Author Topic: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.  (Read 2971 times)

Offline Rolf

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Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« on: July 16, 2018, 10:19:45 AM »
Finished a cased pair of dragoon style pistols. Once in a while a project actually gets finished!!!



Pistols
The barrels were made from a used 20mm Vulcan cannon barrel. http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=28822.msg275168#msg275168
Then brass was bougth from muzzelloader building suppiles. Standard dragoon butt cap. The spurs had to be straigthen and modified to fit the Stock.
French dragoon triggerguard. Sideplate is from a Fowler. Lock is Chambers round face Colonial (rifle Lock). The stock blanks are curly English walnut from Dunlop. The finish is Chambers oil. Hickory ramrods

The small round ball is caliber 54 , the other the pistol amo, caliber 82.


Case.
The case is made from cherry, following Smart Dogs tutorial.  It is lined with cotton baize and glued with pearl(hide) glue, bought from Peter Dyson, England. The brass hinges are from Brusso. All other brass fittings turned/filed from brass stock. I did not put a lock on the case because I always lose the keys. These pistols are large and heavy (almost 2kilos each), therefore the handles on the side of case. I was afraid the lid would not take the weight. The compartment lids are made from amboyine burl and cherry.



Cutting baize.
Smart dog cut his baize with a xacto knife blade. I could not do it that way.  The blade kept pulling the fabric out of shape. I used a flat chisel blade to stab the parts out. This avoids distortion.


Pearl glue.
Pearl glue granules must be dissolved in hot water (about 80 Celsius). Add granules until you have a tomato sauce consistency. The glue solidifies when it cools down, heating it up again will liquefy it. As water evaporates from the glue, it thickens, and more water must be added.   The jar must be kept in a pot of hot water and given a quick boil before applying to the wood.
 

Do not apply directly to the baize. It will soak through and make a mess. When applying the glue, you have about 1- 2 minutes before it gels, and the fabric won’t stick. When gluing large pieces to the lid or the bottom of the casing it pays to add 10%(by weigth) salt to the glue. This lengthens the working time of the glue up to 5 minutes and is a big help. But this also reduces the stickiness of the glue and lengthens drying time.


Salted glue can also be used for lining partitions without shoulders.


Do not use salted glue to glue fabric to the shoulders of the casing and partitions With shoulders. It only falls off and makes a mess. Getting the fabric to stick the shoulders even with unsalted glue was the hardest and messiest part of lining the case. If anyone has a good solution to this, please let me know.


Patterns for cutting out the bottom lining of the case can be used as drop cloths when gluing walls and partitions.
 

Best regards
Rolf
« Last Edit: July 16, 2018, 10:51:49 AM by Rolf »

Offline Old Salt

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2018, 11:29:17 AM »
Sweet looking display box
All gave some Some gave all

Offline smart dog

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2018, 01:22:19 PM »
Fabulous pistols, Rolf!  They are the best horse pistols I've seen in a long while.  The case is fantastic as well.  I am curious about cotton baize.  Baize is generally wool so has somebody created a "nappy" cotton substitute?  The secret to cutting the fabric with an X-acto knife is 1) use a new blade and 2) hold the blade at a very low angle as you cut through the fabric. Holding the blade low prevents the fabric bunching up at the tip.  With respect to the glue for the shoulders, try using lampshade glue.  It is a white glue used to hold paper shades to the metal wire shade rings as well as gluing the linen or cotton ribbon used as edging for shades. It dries fast and is very strong.  Below is a link: 
https://lampshop.com/

Beautiful guns and case, Rolf!!!

dave

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Offline SingleMalt

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2018, 01:33:15 PM »
That's wonderful!  How do they shoot?
Never drink whisky that isn't old enough to vote.

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Online smylee grouch

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2018, 03:36:53 PM »
Outstanding set and a real "Big Bang" I'm sure.  :)  ;D

Offline sydney

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2018, 05:07:47 PM »
Hi Very nice--thanks for the pictures
      Sydney

Offline Craig Wilcox

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2018, 07:11:06 PM »
Gorgeous work, for sure!
I was wondering about the calibers - 20 MM is a BIG bore for a pistol or rifle.  Did you put a sleeve in the smaller caliber one?

Your work always fascinates me - a lot of dedication, and a lot of knowledge of wood and metal tools.
Thanks for all the pictures..
Craig Wilcox
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Offline jerrywh

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2018, 07:15:39 PM »
 Real nice work Rolf. way above average.
Nobody is always correct, Not even me.

Offline J. Talbert

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2018, 08:15:39 PM »
Great stuff Rolf!

Love the whole package,
Jeff
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Offline stubshaft

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2018, 01:05:40 AM »
You do not fail to impress Sir!  Beautiful...
I'd rather die standing, than live on my knees...

Offline tlallijr

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2018, 02:16:45 AM »
Beautiful set !

Offline Ed Wenger

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #11 on: July 17, 2018, 04:28:40 AM »
Really nice pistols, excellent case, what a great project!  Thanks for posting!



         Ed
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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #12 on: July 17, 2018, 05:17:26 PM »
Beautiful!

Offline BOB HILL

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #13 on: July 17, 2018, 05:45:09 PM »
Fine looking set there, Sir.  I always enjoy your work. You are a very talented artist. Thanks for posting.
Bob
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Offline runastav

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #14 on: July 17, 2018, 07:01:50 PM »
In march Rolf came here to me and rifle his barrel then the set was not all done, but all was beatiful :) And it still is(like all thing Rolf make)
Runar

Offline Cory Joe Stewart

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #15 on: July 17, 2018, 08:48:11 PM »
Very Cool.  Thanks for sharing that.

Cory Joe Stewart

Offline smart dog

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #16 on: July 18, 2018, 01:06:04 AM »
Hi Runastav,
You and Rolf are, by our current and historical standards, very fine gun makers, which is why we all sit up and take notice anytime you two post on our site.  Please never stop doing that because we value your input.

dave
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Offline Pennsylvania Dutchman

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #17 on: July 18, 2018, 01:38:09 AM »
Beautiful workmanship on both the pistols and the case. Thank you for sharing them with us. I would like to see a photo of you holding one of the pistols to get a perspective of the size. They look very well proportioned for having such a large bore.
Mark
Mark Poley

Offline Daryl

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #18 on: July 18, 2018, 01:46:04 AM »
Lovely work, Rolf - btw- what is the thickness of the barrel to the bottom of the grooves, at the smallest dia. of the swamp?
Nice wide grooves and narrow lands - easy loading.


Was curious about this. I have a book on English Pistols, from Trackofthewolf hav ing measurements to the thousandth's/inch and a few of them measurement of around .016" to the bore in the

 swamp. Yeah - 16 thousandths and one of them was a brass barreled pistol with .013" in the swamp. I cannot remember at this time, if it was rifled or smooth - I think rifled.

Yours would be fun pistols to shoot indeed. At .82, that is just under 8 bore and would shoot a patched 9 bore ball.(.803") quite nicely.
Daryl

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Offline D. Taylor Sapergia

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #19 on: July 19, 2018, 03:11:46 AM »
Outstanding pistols and case set.  Don't care for the swept back trigger, but that's just me.  Nicely finished ... an heirloom!
D. Taylor Sapergia
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Art is not an object.  It is the excitement inspired by the object.

Offline Curtis

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #20 on: July 20, 2018, 08:37:53 AM »
Rolf, that is an outstanding display of skill on both the pistols and the case!  Well done.

Curtis
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Offline Rolf

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #21 on: July 25, 2018, 08:46:01 PM »
Thank you all for Your kind comments.

Single Malt, havnt had time to try them jet.

Smart dog. I'll try the lampshade glue on the NeXT pistol case. Migth do the trick. What's the drying time. I bougth the cotton Baize from Dyson in England. That what he uses for all his cases.

Daryl, the barrels are taperd, not swamped. At the breech 5,2 mm wall thickness  at the bottom of the groves. . At the muzzel 2.0 mm wall thickness  at the bottom of the groves.

Craig, both pistols are 20mm Caliber. The 54 round ball is only for comparison.

Mark, here's the Picture you asked for.



Best regards
Rolf
« Last Edit: July 25, 2018, 08:50:07 PM by Rolf »

Offline Pennsylvania Dutchman

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Re: Finished cased "Big Bang" Dragoon pistols.
« Reply #22 on: July 26, 2018, 05:53:37 AM »
Thanks, Rolf. It looks like it fits you well, but it also looks like a handful! Beautiful pistol!
Thanks again, Mark
Mark Poley