1 piece nose cap

[wbgv]

does anyone have a 'fool-proof'[me] way of making a 1 piece nose cap?? I like the looks,especially on an oct to round barrel..

[Randy Hedden]

Mike,

If you do a search of the Tutorial Forum using "one piece nosecap" you will find a tutorial on making a one piece brass nosecap.  Skip the search and just click on this:

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=9.0

Randy Hedden

[Acer Saccharum]

Depends on the school of gun what cap style you use. Lehigh style commonly is one piece, but a very light gage wrap-around deal, with endgrain exposed.

[jim meili]

A couple pictures of my fowler build by Paul Allison. Open ended nosecap around an octagon to round barrel.

[smshea]

Fool Proof....buy a cast nose cap! Just kidding.

  I think one of the Frank house videos has him doing a one piece cap if you have access to those. Its pretty much what you see in the tutorial. If I remember right He left a little more material on the front of the sheet brass....Kind of slightly rounded. Anyway thats how Ive always done it. 

[Acer Saccharum]

Speaking of cast nosecaps, the little creeps are tapered to come out of the mold easily. Well, don't that make trying to figure out how to fit the little stinker a pain in the axe? I doubt I will ever ever ever use one of them again.

Also I just don't like the cast caps anyway.

 

tom

[David Rase]

Mike,  Here are some pictures of a nose cap swage I cobbled together to form grooved one piece nose caps.





DMR

[Dave B]

Dave,
That's a great way to do it, clean and simple. What did you use for the tube section? It looks like some DOM stuff I have seen at pacific machine and tool steel.

[B Shipman]

The key is constant annealing. Nosecaps, patchbox hinges, etc.  For non ferrous metals, bright red and dunk in water.

[David Rase]

Dave,
That's a great way to do it, clean and simple. What did you use for the tube section? It looks like some DOM stuff I have seen at pacific machine and tool steel.

Dave,  The tube was a piece of 1.5" diameter round stock.  I am sure you could find a piece of pipe to make it from if you do not have access to a lathe.  The center is a piece of 1" round stock.  I bored the tube on my lathe to 1.100 diameter.  That allows me to use 18 gage sheet metal.  The piece for the groove is a split 3/8" diameter rod.  It was not split in half, but more like 1/3- 2/3's.  The fixture is 2" long.  Just remember to lube all the pieces before swaging.
DMR  

[Ken G]

You are one of the best cobblers I know.  Great looking tool.

[Acer Saccharum]

Dave, since you say one piece, is the end formed up from the same sheet? {Or is it a soldered on end?}

I am impressed with your results.

[David Rase]

Tom,  The nose cap is one piece, i.e. the end is formed from the same sheet.   Look mom, no solder.  The tool took 3 or 4 hours to make and the nosecap about 20 minutes.  
Happy Thanksgiving.  See you in Lewisburg.
DMR

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Dave Rase...great tool!  Tell me, how thick is 18 gauge metal, pls?

[Dave B]

18 ga  is just shy of .048 in thickness according to the handy chart courtesy of
http://www.plasticstoragetanks.com/gauge_decimal_conversion_chart.htm

Dave,
how many times do you run the mandrel through the form to get the final shape before you peen over the front section? Or are you working it down as you tighten up the back screws forming the grove and the front section simultaneously?

[David Rase]

Taylor,  18 gage is about .047" thick.

Dave,  I run the center mandrel through once.  I curve the sheet metal by hand until it fits into the female/outer section.  I drive the mandrel in from what will be the front of the nose cap.  Once it is flush with the top, both inner and outer pieces are the same length, I pean over the front end.  Lube is the key.  The 2 set screws were going to be used to take up the space on the backside of the fixture where the nose cap did not go all the way around.  I ended up just using a scrap piece of sheet metal to shim up the area.
DMR

[Long John]

I made this one using largely the methodAcer outlined in the tutorials.  Instead of making a wooden female half of the forming blocks I just used non-period correct hose clamps.  Frequent annealing is the key!







I must admit - it took me FOUR tries to get this muzzle cap.  I learned a lot along the way.  Make sure you leave enough metal where you plan to peen over the end to reach the oblique flat of the barrel.. Make sure you don't leave too much metal to peen over.  Make sure that there are no hidden cracks oin the metal that open up while you are making the creases for the ram rod.  As soon as you think it will soon be time to re-anneal it is time to re-anneal.

Best Regards,

JMC

[wbgv]

Thanks all..Acer-I used your method,from the Tutorial,and it took 2 tries,but the 2nd one came out perfectly..
Dave-you always come up with the neatest stuff...this is the 1st gun that I've built in 10 years and it may be that long again before the next one plus,I couldn't find the stuff I needed in my junk pile to make your jig..
thanks all..

[Acer Saccharum]

Tom,....The tool took 3 or 4 hours to make and the nosecap about 20 minutes......
DMR

Lemme see, My nosecap took me 20 minutes to make the fixture, and about 4 hrs to make the cap. 

Dave, we'll definitely see you in Lewisburg!

T