Yet another pinning a nosecap question

[J.D.]

The " Another pinning a nosecap question" thread raised a point that I had not though of. I am preparing to build an iron mounted, circa 1805 SW Va,  rifle with rust blued barrel and furniture.

A copper rivet probably would not look right, even mounted on the bottom of the nosecap.

I briefly thought about pinning the nosecap under the ramrod and fire bluing the pin to blend it in, but that probably would not be good for the wood under the nosecap.

So, what would y'all suggest as to pinning a rust blued nosecap without distorting or marring the freshly blued finish in peening, filing, and finishing the pin?

How about forming the exterior of the pin/pins prior to bluing the nosecap. Then peen from the inside of the barrel channel using a formed swag to back up the exterior of the pin?

Just kinda thinkin...typin' out loud, so to speak...type.

Thanks much,
J.D.

[Dave B]

Rust blue requires the boiling of the browned parts so you should do it off the gun.
The use of a polished peening hammer will put a properly cut to Length rivet flush with your counter sink but it takes some practice. If you get a nice soft iron rivet. some rivets are Maunel which tend to be harder and you need to stay away from stainless steel. I have used 6d box nails for rivets I like squaring off the round head and inletting the square in the bottom flat of the barrel channel. Don't cut the nail clean off the first go, with the diagonal pliers come back and make the final cut at 90 degrees from the first one this keeps the metal more uniform as you peen it down. make some practice rivets and on a chunk of scrap metal see how much of a counter sink will it take to be perfectly flush with your muzzle cap so you wont have to file any thing at all. When your done you can hit your rivet with cold blue.

[J.D.]

Thanks Dave, that helps allot.

I learned to round off the cut end of a rivet. Rounded ends spread to fill a tapered or countersunk hole almost invisibly. And the cold blue will finish it off nicely

Thanks again.
J.D.

[Jerry V Lape]

Did they make originals with rust  blued nose caps and furniture? Was that in a particular school or time period?    I never thought about that until I read this thread. 

[J.D.]

I don't know if the furniture on original was browned, charcoal blued, rust blued, or otherwise, but mine will be rust blued. And since I only have photos to go by, I can't study the gun, eyeball to bore, so to speak, so I have no idea how the original was finished.

This is not your run of the mill iron mounted southern rifle, so the normal rules of Southern guns do not apply. The maker of this rifle really knew what he was doing. My inspiration is a very nice original iron mounted Va rifle with great architecture, great design and execution of the iron furniture, and light engraving. In short, the artistry on the original makes this gun worthy of a coupla little extras that should stand out without being gaudy.
 
How historically correct will the finish be? I dunno, but it's gonna be nice. Nothing overly fancy. Nothing gaudy. My goal on this one is understated elegance. I can only hope that I can do justice to the artistry and workmanship of the original.

I ain't no expert, so I will leave the question of an historically correct finish on the iron furniture to the experts. Feel free to comment, I'm always willing to learn from folks who  are more knowledgeable than I.

Thanks,
J.D.

[Jerry V Lape]

J.D.  I certainly didn't mean to imply you were incorrect.  There is now another thread on the forum addressing the question of period finishes.  It will be interesting to see if rust blued finishes were in use during the colonial period.  Might like one of those myself if I could figure out how to age it down to that old gray look that rust blue goes to after 50 years or so of use. 

[J.D.]

No offense taken Jerry. I wish I knew the answers to your questions. I suspect that by the mid to late 18th century and later, almost any finish could have been used, depending on the maker and what and from whom he learned. I chose a rust blue because it is probably the most durable of the period blues.

As mentioned in my earlier post, the rifle I am using for inspiration is an exceptionally well executed piece that could possibly have been rust blued, based simply on the expert workmanship and artistry apparent in this piece.

Thanks, and God bless.
J.D.