Pewter Nose Cap with No Entry Pipe

[grabenkater]

Has anyone seen an original rifle with a nose cap made from pewter with no entry pipe installed but just a hole through the center of the nose cap? IIRC it was an Ohio gun that I saw with a nosecap made in this fashion. It reminded me of the brass nose caps installed on CVA rifles.

[Dennis Glazener]

Others can correct me if I am wrong but I believe some of the Hawken rifles were made this way.
Dennis

[grabenkater]

Thanks, Dennis!

I know I have seen a photo of an original rifle done this way but I cannot remember where I saw it.

I am working on rebuilding a gun and I would like to do this style of nose cap.

[E.vonAschwege]

I have an original pewter nosecap I got in a pile of parts that was torn from the stock it once protected.  It's exactly as you describe, with a hole for the RR. 
-Eric

[grabenkater]

I'm thinking I will need to use a form to cast around the rammer hole. Any suggestions on what I could coat the form with to prevent the pewter from sticking ?

[Cory Joe Stewart]

According to Hershal House's dvd on Hawken rifles, he believed that the pewter cap was a later repair and not original to the rifle.

Coryjoe

[Dennis Glazener]

I'm thinking I will need to use a form to cast around the rammer hole. Any suggestions on what I could coat the form with to prevent the pewter from sticking ?

I built a Hawken squirrel rifle several years ago. If I remember correctly I took a short piece of old ram rod, wrapped enough masking tape around it to have to force it into the rr hole. Then I coated the whole thing (tape and all) with wax so it would release from the pewter. It worked well.

You need to make sure that there are no holes where the melted pewter can run into the barrel channel or the rr hole else you will have a mess to deal with.

Oh, also waxed the barrel where it would come into contact with the pewter.

Make sure you are going to have plenty of melted pewter to fill everything with one pour. I made a ladle out of a small soup can then flattened a piece of brake line bent it to fit around the top of the can then put 3 steel pop rivets in it. Then used the can to melt the pewter then poured it just after it all melted. Don't get it too hot.

If you have a heat gun it helps to warm up the barrel/wood before pouring, just don't scorch the wood or set your paper form on fire
Dennis
 

[Dennis Glazener]

I'm thinking I will need to use a form to cast around the rammer hole. I have used the outside paper that sandpaper comes in, also heavy manila card stock. Any suggestions on what I could coat the form with to prevent the pewter from sticking ?

Any kind of heavy paper will work. You don't need to wax it, most of the paper will come off when the pewter is cool. What remains can be filed off when you have to file down the surplus and if like all the ones I have poured there will be a lot to file down.
Dennis

[Hungry Horse]

 I've done a bunch of these in the past. I make a wood cover for the top of the barrel ( if you have a piece of the forestock that was pre-inletted for the barrel, and needed to be cut off, that will be perfect). This caps the barrel, and stops the pewter from escaping. By the way I almost never use pewter. I use pure tin if I can get it. Tin makes a cleaner casting with far less air bubbles. As for the hole for the ramrod, I use a short piece of dowel that is larger diameter than the ramrod hole, carefully tapered to make a tight fit. If the metal leaks into the ramrod hole you have a real problem. I wrap the outside of the stock with regular old file cards held in place with a couple pieces of light gauge binding wire wound up pretty tight. I fill any small gaps between the barrel cap and the forearm with regular old modeling clay.  Rubbing the wood that is captured under the new nose cap with a wolf carpenters pencil will make the metal flow over the wood better. Just before you start your pour you need to drop a long, red hot, bolt down the barrel, to heat it, and keep the metal from freezing. I use a brass carriage bolt with a large head, so it doesn't go all the way down the barrel. Its not as hard as it sounds. I did my first one on an old CVA pistol I got somewhere that didn't have a nose cap, and it came out fine.

                    Hungry Horse

[whitebear]

I've done a bunch of these in the past. I make a wood cover for the top of the barrel ( if you have a piece of the forestock that was pre-inletted for the barrel, and needed to be cut off, that will be perfect). This caps the barrel, and stops the pewter from escaping. By the way I almost never use pewter. I use pure tin if I can get it. Tin makes a cleaner casting with far less air bubbles. As for the hole for the ramrod, I use a short piece of dowel that is larger diameter than the ramrod hole, carefully tapered to make a tight fit. If the metal leaks into the ramrod hole you have a real problem. I wrap the outside of the stock with regular old file cards held in place with a couple pieces of light gauge binding wire wound up pretty tight. I fill any small gaps between the barrel cap and the forearm with regular old modeling clay.  Rubbing the wood that is captured under the new nose cap with a wolf carpenters pencil will make the metal flow over the wood better. Just before you start your pour you need to drop a long, red hot, bolt down the barrel, to heat it, and keep the metal from freezing. I use a brass carriage bolt with a large head, so it doesn't go all the way down the barrel. Its not as hard as it sounds. I did my first one on an old CVA pistol I got somewhere that didn't have a nose cap, and it came out fine.

                    Hungry Horse

I used the same method on the last rifle that I made but I substituted a short piece of barrel the same diameter as the rifle barrel.  This way you don't need as long a bolt to heat the barrel and it makes for a lighter overall setup that is stedier without 2 or 3 feet of barrel sticking out in the way.

[rennikselum]

Looking for something like this? This is from an Ohio back action half stock.

[red owl]

What is the date on that rifle?  In "The Plains Rifle" by Hanson is a reproduction of Tyron rifles (sic?) from around 1870 and some of their nose caps are of that design. I don't know the correct name so I've been calling them a "mono-block".  Compared to fitting an entry pipe and standard nose cap the mono block was a lot faster and only one part. The issue for me is when this first appeared? Were they used pre-1840 or were they a later day arrival- say around 1870 during the final years of the muzzle loader.
   Many years ago there were guns that the oldsters called an Eastern half stock "bear rifle"  It was sort of a Hawken and sort of a long rifle.  They usually had percussion locks, a 42" barrel but 50 or 54 caliber, and looked like a long rifle in profile except there was a half stock and wedges and a hooked breech. I always thought they were nice looking rifles but they were not used by long hunters or mountain men so there didn't seem to be much interest.

[Dphariss]

Has anyone seen an original rifle with a nose cap made from pewter with no entry pipe installed but just a hole through the center of the nose cap? IIRC it was an Ohio gun that I saw with a nosecap made in this fashion. It reminded me of the brass nose caps installed on CVA rifles.

It was common.

Dan