Author Topic: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s  (Read 2588 times)

Offline rich pierce

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 19477
First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« on: March 09, 2023, 08:09:57 PM »
I’ll start. My previous experience was assembling and finishing a Sharon Trade Rifle kit.

This build in 1978 was my first from a blank, in what I thought was Bucks County style.
Bought parts: Freddie Harrison sugar maple blank, GRRW tapered 42” .45 caliber barrel, 15/16” at the breech and 13/16” at the muzzle, trigger guard and buttplate from Dixon’s, and assorted small parts. I cannot recall if the L&R Durs Egg lock was complete or a kit. They used to offer sets of castings. Made parts: sideplate, trigger, trigger plate, underlugs, nosecap, sights, patchbox, toeplate. I was working from a picture in one of Shumway’s little books, Longrifles of Note. I also had the Recreating the Longrifle book.

I’m still happy with fit and finish, strong but wrong architecture, and construction of the many parts, especially the patchbox. I’ve considered re-stocking it to get rid of the 5/16” web and get the architecture and carving right (not looking like spaghetti on a plate), but it’s become a good old friend. Ignition is great and the barrel is easy to load and very accurate. Friends can shoot it into 2” at 100 yards. 3-4” for me on a good day.

I hope others will post details of their first builds from a blank from this era.

























Andover, Vermont

Offline scotti

  • Starting Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2023, 09:11:13 PM »
Alright I'll jump in, my first blank build. My interpretation of what an early iron mounted Virginia rifle might look like. Chambers lock, 44inch Oct to round Colerain in 54 cal. Hand made picked heart front sight of German silver. Sorry for the poor pics. They are literally pictures of pictures I printed years ago








Offline scotti

  • Starting Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2023, 09:13:58 PM »
Pinched heart front sight...sorry for the typo.

Offline Robby

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2655
  • NYSSR ―
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2023, 12:53:01 AM »
I posted pictures of my first long gun some time ago. At the time I made it I figured it was going to be 'my one and only', and have to admit I went a bit over board and tried out a lot of handy work I had no experience with. All in all it was widely accepted with some constructive thoughts on various parts of it. One exception, a fellow all but called me a liar, not flat out, more like how a woman does things. I was taken aback at first but after some reflection I decided that in a way it was pretty high praise. The internet.
Robby
molon labe
We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. A. Lincoln

Offline smylee grouch

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7901
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2023, 01:02:50 AM »
Great topic Rich. A few years back we had a long run of first builds on the forum here and a revisit would be OK. I'm going to try to find the pics from my first. It's been over 50 years.

Offline JPK

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 386
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2023, 01:40:45 AM »
My first blank build from 1980 with little knowledge about proper long rifles. Green River barrel 1 1/8” to 1” by 36” long, 54 calibre. Siler left hand lock kit, $35 maple blank, cast trigger guard and butt plate, all small parts hand made and trigger of unknown make. Total cost with a couple of tools, $160. 
all 492 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr
all 493 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr
20111225115437_04 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

Looks a bit better in sunlight.
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

Offline MeliusCreekTrapper

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 224
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2023, 03:30:09 AM »
This was my second build, first was a Track English fowler which I learned a lot in. This fowler was inspired heavily by 3 of the Phineas Sawyer fowlers in Grinsdale's book. The stock is cherry, barrel is 48 inches, 20 bore from RE Davis, and the lock is a Chambers early Kentland.






Offline WKevinD

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1427
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2023, 07:05:05 AM »
One of my first from a blank,(lower gun) .75 caliber 48" Getz smoothbore, 1650s horizontal sear flintlock in a cherry stock I built for a bear hunt in New Brunswick sometime mid eighties.
Kevin

PEACE is that glorious moment in history when everyone stands around reloading.  Thomas Jefferson

Offline blienemann

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 304
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2023, 12:17:47 AM »
Like Rich, I put together quite a few Sharon or other Hawken kits or sets of parts - some were from a short blank or precarved without inletting. Same for Leman and generic southern mtn rifles. I finished several long guns someone else had started, tried a little carving with an exacto knife. After many years of asking, a local gunstocker finally agreed in 1988 to teach me to build a longrifle. This is it - a version of the Klette rifle with a different patchbox. I paid $50 per hour tuition - enough that I really listened and learned. Would spend a little time with him, then back home to do the work. Inlet the swamped GRRW barrel with rails, took day and a half and turned out well. Had a Twigg lock so used it. The mounts were sand cast off patterns from the original Klette. Took me a day and half to make up a decent forend cap. He would demonstrate shaping, carving, engraving - then I would go home and finish. Scraped finish. Took about 6 months and I had about $2,000 in that rifle, but now I had my version of "an original" that I could study and remember how the tools worked to create those lines.
 









My next longrifle from a plank on my own was my idea of what Andreas Albrecht might have stocked up just after moving to Lititz in 1771, with profile and carving evolving from C's Spring to Lancaster. Plain maple, put this lock together from castings off a large German holster pistol, Getz barrel, used available mounts, simple carving and scraped finish. Using the "Klette" was great to refer back to, remembering the tools and techniques used to shape the various areas.












Online davec2

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2941
    • The Lucky Bag
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #9 on: March 11, 2023, 01:15:39 AM »
In 1969 I was a sophomore in high school and had never seen a long rifle except the ones on TV that were only movie props.  However I did get a hold of a Dixie gun works catalog, but couldn't afford any of the rifles in it.  I eventually saved up enough to buy a Dixie brand .45 caliber barrel, a butt plate, and a trigger guard casting.  In a empty lot nearby my home someone had cut down an old walnut tree a few years before.  I asked the owner if I could have some of the wood to build a rifle.  He got a kick out of the idea and said I could have all I wanted.  I couldn't afford a lock either but thought I could make one.  It took me several weeks to make the lock from scrap steel and the only thing I had to copy was the fuzzy black and white photos (the size of a gnat's rump) in the Dixie catalog and a really lousy Spanish flintlock replica pistol I had seen in a local gun shop.  At any rate, this was the result, one of the ugliest rifles known to man.  However, back in the 1970's, I won a few off hand rifle matches with it (one on the 4th of July at the Pendleton Marine Corps Base) and still shoot it from time to time.  It would be a perfect poster gun to catalog every possible mistake that can be made in building a gun.













By the time I was a senior, I realized how bad the first rifle was (but still didn't know what i didn't know) so I started on building a matched pair of rifles for my Dad and I.  Douglass straight barrels, butt plate and trigger guard castings from Dixie again but two maple blanks from Golden Age Arms rather than walnut this time.  I made two more locks....not great but WAY better than the first one.  Here are a few photos....bad architecture.....bad carving....bad engraving....poor gold wire inlay.....stained with potassium permanganate (faded now) and finished with a high gloss varnish used for bowling alley floors....but they both shoot straight....even looking back at them now I think they weren't bad for a know nothing 18 year old.    ;)




































find duplicates online
"No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company."
Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1780

Offline Oil Derek

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 288
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #10 on: March 11, 2023, 02:05:47 AM »
Wow David, you were an overachiever even as a punk!!   ;) :D. Destiny called you and you obliged.  Doubt I could ever get close to those.  Kudos to you sir.

galudwig

  • Guest
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #11 on: March 11, 2023, 03:03:18 AM »
I’m sorry, but none of these first, second, third builds, etc. inspire the reluctant to post their first, second, or third builds. These are all too nice. Nothing discourages the average beginner from posting more than seeing what way more talented beginners are posting. It also kind of addresses the point I tried to make in another thread. The only ones who are critiquing the work being posted here are the ones posting their work here. Everyone else is just heaping on praise. To generate useful discussion, it would be nice to see people agree with the builders critiques and say, “Yeah, you really messed up on this particular aspect. Here is what you could have done differently” or “Here is why this particular element works or is correct for this build.”

These guns are all water under the bridge and the builders have all improved their craft since then. But the newbies can still learn from honest critiques of past works posted on this site. Perhaps if there was a section dedicated to first, second, third builds (etc.) that are posted and critiqued anonymously? Only ones who would know the identity of the posters and the commenters would be the administrators. The poster would see the critiques, but not the names of the critics. The critics wouldn’t know who the gun belonged to and would feel free to offer honest comments. Posters could ignore or take the comments to heart and not hold them against anyone. I think it would also cut down on bullies posting irrelevant comments because you’d take away their pulpit.

Offline Oil Derek

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 288
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #12 on: March 11, 2023, 04:44:05 AM »
What a fascinating concept galudwig!  At first blush, I like it.  Maybe it could  be the CliffsNotes of “What not to do building a Longrifle”.

I’m almost 64 (forced retired last December) and now living off savings, but have followed this forum the last few years.  Maybe it’s just romantic wishful thinking, but I kinda would like to try my hand at a plank build.  However, reality suggests that I don’t have the skill set (Nor transferable ones), keen enough vision or patience to push through a build.  I grid lock easily, and then probably get sloppy.  Plus, this speaks nothing of research resources and readily available original Guns for hands on study.  The only builders that I’ve brushed shoulders with are Art DeCamp, Mark Wheland, Randy Sherman and Jeff Teebe. The first two are too far away and seriously doubt the latter two are available to mentor me.

Your idea might be highly useful for a beginner that can’t get schooled properly.

Offline rich pierce

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 19477
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #13 on: March 11, 2023, 05:04:09 AM »
Gary that’s a great idea.
Anyone reluctant to post a build, but would like it critiqued without their identity revealed, feel free to message me.

Another idea is to discuss common architectural or design flaws and why they happen and how to avoid them.

Example 1: most of us grew up with cartridge guns that were basically rectangular in cross section in the forearm. We may not realize these influences but they are there. So, we don’t have any context or idea that forearms are NOT supposed to be rounded over rectangles. Oval. Round. It’s nt intuitive and it’s not easy.

Example 2: Many percussion era guns have wide lock panels. Some original SMRs too! And ALL the production percussion rifles that came out in the 1970s had wide fat lock panels and the stock shape beside the tang was practically flat on all of them. Our brains absorbed that as “normal”.  But it’s not, for many/most flint era guns have very narrow lock panels and the stock beside the tang slopes beautifully, mirroring the slope of the octagonal barrels. Not intuitive. You’re not going to pick it up naturally when you look at pictures.
Andover, Vermont

Offline oldtravler61

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4412
  • We all make mistakes.
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #14 on: March 11, 2023, 05:14:13 AM »
  Dave if these are your second and third build you did after high school.  You are way ahead of anyone I have ever seen building guns in over sixty years of study and I have seen and handled a lot of the top builders work.
 I'm Impressed to say the least.
How or who helped you along was extremely gifted. If you learned by yourself. You are one exceptionally talented individual.  Wow....

Online davec2

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2941
    • The Lucky Bag
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #15 on: March 11, 2023, 10:46:35 AM »
Galudwig,

Another idea is to have the builders themselves explain what is wrong with their early work.  (I will start in on my previous post tomorrow and explain why I think my own early work was seriously flawed).  Others can join in with their own opinions of what may be right or wrong with the guns posted.  No one should be reluctant to post their work.... good, bad, or indifferent.  And we should all have a little thicker skin about what others may say about our work.  I have posted several things over the years that I originally thought looked fairly good.... only to discover that they didn't look that good to others....and I realized they were often correct in their opinions and it was their honest comments that taught me what I had done poorly.  I have always assumed that the object of the game here is to learn what we don't know from others who are more experienced and knowledgable and harvest others opinions about how to do things better the next time.  I learned a lot from lurking on the old board back in 2008 but really started to get useful (and generous) instruction when I started posting what I was doing and asking specific questions.  John Ennis, Angelo Bee, and Jerry Huddleston were not easy on me when I specifically asked for their "brutally honest" opinions....and they were my best teachers because they didn't pull any punches.  My work is much improved because of their honest opinions and i will be forever thankful to them for taking the time to tell me what I had done poorly.

More tomorrow....

PS:  Oil Derek & Old Traveler.....thank you for the kind words.  I had the huge advantage of sitting down at a bench and working in my Father's dental laboratory from the age of 6 making dentures, partials, crowns, and bridges.  It was all hand work and my Dad was unbelievably talented with his hands....and a patient teacher.  I worked as a dental technician from age 6 until I left for the Navy at 18.  I refer to that time as my first of four entirely diverse careers.... ;)
« Last Edit: March 11, 2023, 10:54:02 AM by davec2 »
"No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company."
Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1780

galudwig

  • Guest
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #16 on: March 11, 2023, 03:20:42 PM »
It’s easy to say that “we all need to have a little thicker skin about what others say about our work.”  Why is it always the builder who has to learn how to accept criticism? Why is it that no one ever tells critics that they need to learn how to deliver criticism constructively? Why is it that people who have no constructive criticism to offer are given a free pass when they diss on people who do? People don’t develop thick skins overnight. They also won’t do it just because someone tells them they need to. Many people just can’t or won’t find the positives in negative comments. Those are the ones that won’t come back here. Most people just don’t bother with it because they don’t seek approval from online experts with high post counts. The current system doesn’t do a very good job at offering constructive feedback to builders. It also does not do a good job at filtering out the non-constructive criticism or comments. If ALR wants to be a leader in those areas, we need to change our approach.

One of the most revered and respected models for relaying constructive criticism to builders has been Dixon’s Gunmakers Fair. With its demise, the Kempton Gunmakers Fair stepped in. They understood  the value of Dixon’s to the Longrifle Culture and made it their mission to continue it. In that system, builders submit their work for judging, anonymously. Even though the judges are known, they are knowledgeable and respected members of the Culture. Their critiques are offered anonymously. They don’t pull any punches either. They tell you what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s ugly. That is where I was going with my earlier comments. Dixon’s has and now Kempton is the epitome of hands-on critiquing for builders. ALR could be the online version of Dixon’s/Kenton with a little more work.

Heck, ALR has even become major component of the Dixon’s/Kempton Fairs. We do all kinds of demos. Why not have a group of ALR members that builders can approach informally during the Fair? They could offer constructive criticism for people who have neither the desire or the confidence to enter the formal judging. People who truly want to improve their craft will offer their work up to such outlets that will offer legitimate critiques.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2023, 03:56:19 PM by galudwig »

Offline oldtravler61

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4412
  • We all make mistakes.
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #17 on: March 11, 2023, 04:50:28 PM »
  galudwig well said and I agree with most of what you are saying. But the high post count just to me means they have been on here a long time.
  What I'm getting at is when people / amateur builders comment. It's usually because they learned something the hard way. They don't want the next guy to go through what they did. But none the less it could be helpful to someone.
  Sometimes comments are taken way out of context when it is first read. I have had that happen more than once. Another thing that I know applies to me.  When someone writes down how to so something to help. I can  read it and it just doesn't sink in. But like smart dog does and others. They show their knowledge with pictures. That helps a lot.
  Kempton is a long ways to go for me. But this site is where I go everyday and theirs a lot of good people on here. That go out of their way to help.
  Last thing as a final comment . I know I can get good advice from amateur builder's as much as the more experienced ones. 
  Oldtravler

Offline rich pierce

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 19477
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #18 on: March 11, 2023, 05:36:27 PM »
Dave Person does a lot of “going over” people’s builds informally at Dixon’s and Kempton.  He’s very encouraging and knows how to suggest where a build could be taken a level higher.

Though the spirit of Dixon’s was wonderful and many teaching session offered, there were many flaws in their judging. “Needs to see more original work.”  How many saw that? For decades, the system they had offered very little helpful feedback. The judges would call a rifle patterned after a very early, well-known and published colonial rifle, a “jaeger” in their comments. There was some ignorance about originals by those who said, “ needs to see more originals”!  There was more wrong with it, but they were trying to judge work and be helpful. No doubt about that. Toward the end they changed their model from a deduction based scoring to a plus-based scoring. Before that, the simplest gun could win. No carving deduction because no carving.

No system is perfect and it’s clear that the majority of folks who post - which may not reflect the membership 100%, do not want more active moderation. The best hope for improvement here is this discussion. There will be personalities who thrive and are motivated by critiques others would find harsh. Thick skin or thin skin should not be a requirement for receiving constructive criticism. We are all different. 

If builders who post here state what they want for feedback, whether a work in progress or a finished gun, their contributions will help forward the craft and community.

We pre-suppose that everyone building a gun wants to know how it could be improved from a master’s point of view. That is not so. Some, maybe many builders find completing a kit that results in a very fine-shooting, reliable gun that is several steps above a manufactured gun, a worthy goal. Good on them!

No critique requested
“Here’s a turkey gun I just finished. It’s a big step up from my TC with a smoothbore drop in barrel. A real long gun flintlock.”

I need help
“I’ve got this Christians Spring build in progress from a blank and I’m trying to figure out how to handle the stepped wrist transition. Please take a look and tell me how it’s going and how you do it.”

“Im shaping the lock panels on this one and it will be my first attempt at lock moldings. Well, second. I dug things up last time I tried. I simply don’t know how to do the “beaver tails” at the wrist. Do I need to leave the wrist oversized then pare it down after carving out the beaver tails?”

I’m done. What would you suggest I improve or work on in future builds?
“Here’s my finished 1770s Reading gun similar to RCA 21-23. Open for critique. I like this style and want to get to where I really have it down.”

« Last Edit: March 11, 2023, 06:41:39 PM by rich pierce »
Andover, Vermont

Offline Oil Derek

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 288
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #19 on: March 11, 2023, 06:33:31 PM »
Mr blienemann, your Klette really speaks to me!  This is what I envisioned when desiring a custom made for me at the beginning.  I was pouring over Gusler’s Va. steel mounted rifles.  Love that discernible stepped wrist!  Plus I really dig the scraped finish treatment, but in ignorance don’t know how prevalent that was as a final treatment.  To my amateur eye this is very excellent work. I would be tickled to be able to build a rifle this good.  Thanks for posting this.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2023, 06:36:54 PM by Oil Derek »

Offline P.W.Berkuta

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2212
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #20 on: March 11, 2023, 06:54:47 PM »
Here are two rifles that were bulit by me from planks. The Hawken-ish rifle was done in 1969 and the flintlock was done in 1970. The lock on the Hawken is all hand made, the barrel retaining pins are nails.













"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it." - Chinese proverb

Offline rich pierce

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 19477
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #21 on: March 11, 2023, 07:22:39 PM »
Here is how the lock panels on my first build are completely unlike originals. Note the height first. There’s almost no taper of the wood beside the tang. On the bottom I made a weird scoop to thin the panels not knowing I could do a rounded slant of the wood from the lock panel edge to the trigger plate. The front lock molding is ok in my view. But I had no idea how to shape the transition from the flat lock panel to the wrist and make a decorative feature at the transition. Dave Person and Mike Brooks among others have shown this in tutorials. All available now but take some digging out. Ask and folks can direct you to specific tutorials.





« Last Edit: March 11, 2023, 08:02:30 PM by rich pierce »
Andover, Vermont

Online davec2

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2941
    • The Lucky Bag
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #22 on: March 12, 2023, 03:51:35 AM »
In keeping with my previous post, I will make some of my own critiques on my first rifle posted above.  I will start at one end and work toward the other....

1) Butt plate:  The casting I chose from the Dixie catalog was actually for a Hawken rifle.  Not knowing the difference between a Hawken and a trade musket at the time, I just liked the curve of that plate and used it.

2)  Patch box:  It is made from 1/16" thick brass sheet and the design was all my own. In my enthusiastic ignorance I could not imagine that using brass sheet any thinner than 1/16" was in the least way possible from a sturdiness stand point.  As you might imagine, and with all the piercings I decided looked "great", inletting those narrow sections that deep was way more effort than it was worth....and it doesn't take much of a closer look to see how rough the inletting actually is. The hinge on the box is from the hardware store.  Too narrow, and really too sloppy for a door that heavy, I simply notched a spot for it and soft soldered it in place.  The catch was originally a clutch back from a tie tack soldered into a hole in the door.  The corresponding pin that the clutch engaged was held in place in a hole in the stock with pink dental acrylic.  Later, realizing at least how out of place that was, I replaced the tie tack with a small magnet.....equally historically incorrect.....but at least not so noticeable from the outside.  As for the design of the box and side plates, I was assuming that learning to engrave was something I could do quickly (and easily) and I would just go back and add some decoration to the flat surfaces later.  As you can see, that was never accomplished.  I couldn't come up with a finial design for the box that I liked, so I made my own version of the US eagle insignia and put that at the top of the box.  On a positive note, the eagle is cast out of 18 karat dental gold (which was about $40 an ounce in 1970....so the eagle was worth about $18 for the gold it contained.)  Originally, the patch box door had no spring to kick it open (I couldn't see that in the tiny black and white, grainy photo I was using for a guide in the Dixie catalog) so getting the door open by pulling on the tiny part of the tie tack clutch sticking up from the surface of the door was a pain.  Later I added a spring.  However, it was strong enough to take the end off your finger if you didn't get your hand out of the way fast enough.  When I shifted to the magnet catch, the spring was stronger than the magnet, so that didn't work.  I finally took the spring back out....and haven't opened the patch box since.

3) The butt shape:  It is not quite apparent from the photos I have posted, but the butt shape has all the finesse of a hockey stick.  It is slab sided and I didn't know anything about drop or how to transition the shape of the nose at the wrist.  The wrist is also basically square with a very slight rounding of the corners.

4) Trigger guard:  The retention is by screws on both ends.  From the Dixie catalog picture I had no idea about pinning a trigger guard and figured it had to be retained by screws I couldn't see in the photo.  The "decorative" shapes I cut into the trigger guard ends also don't look like any long rifle I have ever seen since.  The shape just appealed to me at the time.  Again, with no engraving, the guard looked a little "plain".  So I carved and cast (in sterling silver) a small ship that I subsequently soldered onto the bow of the guard.  (Also something I have never seen on any original long rifle since.)

5) Trigger:  Not knowing any different, I made a wax pattern of a trigger and then cast it out of a chrome cobalt alloy used for dental partial frames...so if it looks like a chrome trailer hitch, it is made out of chrome !  I didn't know how a trigger was pinned through the stock, so I made a solid brass block with a slot in it to hold the trigger and pivot pin.

6) Lock and side panels:  Both are basically shapes that emerge from the flat side of the stock and have a slight radius transition done with a rat tail file.  There is no contour blending at all and the whole area is just a continuation of the "plank" that the stock is cut from.

7) Lock:  As noted above, I made the lock but it looks nothing like a real flintlock.  Rather it looks like the cartoon version I saw in a drawing and like a very poorly made Spanish lock that I had seen on a pistol.  At the time I thought it looked great....but I made and broke three frizzens trying to get one that would spark.  Even this one is welded back together where it broke again at some point.  I don't know how many main and frizzen springs I made trying to get one of each that would work.  I didn't know how to engrave so I etched the design into the lock plate with a resist and nitric acid.

8)  Barrel:  As noted, this was a Dixie barrel in .45 caliber.  I think they were about $25 at the time.  For the barrel inlet, I made a router bit that would cut the bottom of the channel but removed most of the wood with a dado blade in a table saw.  Fit was not all that precise.  I never pulled the breech plug when I got the barrel.  Long after the gun was built, I did.  Basically the plug was threaded 1/2"-13 so there was no shoulder at all and the plug was a little over 3/4" long.  Having measured where the face of the plug was originally (and not knowing that it was WAY too long) I just drilled the touchhole about an inch forward of the breech end of the barrel and located the lock position accordingly.  Of course, this made the architecture in the lock / breech / wrist area a mess...but I didn't know it was a mess at the time, so I just blended all the surfaces as best I could.   In later years I recognized that one would have to go way out of one's way to try to make the design any uglier.

9) Sights:  Home made....not very good....and both were placed as poorly as one might imagine.  The rear sight is right at the balance point and cuts you hand if you try to carry the rifle one handed.  The front sight is right at the very muzzle end of the barrel.

10) Fore stock shape:  By now I am sure you can imagine that the entire fore end of the stock is as poorly shaped as the rest of the stock.  Flat sides, flat bottom, some slight rounding of the edges.  The web between the bottom of the ram rod channel and barrel channel is about 1/4" thick and adds to the appealing "slenderness" of the fore stock.

All that being said, I had a wonderful time building this first rifle.  I learned a lot doing it and, despite its many and irretrievable flaws, I enjoy taking it out of my home made leather case and remembering how excited I was to have a "long rifle" that I could shoot.  And as mentioned, I even won a match with it on the Fourth of July, in the bicentennial year of 1976 at the US Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton, CA.   It has all the architectural finesse of a canoe paddle....but it's MY home made canoe paddle    ;)




"No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company."
Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1780

Offline Tom Currie

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1294
Re: First builds from a blank: 1970s and 1980s
« Reply #23 on: March 13, 2023, 12:12:26 AM »
I started my first rifle , built from a blank, around 1985. It took me 10 years to finish with work, kids , and learning skills as time allowed. The only reference material I had was Joe Kindig's book for review and a copy on Chuck Dixon's book from a friend.

It's clunky all over . Too tall at the wrist , concave cheekpiece, forestock way too heavy, lot of areas fell sort of rounded over which adds bulk.

Despite its challenges it was my hunting rifle for 20 years with good success from its Siler lock.

My advice for beginners is keep learning and try to improve as you go , study makes a big difference .  Shunways RCA volumes are great as well as KRA CDs for reference as well as seeing fine work which Dixons was great for.

The help I received from ALR friends and others here has been wonderful. I'm very thankful for this site and group of people I know.