do say so myself. 
David
 
Preparation     






Furrows






Ready to pour


Completed nosecap

[elkhorne]

David,
Very nice job and another type of nose cap with a history. What was the approximate time in history that this was actually done? Great job.
elkhorne

[Tim Crosby]

 That is really cool! Look forward to seeing the completed rifle.

   Tim

[stuart cee dub]

A clever and time saving solution .I like it a lot .

The old gunsmiths weren't stupid , also less risky than building the tinker's dam and hoping the pour works out .

I build my dams using the cardstock from a corn flakes box and some masking tape.
Those might have been scarce item's back in the 1800's. 

[jerrywh]

Seems a lot harder than soldering.

[David Rase]

Seems a lot harder than soldering.

It was.  Pouring molten pewter into such a small cavity was a challenge.  The muzzle diameter on that rifle is only 5/8".  I thought about a redo but opted to leave the imperfections to keepwithinthe spirit of the original rifle.
David 

[B.Barker]

Neat detail Dave. I had never paid attention to the ends of nose caps on most mountain rifles. After you told me about the Keller nose cap I check them out closer.  You did a great job on the pour. It's really hard to get all the nooks and crannies to fill in completely because of air pockets.

[Joe S]

I thought about a redo but opted to leave the imperfections to keepwithinthe spirit of the original rifle.

I like that. Next time you critique one of my guns, I'm just gong to say, yeah, I could have fixed that, but that's how the original was.

[David Rase]

I thought about a redo but opted to leave the imperfections to keepwithinthe spirit of the original rifle.

I like that. Next time you critique one of my guns, I'm just gong to say, yeah, I could have fixed that, but that's how the original was.

Jose,
See Brian Barkers comment above about filling all the nooks and crannies! 

[Joe S]

I think you must be referring to this part from Brian's post:

You did a great job

...

Oh. Ok. I got it. Never mind.

[David Rase]

I think you must be referring to this part from Brian's post:

You did a great job

...

Oh. Ok. I got it. Never mind.

I can see we are already gearing up for a good time when we get together in August. 

[stuart cee dub]

You guys must be better much at installing nosecaps than me. Soldering is easy enough ,but for me getting a good tight fit is problematic . I loath inletting ram rod entry pipes too.
You could have been even less precise Dave and it would have still worked out .
 
I have on occasion resorted to using epoxy to take up the looseness then riveting because epoxy isn't worth do-da-lee long term .

In this case the pour takes up the slack and rivets it at the same time.
Most of my guns are fantasy guns built for match I'm always on the look out for clever ideas suited to my skill set .

[Tim]

I like the look of the nose cap and also the muzzle decoration looks good.
May I ask what tools you used to decorate the muzzle?
I building a Kibler SMR and can see myself doing something to the muzzle to jazz it up some.

[David Rase]

I like the look of the nose cap and also the muzzle decoration looks good.
May I ask what tools you used to decorate the muzzle?
I building a Kibler SMR and can see myself doing something to the muzzle to jazz it up some.

Tim,
I centered up the barrel in my lath and turned the 2 grooves.  Then I just used a center punch for the dot decoration.  I did a demonstration at one of our gunmakers fairs a few years ago on muzzle decoration.  I am posting a couple photos of the tool I used to scribe circles on the muzzle.  Using this tool does not require use of a lathe, but it does require a lathe to make the tool.  The mandrel is brass so the bore does not get damaged, the head is mild steel and the scribe is a tungsten TIG welding tip. Here is a link to a tutorial by Ken Guy on the same subject.  http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=2718.msg25876#msg25876
David
   

[Mark Elliott]

Thanks for sharing that nose piece.   It certainly was different.   

I am jealous of your muzzle decoration tool.   I have to do mine using period type tools and mostly by eye.   I wish I had a lathe big enough for a barrel but I don't.

[Craig Wilcox]

That IS a good tool, and shows a lot of thought in it's creation.
I believe that David is the "Compleat Handyman" by all the nifty tools he creates.  Grand handywork, always.

I must have a simpler mind, because I am trying to come up with a way to make that tool without a lathe.  Perhaps a pivoting bar with a sliding stylus - set the radius on the bar and tighten a set screw when you have the radius correct.  That would provide the scribed circle, if you used a centerpiece of the correct diameter for your particular bore.  I see that Mr. Rase is using separate punch holes on the various radii.

There remains the angular separation between the dots, but that could be solved with a protractor, OR you could line up with a land or a groove.  Even David's nice tool doesn't do that for you.

Our wonderful Mr. Rase is keeping my mind fertile!  Many thanks.

[Tim]

Thanks David for showing us how you decorated the muzzle.
I don’t have a lathe or the tool so any decoration I do will be done
With other hand tools or I may do something simple.