How tight should barrel and ramrod pipe pins be in a new assembly?

[bnewberry]

I am building my first rifle. My question is, how tight should the pins be in a new assembly? I have one professionally built flintlock and those pins are loose enough to pull out by hand by first pushing another pin through the hole and exposing enough of the pin to get my fingers on. Is that too loose for a new build or is that what I should try to achieve?

[Dphariss]

I am building my first rifle. My question is, how tight should the pins be in a new assembly? I have one professionally built flintlock and those pins are loose enough to pull out by hand by first pushing another pin through the hole and exposing enough of the pin to get my fingers on. Is that too loose for a new build or is that what I should try to achieve?

Since i tend to pull barrels to clean them they need not be that tight.
Rod pipe pins can be as tight as you like. However for a 1/16” pin you need a 1/16” hole in any metal part it might pass through.
You can drill the holes in the wood to .0595 (#53) for a tight fit. This would give you a .002”-.003” interference in the WOOD. But since the drill will probably cut a little over and the pin might be a little under it might be pretty close. But then you have to drill the metal out of the wood. Since even a .0005” under pin size hole in the metal is not going to work. So I drill  1/16” holes for 1/16” pins. Though the next time I oder from MSC I might order some #53 drills and some 1/16” drills since I am getting pretty short on the 1/16” and the 53s are gone all together.
And remember the drilled holes will get tighter when the stock is whiskered. So permanent pins will surely  be tighter than the same “fit” will be in a pin removed and installed a few times.

Number and letter drill chart.

[bnewberry]

Thanks for the information! Do you find that your pins get looser (too loose) after a few years of removing them for cleaning?

[Frank]

Thanks for the information! Do you find that your pins get looser (too loose) after a few years of removing them for cleaning?

Have had my fullstock rifles for 15-20 years and have never had the need to remove the barrel.

[PIKELAKE]

On my rifles where the pins end up a little loose, I rub them with bee's wax,  JZ

[Daryl]

On my rifles where the pins end up a little loose, I rub them with bee's wax,  JZ

Exactly.  On the other hand, if the pins were TIGHT in steel and wood, they would bind due to the warmth causing enlarging and stretching of the barrel in the sun, or from firing it.
Barrels warm up, sometimes excessively to where you cannot hold on for very long. This happens when shooting out in the sun on a long trail walk as happens at rendezvous at
times. Late August sun in 100F + temperatures out shooting in the sun tends to heat up the barrel, considerably. There needs to be "some" give in the length and even diameter
of the holes in the attachment method used.

[Dennis Glazener]

Thanks for the information! Do you find that your pins get looser (too loose) after a few years of removing them for cleaning?

Have had my fullstock rifles for 15-20 years and have never had the need to remove the barrel.

I agree, best to leave it in unless it has a hooked breech. Usually my SMR forearm's are too slim to risk removing the barrel unless you really HAVE to.

[flehto]

All the pins in my builds have a fit that requires a soft piece of pine board to do the pushing. Not much force is req'd but the pins are  not loose.   Both ends of the pins have chamfers to avoid chipping  and the pins have  both ends 1/16" below the surface which eliminates  "buggered" holes. . I use Acme hardened 1/16 dia rod for uniformity. .....Fred

[moleeyes36]

Like Fred, I prefer very hard pins.  I get music wire, which is indeed very hard, and can be readily found in hardware stores in my area.

Don Richards

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I use 1/16" welding wire for my pins and a 1/16" drill bit to drill the holes straight through the wood and lug.  I also remove my barrels each time I clean the rifle, and yet my pins don't get lose over time.  I add bees wax to the pins for friction, and to help seal the holes in the wood.

[Marcruger]

I am not a builder, but most longrifle I have shot have the ramrod jump forward about a 1/4" upon shooting.  No biggie, I just push it back in.  I am used to it.  I'd be more worried about one too tight in the thimbles.   God Bless,  Marc

[Dphariss]

I am not a builder, but most longrifle I have shot have the ramrod jump forward about a 1/4" upon shooting.  No biggie, I just push it back in.  I am used to it.  I'd be more worried about one too tight in the thimbles.   God Bless,  Marc

Depending on the caliber it can cause erosion of the rod end. I put a spring in the end of the RR hole in my English sporting rifle to hole a groove in the jag.
Here is a solution on an early J&S Hawken rifle. The pieve was put over the rod and then two wooden wedges driven in to form a “cross” to swell the rod to hold it. The brazed iron tip at the other end is under 1/4”  so the roid in well tapered and is by later Hawken  standards  “skinny”.  But the measurements are on another computer.

[Daryl]

I am not a builder, but most longrifle I have shot have the ramrod jump forward about a 1/4" upon shooting.  No biggie, I just push it back in.  I am used to it.  I'd be more worried about one too tight in the thimbles.   God Bless,  Marc

Same here, Marc. Moves every shot eve with a forefinger on it, but won't fall out on it's own.