Front sight picture

[Bob Roller]

Thanks Bob, I have two 50 cal conical  barrels I have been playing with off and on for a while ,long range for me would be around 150yds ,I have a 54cal and a 58cal round ball barrels that i would like to turn one of them into a good solid 125 yd gun,the 54 cal i have is not slow enuff i don't think 1/48 and the 58cal is 1/60,been thinking about a GM 54 with 1/70 twist

 There are 200 yard matches for round ball rifles at Friendship.I don't know
if these are heavy bench guns or hunting/target rifles and it wouldn't make
a big difference.I know good accuracy is obtainable at 200 with a round ball
and I shot my own 58 caliber flintlock with GM barrel at 260 yards which is
a measured distance at the range I use.I used 75 grains of DuPont 3fg.
A 1:48 is NOT a fast twist.A 1"18 IS a fast twist.The 58 caliber Springfield
used a 1:72 and used a long hollow base bullet.I don't remember what the
58 caliber GM's twist was.Your 54 caliber barrel will do fine at 125 yards.
I long ago gave up on paying attention to anyone that says that a specific
twist is a specific caliber is no good.I shot my original Whitworth with a
patched 450 round ball over 40 grains of 3fg and made 4 and 5 leaf clovers
at 50 yards easily.Same thing with a Bill Large 1:36 45 caliber.Load it lightly
and patch it tightly works.Don't take any words as gospel on these guns
until you prove to yourself what is said about them.

Bob Roller

[bob in the woods]

I've talked about this before; but..I built a rifle for long range [ 1000 yards ] with a .45 cal  1 in 18 twist barrel.
I shoot 535 gr bullets, but… it will shoot patched  balls into a ragged hole at 50 yds, and into less than 2 inches at 100 yards with a charge of 25 gr 3F.   It's subsonic, and gets a lot of attention at the range 

[gunmaker]

What load do you use for the big bullets in that .45 Bob ?   I'm going to make one for a friend--and have almost no experience with long bullets in fast twist bbl.    Tom

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

If you are going to shoot 500 + grained bullets you will need to get the velocity up to about 1200 fps in order to stabilize that bullet for long ranges.  So the use of a Chronograph (the Merciless Extractor of Truth) will go a long way to getting there.

[Bob Roller]

What load do you use for the big bullets in that .45 Bob ?   I'm going to make one for a friend--and have almost no experience with long bullets in fast twist bbl.    Tom

Tom,
I always used about 75 to 90 grains of 3fg DuPont or later,GOEX once they
got a handle on quality control.
WHAT kind of breech are you using?It is important to have a breech that does
NOT allow the pressure of the charge to push against the base of the nipple.
This excludes all the poorly made Hawken breech plugs and certainly no drum
and nipple of any kind should even be considered.
What distances are anticipated?Sights are another thing.This type of rifle isn't
complicated but there are things about them that go beyond long rifles.
Rod England makes a breech for these,a high quality one copied after an Alex
Henry long range rifle.His contact info is <rtengland864@aol,com> and his
phone is 1-864-590-6718.
Let me know how this progesses.I have had a lot of experience with these
rifles and have a preference for them.

Bob Roller

[shifty]

Bob

    I don't think i could afford to build one of those guns like you are talking about but what would you say it would cost to have just the breech plug made ball park figure.

[Bob Roller]

Bob

    I don't think i could afford to build one of those guns like you are talking about but what would you say it would cost to have just the breech plug made ball park figure.

The last time I had inquired,the breech plug for the Alex Henry was about $90 but it's
ready to install. It's a hook  breech with "ears" for a folding tang sight.I have the last
one from Don Brown's shop and the one Rod England offers is this one.He bought all
that pertained to the Henry project after Don passed away in 2008.This is NOT a
common item and it is QUALITY work and IMHO,a bargain.

Bob Roller

[shifty]

Thanks Bob that sounds like a very good price to me.

[WadePatton]

The best material I have found for front sight blades is sterling silver.  You can polish the silver by rubbing with your shirt sleeve  if needed...  The MARKSMAN badge was shaped with 4 triangular sections and will make 4 sights.  After cutting and shaping, I solder to either a brass or copper base.

BPRICHARD 

BRILLIANT!

[BPRICHARD]

For stock inlays, sterling silver, IMO, is the best.  Being as frugal (CHEAP) as I am,  I am always looking for sterling.  I will find an old candle stik or candy dish that is banged up use a Dremel tool or tin snips and cut it into sections of the right size, flatten it out and solder it to a piece of brass the same size and then cut and shape the inlay from this. Most of the ornamental silver used in table-ware is to thin for inlays.  After you have laminated it to a piece of brass it works out OK.  If you are going to do a lot of heavy engraving you might want to use thicker material.  Pure Sterling does not need liquid polish to make it shine like coin silver does.  That is why I like it for front sights. You can rub it with your shirt sleeve. Or maybe with your wet thumb, like old Alvin York did with his old Springfield.        BPRICHARD

[sonny]

not period correct!, sheesh. When I go on the hunt, I want to see my front sight an not mess with trying to line up invisible front blades, heck you don't have that kind of time for the shot!. I have period correct stuff also, but my serious longrifle hunting rifle has an iron front blade, which I used a jeweler saw and cut the blade length ways to the sight base and mixed florescent orange pistol sight powder (brownels) with epoxy an made an epoxy orange paste. I filled up the jewelers saw cut , let the mix harden , then used a razorblade to slice off anything above the sights  outside shape. When the light hits the top of the epoxy hardened inserted  mix, an shines down through, the sliver of  hardened orange slice is so perfect  that it'll bring a tear to your eye. Best yet, can't see the orange unless you sight down the barrel ,an align up the front sight. Oh,..... you can find it if a period correct fanatic critiques your rifle up close. But he will give the  sight a thought or two how he can get the same results with just paint......but he can't.......lasts forever an cannot be knocked out of the front sight picture. If you don't like it, you can use a match an it will burn out the orange inlay.........sonny

[moleeyes36]

not period correct!, sheesh. When I go on the hunt, I want to see my front sight an not mess with trying to line up invisible front blades, heck you don't have that kind of time for the shot!. I have period correct stuff also, but my serious longrifle hunting rifle has an iron front blade, which I used a jeweler saw and cut the blade length ways to the sight base and mixed florescent orange pistol sight powder (brownels) with epoxy an made an epoxy orange paste. I filled up the jewelers saw cut , let the mix harden , then used a razorblade to slice off anything above the sights  outside shape. When the light hits the top of the epoxy hardened inserted  mix, an shines down through, the sliver of  hardened orange slice is so perfect  that it'll bring a tear to your eye. Best yet, can't see the orange unless you sight down the barrel ,an align up the front sight. Oh,..... you can find it if a period correct fanatic critiques your rifle up close. But he will give the  sight a thought or two how he can get the same results with just paint......but he can't.......lasts forever an cannot be knocked out of the front sight picture. If you don't like it, you can use a match an it will burn out the orange inlay.........sonny

To each his own.

Mole Eyes

[flinchrocket]

Emanuel Hatfield was born in Campbell County Tennessee in 1805 and moved to Indiana in 1831. By his
own account, in the first 12 years he was there he killed 978 deer. He had a flintlock rifle that used 37 balls
to the pound ( 50 cal. ). My guess would be that it also had a coin silver front sight! Not orange epoxy.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

...and the deer were as plentiful as rabbits, and there were no game laws...

[sqrldog]

My Frank Bartlett Tn rifle has an iron front sight. Frank slit the back of the sight vertically and filled the slit with a fine gold wire. The gold has remained tarnish free for twenty plus years. The gold gleams in low light and makes it possible to take a fine aim in low light as many a dead squirrel can attest to or maybe not since they have passed on. It does make a great front sight that is easy to see and appears traditional. Tim Cosby

[Candle Snuffer]

I just use sheet brass .062 thick and silver soldered into my home made copper and iron base's. Seems to work fine for me seeing the brass blade through the blued iron 'V' notched rear sight. Nothing fancy about them at all.

[Daryl]

For trails, I carry a can of sight-black to darken the front sight's shiny rear surface for shiny targets. There is no sight I've yet found, that does everything, in an open sight. Globed front sights are about useless in the bush, but work very well, of course on field, trail walks. A black felt pen can help when out in the sun and you have bright targets to shoot at.
The best felt pen for this, is the "Easy Erase" type - they leave a dull black finish and are easily wiped off- especially when you load the gun afresh and then needs be reapplied.