This is how I put together a muzzleloading rifle. There are other ways, but I have found that if a new builder follows this order, that less mistakes will be made. You will eliminate some of the opportunities to make mistakes, without even knowing that you did.
For those building from "kits" you still follow the steps, but just skip the ones that don't apply.
1. Trace out your barrel on a large piece of paper.
2. Trace out the lock plate over the breach end of the barrel. Note that you will often have to tip the lock plate slightly downward in the back, so it will follow the line of the wrist later
3. Mark where the sear bar will go and make a pencil line downward at that point on the paper
4. Trace a line under the barrel 3/16" of an inch at both the muzzle and the breach. This is the top of your rod hole and channel, come down from that line 5/16, 3/8 or 7/16 to outline your rod. (depending on how big around your ramrod is going to be)
5. Come down about another 7/16" from the bottom of the rod tracing and draw in your bottom line of the hand rail section. It will be various lengths depending on what style of gun you are making. If for example, you are making a Lancaster/ York style rifle, you'd come forward from the breach about 11" + or - some, to look right for longer or shorter barrels.
At the end of your "hand rail" section, dogleg the line sharply up, and draw it right down the middle of the rod you drew. This long line will be the underside of your forestock. It is "cutting the rod in half" so that it makes a channel where the rod will rest.
6. Draw a line 3/16" over the top of the barrel to represent the line of sight (LOS).
7. Draw a line down from the Line of Sight (LOS) that will be as long as your Length of Pull. (The length of pull is the distance from the place on your trigger finger where you press the trigger, to the inside of your elbow joint when your arm is bent 90 degrees. ) Let's say it was 13 1/2" to illustrate. At this point, draw in all the lines of your butt stock, but make sure that butt will be 13 1/2" long. Trace the buttplate onto the paper, so the lines will come to the correct toe and heel of that buttplate. Next you will draw in the drop you want for your own gun, both at the heel and at the comb. Take your time with this, and get the shape you really want.
8 Draw a radiused line down from the top edge of the breach of the barrel to the center of the barrel, and then draw that line all the way out to the end of the barrel, so the line goes right down the middle of the barrel. This will be the top edge of your fore stock.
At this point take a red pen or pencil, and draw over the actual stock lines you have made. That way you don't confuse your eye later when you saw, and cut the wrong line.
9. Put glue on your stock blank and glue down this tracing. Be sure the top edge of the stock to straight. When the glue is dry (I use spray on adhesive like that used for counter tops) cut out your stock on a bandsaw. Go slow and make the cuts precise.
10. Next, unbreach your barrel and place the barrel on top of the stock. You will offset the breach a little if you want cast off. (I can't say how much, because I don't know your measurements.) Inlet the breach end of the barrel until it is down on the bottom flat, and back against the "breaching shoulder" of the stock. Clamp the muzzle down where you want it. Now trace a line STRAIGHT down from each side of the barrel so that you get a 1 to 1 tracing of the width of the barrel on the top of the stock. That is your outmost line when you are inletting the barrel.
Now inlet your barrel so it is to the halfway point, all the way down it's length, Be very careful, and go as slow as you need to, to do a good job with it. If you don't get a good fit you will have problems later. It must not be super tight, but the barrel should not fall out either. I like to have to squeeze a barrel into it's channel with my hands, but I want to have to squeeze hard to get it in. Make VERY sure the depth is correct at all points if you are using a swamped barrel, because you can warp them easily if you don't!
11. When You are done inletting the barrel, re-install the breach plug, and inlet it into the wood. Make SURE it's all the way back and all the way down when you are finished. You will have to bend the tang to suit the stock shape, They are not hard, so you can bend them cold.
12. Next install your underlugs. When you have all 3 (or 4 in some guns) installed, inlet them into the wood. Be sure they are a little "loose" fore and aft, so the stock doesn't bind on them in wet and dry weather, as the stock grows a bit and shrinks a bit. You only need about .050" of "looseness" When all are inlet, measure the depth of the lugs with a caliper and mark for the pins. Drill the holes for the pins (or wedges in some cases) HALFWAY THROUGH so you see the drill come out inside the inlets you just cut. Re-install the barrel and clamp it down, and then drill the rest of the way through.
13. Now take out the barrel and drill a 1/16" hole through the bottom of the barrel channel, just forward of the "dog-leg" where the entry pipe will go. Re-install the barrel and draw a line from that hole to the end of the forestock directly under the barrel. This is the center of your rod channel. Cut the rod channel until it is at the half diameter of your rod, and dead straight. You will usually cut deep enough to expose the bottom of the tabs of the underlugs.
When the channel is done, lay a rod drill into the channel and drill your rod hole until it is as deep as the back end of the barrel.
14. Install your nose cap. Work the wood down about 3/4" behind it and file everything to the shape you want. Then sand and polish the wood and metal together until it is totally finished. You will not have to do "finish work" later.
15. File and shape your buttplate. Polish it to a finished stage on the return. Next install the butt plate. You will set it on left or right of center to get your "cast off", if you want any.
Once the butt is on, shape the wood down and form the final edges of the lock panels and the shape of the butt stock. Use a straight edge to take all the "humps" out of things, so that everything looks as you want it to look. Lastly polish the sole of the buttplate to a finished stage.
16. Plane or sand down the lock side of the stock where the lock will go, until the thickness is the same as the thickness of the bolster of the lock. Then do the same thing on the off side. Take pains with this! You need to be sure the lock panels are not tilted or out of parellel with the side flat of the barrel. They must be square with the side flats, leave a little wood to dress down later.
17. Now inlet your lock plate. Take it down until the bolster is tight against the barrel.
18. Now sand the wood down carefully until the lock is setting at it's final depth. You will sand this down with fine paper so you get the wood edges around the lock to a 100% finished stage, ready for stain.
19. Now, plane and sand down the off side of the lock area, so it's the same thickness as the lock side, and sanded down to about 120 grit. When that's done, inlet your side plate. When it's in, drill your lock bolt holes and install them. Then polish the side plate until it is 100% finished.
20. Now sand the "off side" down to a finished surface, ready for stain.
21. Now inlet all the "lock guts" and your flash hole liner.
22. Next inlet the entry pipe. Make sure the rod will pass through it and that everything is aligned.
23. Now shape the forestock and the hand rail. Take the time to do it right, and take it all down to about 120 grit.
NOTE: If you are going to use forestock inlays, this is the time to do them, but read the next step first. The inalys have to work with the long forestock moldings, not against them. So make sure the inlays will not be a problem in relation to your long forestock moldings. In some cases you may want to do the next step before you inlet your inlays. Think before you cut!
24. Now cut the long moldings in the forestock. They will run into the carving. You will go around the entry pipe, so cut then as you like, but remember they are part of the carving so do them carefully.
25. Cut the lock moldings around the lock panels. Make them as good as you can, and then finish all the stock from the wrist to the muzzle down to 400 grit.
26. Draw and cut your entry pipe carvings at this point. You are doing the "final work" at this point, so do it carefully and take your time.
27. Cut your lower butt moldings. When you have them cut, sand the buttstock down to 120 grit. Sand the toe line (bottom of the stock from butt plate to hand rail) to 400 grit.
28. Install the toe plate at this point. Then install your triggers and shape the trigger bar as necessary. Finish the wood and metal around the triggers until they are ready for stain.
29. Install your Front sight.
30. Do all file work and polish on your trigger guard. Then inlet it into your stock, and pin
31. Inlet the patch box. When it is in, and the catch is made and finished, sand wood and metal together to a point it is 100% finished. Inlet any cheek piece inlays you have now too.
32.Install your rear sight so that the edge of your hand touches it comfortably when the rifle is carries at it's balance point.
33. Wet the stock with water and let it dray. Use 400 grit "wet or dry" to whisker it off. Do this about 4 times.
34. Do the remaining carvings behind the breach tang, around the wrist, and behind the cheek piece. Finish them 100%.
35. Stain.
36. Finish all the wood.
37. Sight in the rifle. You will have to do some drifting and filing here, so work up an accurate load first, and then do the final adjustments.
38. Strip the rifle down and polish and prepare all your steel. If you followed my directions, all the brass is already done. When the steel's ready, brown or blue it, or in many cases the iron was just left bright. It is your choice.
39. Engrave.
40. Put the rifle back together after the metal finish is done, and you are ready to go hunting.
Good hunting and shooting
