Author Topic: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol  (Read 2068 times)

Offline Sidelock

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J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« on: July 16, 2021, 04:06:55 AM »
Recently completed a flintlock pistol following the style of a well known piece by J.P. Beck.  This project started with a suite of castings, a 9” rifled cannon end .44 cal. barrel and a blank of very nice Sugar Maple, all sent to me by a customer for a build.  I believe this is a collection of castings put together back in the 1960’s, some others on here could probably confirm that.  The stock blank had written on it “1-69” which I suspected may be January 1969?   The castings match up well with those found on a pistol built by John Phillip Beck in the early 1770’s.  Photos of this original pistol can be found in the book The Lancaster Longrifles by Hornburger & Klobar – pg. 120-21.   The barrel had no inscription indicating the manufacturer.   


The lock bolt locations on the sideplate casting lined up very well with a small Silar lock plate.  In keeping with the 1960-70’s time frame, a small Silar lock was assembled from old original Silar parts.  A shop made simple lever trigger and a ram rod with a horn tip were added to complete the project. 

Stock was stained with two applications of Aqua Fortis over a wash of Tannic acid.  Stock is filled with several coats of Waterlox and finished with Chamber’s Traditional Stock Finish oil.

The completed piece is 14 1/2” overall length, weights 1 lb. 14 oz. 

I always enjoy building pistols, just don't often get requests for them - they are fun though.  Thanks for looking! 












If you cannot see the irony in having a gun ban enforced by men with guns, then you fail to understand why the 2nd Amendment was written in the first place....

Offline helwood

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2021, 05:32:47 AM »
Greetings,
Look at the lines on this pistol.  They are righteous.  Doing your homework and planning pays off.  Most Excellent.  Hank

Offline alacran

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2021, 02:43:01 PM »
Very nice. Love the color.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline Cory Joe Stewart

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2021, 02:56:50 PM »
Very cool!

Cory Joe

Offline Bob Gerard

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2021, 04:43:40 PM »
Looks splendid!!!!

Offline Rolf

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2021, 07:37:17 PM »
Beautiful work!

Best regards
Rolf

Offline Osprey

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2021, 08:04:44 PM »
Pretty sure that's the Beck parts set that Chris Altland had at York County Firelocks, although if that's the date it had to come from the previous owner (was under a different name before Chris).  Can't tell for sure from the photos and lighting, is it brass furniture or silver?  I have one I did with the silver set, although I used a different barrel to get it to .54  The castings are very nice. 
"Any gun built is incomplete until it takes game!"

Offline hawkeye

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2021, 08:21:08 PM »
Beautiful build 👍

Offline Marcruger

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2021, 11:37:04 PM »
I like it a lot.  That cannon barrel sure gets slim looking towards the muzzle.  Does that present issues with the architecture when you are building?   God Bless,   Marc

Offline TommyG

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #9 on: July 16, 2021, 11:53:40 PM »
That's  great looking pistol.  Really love the finish.  I have some Waterlox and Chambers oil, might have to give that a try on the next one.

Offline Sidelock

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2021, 05:13:02 AM »
Pretty sure that's the Beck parts set that Chris Altland had at York County Firelocks, although if that's the date it had to come from the previous owner (was under a different name before Chris).  Can't tell for sure from the photos and lighting, is it brass furniture or silver?  I have one I did with the silver set, although I used a different barrel to get it to .54  The castings are very nice.

Thanks for the kind comments on this build.  Having a fine piece of maple to work with made a big difference on this one.  The casting on this one are brass.  Most of the castings were the same "flavor" of brass probably 260 or 360 - the thumb piece was a different color and obviously from a different run of brass than the other parts.  These castings in sterling silver would make a very striking pistol, bet that one you made is pretty sweet!
If you cannot see the irony in having a gun ban enforced by men with guns, then you fail to understand why the 2nd Amendment was written in the first place....

Offline Sidelock

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #11 on: July 17, 2021, 05:23:33 AM »
I like it a lot.  That cannon barrel sure gets slim looking towards the muzzle.  Does that present issues with the architecture when you are building?   God Bless,   Marc

There was a fair taper on the round portion of this barrel.  I didn't find it any more of a problem to inlet than normal.  The sidewalls were thin enough toward the muzzle that the forward barrel lug was soldered on.  There was nothing on the barrel indicating who made it.  I therefore had a bit of concern as to the safety of the barrel.  With the owner's permission, the first thing I did before I started the build was proof the barrel by setting off several rounds w/ double loads of powder.  The barrel passed the tests just fine.   
If you cannot see the irony in having a gun ban enforced by men with guns, then you fail to understand why the 2nd Amendment was written in the first place....

Offline BOB HILL

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #12 on: July 17, 2021, 02:12:40 PM »
Very well done. Thanks for posting.
Bob
South Carolina Lowcountry

Offline Sidelock

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Re: J.P. Beck Flintlock Pistol
« Reply #13 on: July 17, 2021, 03:11:25 PM »
I like it a lot.  That cannon barrel sure gets slim looking towards the muzzle.  Does that present issues with the architecture when you are building?   God Bless,   Marc

As for the architecture of the piece with the fast barrel taper.  The only issue that barrel design presented was having to leave a thicker web b/ the barrel channel and ram rod channel at the muzzle end then typically done.  This is done in an attempt to get the forward and rear barrel keys close to the same distance below the upper edge of the forestock to make them look visually alined.  Taking the time to work out a scale drawing of the build before you start helps you identify little issues like this and work out solutions before wood chips start flying.
If you cannot see the irony in having a gun ban enforced by men with guns, then you fail to understand why the 2nd Amendment was written in the first place....