Fluted muzzle cap

[Clint]

I have always felt the need to push metal into shapes that run through my imagination, and I have always had fun with muzzle caps. I have a bunch of .20" brass and I thought that I could strengthen the cap by hammering long ridges into the metal. Here is what I did and how it turned out.
I cut a 2" x 2" piece of brass and carefully squared each side and annealed it. The square then got a very light coat of spray primer so I could see scribe lines. With a square I marked two lines across one edge and on the reverse side, a series of parallel lines perpendicular to the edge lines.
The lines are punched into the metal with liners, which resemble chisels but have rounded edges. the punching or lining is done using a hard wood anvil and a small hammer

 

 
The lines should be carefully hammered in and with the narrow liner and 'jointed' with the wider version.

 


The robe border is made with a small "S" shaped punch which is 3/16" wide.   

 
Once all of the lines are punched in, the flutes are deepened using a 3/8 " steel bar. The round bottom grooves can now be cleaned up with the steel as a sanding block. This is the most time consuming part of the piece.
 After the flutes are more or less cleaned up the cap is annealed and wrapped around a pipe with a one inch outside diameter. The pipe becomes a holding devise for the final flute shaping and clean up on the rope edge.

The final bending is accomplished by clamping the edge on the cap to a 3/8" die round bar with a pair of vise grip 'seamers' and bending around the bar.
 
The cap is now fitted to the barrel and the end cap is silver soldered on. I use copper for the end of most of my nose caps. The cap is fitted onto the stock and the barrel is filed to fit into the end cap like any nose cap.
After the stock is trimmed to a final fit, you will probably want to clean up the rope with a graver and fit the fastening rivets. I will make the ramrod pipes un the same way, with much smaller diameter flutes.

[Daryl]

|WOW - quite the tutorial. Thanks Clint.