A Tale of Two Little Rifles - New link to the Case and the Accoutrements

[thecapgunkid]

YOU....You're good....you're very, very good...

[davec2]

The heat went down from 113 yesterday to 101 today.  The shop is a cool 97.....so I went out and decided to make one of the miniature muzzle caps I need for the little rifles.  Here goes......

First step, cut out a piece of 0.032" thick brass sheet and anneal



Second, do an initial form around a piece of EMT tubing





Next, refine the curvature as the cap rolls in to contact the barrel sides.  This is done with a nylon hammer and a steel mandrel.....



The lips of the cap were left intentionally a little long, so here they are trimmed to proper height



The height is checked on the barrel (upside down from where it will be installed, but a good place to check at this stage in the fabrication process)



After cutting a small piece of brass for the front of the cap, both pieces are cleaned of oxide and surface dirt, fluxed, and set up for silver brazing



Here I have cut a couple of small pieces of silver braze alloy and will melt them into a ball and pick them up while still molten on my soldering point



The parts are heated to brazing temperature from the outside and then I have placed the solder on the inside of the joint.  It runs immediately and the second piece of solder insures that the entire joint is complete.



After brazing, a quick pickle in dilute hydrochloric acid to remove scale and flux residue



A quick inspection of the joint shows it to be tight and completely brazed





Most of the excess brass on the face piece is clipped of with tin snips



A few file strokes and the face piece is brought to near final contour



Now I smoked the end of the barrel and put the cap in place so I can tap on the face piece with the nylon hammer





The result is a smoke print of the muzzle on the inside of the cap.  The barrel flats are beveled slightly at the muzzle so the print is a little undersized but it will allow me to get very close before the final fitting.



Most of the face piece brass is cut away with files and some back and forth check to get a tight final fit



Final check on fit and the completed tiny cap

[Daryl]

Just?? OH WOW!
A master at work.

[davec2]

Went out and did the second cap......(before I forgot how I did it..... )

[davec2]

By the way, I forgot to mention how I cut away most of the material in the front face of the cap before filing the final contours.  This hand nibbler is one of my favorite tools for removing excess sheet material quickly and without distorting the workpiece.  It cuts out a notch about 1/4" wide and 1/16" deep with each squeeze of the handle and it will cut mild steel up to 18 gage (0.047" thick).  I shot a very short video of nibbling sheet brass but I don't know how to get it into the post here... Anyway, here are some pictures and a couple of links.  (You can also find these used on eBay.)  I use this all the time to trim away the bulk of excess material on inlays and patch box components very quickly, and then finish up with files, when I don't want to take the time to use a jeweler's saw.  For those who may be interested.....







https://www.eis-inc.com/nibbler-tool/p-adel-n?cid=paidsearch_shopping_google_brand_adel-tool_snips&gclid=CjwKCAjwtNf6BRAwEiwAkt6UQgSci9jdtNaXlRUQYhpgKCrdV0SyPXdG83V42ecupjPbXfWSlYtfPBoCjekQAvD_BwE

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pnpages/12-10500.php?gclid=CjwKCAjwtNf6BRAwEiwAkt6UQgDk2GRGH2anEOAqx7kfjboXbnRad7ZJSAi9-_02ClZTOog1-H2tRhoC4W4QAvD_BwE

[rmnc3r]

Nicely done, Dave.
Thanks for documenting and sharing - it's interesting to see other folk's work methods
Sheesh, now I gotta get a nibbler - Thanks a lot!   

[davec2]

Richard,

When I did the little rifle for you, I had to rebuild the muzzle cap like this.....and you're welcome on the nibbler.. ......you can never have too many odd ball tools...

Also hard to believe that was 5 years ago !!!   https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=37317.0

[flatsguide]

Dave, wishing you a speedy recovery! I enjoy seeing your work and how you solve some of the more tricky problems that arise from time to time.
Cheers, Richard

[BrianS]

Very nice illustrated tutorial; thanks!  Be well...

[davec2]

Have not felt all that well, but did manage to draw file the little barrel...



Then got the barrel tang installed and inlet into the stock...



And started on the lock inletting....

[davec2]

Finished the lock inletting.







Polished the lock parts.



Then made parts for the trigger assembly.  Made the trigger plate, shortened a cast trigger I had, made the "U" shaped frame for my usual metallic trigger pivot, and silver brazed all the parts together.







Got the trigger assembly inletted into the stock.



Getting ready to install the little trigger guard.

[ScottH]

Nice clean work Dave.
I pray you are feeling better.

[davec2]

ScottH,

Feeling better.....not up to full power yet, but better.  Thanks

[rmnc3r]

Nice work, as always Dave.  Glad to hear you are feeling better.

Fantastic wood to metal fit on you inletting  - I'm not just a little envious. 

I remember your posts on your drop-in Trigger Group from the Kibler Build.

I think I'll try that on my next single trigger.

I recently acquired a Bernzomatic Mapp/Oxy mini rig that should help - altho' my brazing skills are lacking.

[davec2]

Richard,

Thanks.  I know that a lot of people have trouble with soldering / brazing......it just takes a little practice...and some simple rules:

1.  Clean....clean....CLEAN !!!! All surfaces to be joined
2.  Flux (appropriate for the temperature involved)
3.  Heat the heaviest part first and get both parts up to brazing / soldering temperature as evenly as possible
4.  Apply the solder or braze material in the joint away from the torch flame and AFTER the workpieces are hot enough to make the solder flow
5.  Draw the braze material around the joint (if required) by moving the torch.....the braze / solder will ALWAYS flow toward the highest heat

If you spend an hour practicing brazing with a few scraps of steel or brass, you will have no trouble from here on out.   

[rmnc3r]

Richard,

Thanks.  I know that a lot of people have trouble with soldering / brazing......it just takes a little practice...and some simple rules:

1.  Clean....clean....CLEAN !!!! All surfaces to be joined
2.  Flux (appropriate for the temperature involved)
3.  Heat the heaviest part first and get both parts up to brazing / soldering temperature as evenly as possible
4.  Apply the solder or braze material in the joint away from the torch flame and AFTER the workpieces are hot enough to make the solder flow
5.  Draw the braze material around the joint (if required) by moving the torch.....the braze / solder will ALWAYS flow toward the highest heat

If you spend an hour practicing brazing with a few scraps of steel or brass, you will have no trouble from here on out.   

I'ts been 5 years - When can I stop by for a visit and hands on lesson? 
Habit Burgers are on me   

[davec2]

Richard,

As soon as I have regained a little more ......well......"uuumph".....I'll give you a call and we can get together.  Would be happy to show you how I do the brazing....

Best

[rmnc3r]

Richard,

As soon as I have regained a little more ......well......"uuumph".....I'll give you a call and we can get together.  Would be happy to show you how I do the brazing....

Best

Like Wimpey and Homer, 'free burgers' always provide me wth a little more "uuumph" 

Looking forward to fun times in the future.

[alyce-james]

davec2. Sir, I received a "ADEL TOOL CO." nibbler today. I ordered from E-Bay, 3 day delivery. Looks to be very little. Gave the tool a try out on my 18 gage down scrapes. Works great. Thanks for sharing this little gem with ALF members. Have a great week. AJ.

[davec2]

With the trigger and trigger plate installed, I could get the tang bolt hole drilled and tapped.  Here I am using a long 6-32 tap.  I didn't take pictures, but I also got both lock bolts drilled and tapped.



The barrel is so slender that I had to think about how I wanted to do the barrel lugs.  I decided that, instead of the dovetail routine, I would just make up some tiny brass lugs and solder them to the barrel.  I made them up out of 0.016 brass sheet, folded them, silver brazed the joint and then trimmed them to final size.





After trimming, I tinned them with Hi Force silver bearing solder (a fair amount stronger than lead solder but only melts at 475 F) and then installed them on the barrel.







Will get them trimmed up and clean up before drilling them through the stock......And I may have a problem here.  When I had Dave Rase inlet these barrels for me, I asked him to keep the web between the ram rod and the bottom of the barrel about 3/32" (0.093").  They actually came out a tad thinner so that doesn't leave me a lot of room with a 1/16" pin......we'll see how it plays out.

[davec2]

So I was preparing to drill the barrel lugs and realized that with a web of ~0.090", and with an additional 0.016" thick lug soldered to the bottom of the barrel, if I used a 0.062 pin, that would leave a lug web of .012"....if I hit the drilling right on the nose.  I decided I needed a little more lee way, so I used an 1/8" end mill and notched the lug base and barrel steel back about 0.030" and then drilled the holes for the pins.  Came out OK.  Will need to do something similar with the ram rod pipes.





Began setting the butt plate to place... and got that chore finished......





Started a little shaping of the stock.....somewhat premature in the build to jump into removing this much wood but I was anxious to begin establishing contours

[ScottH]

looking very nice Dave.
Are you working on just one, or both rifles at the same time? 

[davec2]

ScottH,

I just have the energy to work one at the moment.  However, if I have to make parts (like the muzzle cap) I am making two sets so that the second build will go little faster.

I got a little more done today.  Got the trigger guard installed....

[davec2]

Spent some time today making the sub scale ram rod pipes.  Machined all the tubes (per a previous post) and then silver soldered the mounting tabs.  Here are the pipes being pickled in dilute hydrochloric acid.....(There are 6 pipes because I made two sets)



While thinking about how to form the skirt for the entry pipe I looked up and on my bench were a half dozen 30-06 brass cases.  So the idea struck to just try using part of a case as the skirt...



I soldered the cut up case "skirt" to the rear pipe and it looked OK....



Finished set of pipes......



Picture with a regular size rear pipe just for comparison.....



Start of the inletting of the rear pipe.....

[davec2]

Ram rod pipes are all installed, so I started in on cutting out a side plate.  Doesn't really need to be that thick, but I had a piece of 1/8" brass plate, so I used that......I need to counter bore for the lock bolts (and then make the lock bolts) but I will start inletting the plated next.....








With the ram rod pipe drilling completed, there was no longer any utility in keeping the fore stock square.  I band sawed off a lot of the excess wood and then started to shape the full length with my miniature spoke shave (one of the handiest tools I have ever used to shape a stock.)