nose cap

[yip]

  i got a Kibler S.M.R. and kicking the idea of a nose cap, what do you guys fill about it?  is a nose cap proper for this type of rifle?

[parve]

Nose caps were common on southern mountain rifles, steel and poured pewter being the most prevalent from what I've seen. The Kibler SMRs I've seen with nose caps added by the customer look nice.

[galudwig]

Get yourself a copy of “Kentucky Rifles of the Great Smoky Mountains” by Randal Pierce. Many good examples of muzzle caps and treatments exhibited there. I have seen plenty of examples of muzzle caps added to Kibler’s SMR. Here is a poured pewter one I did.

[JTR]

galudwig, That's a nice one for sure!
John

[Jim Kibler]

Nothing wrong with adding one, but I would make sure you are confident in your skills first.  this isn't an easy task for most.  It certainly can be accomplished, but isn't necessarily for everyone.

Jim

[galudwig]

galudwig, That's a nice one for sure!
John

Thank you JTR. Jim is correct. Not a lot of room for error on the SMR forend and probably not the one for someone who has not worked with muzzle caps to “learn” on.

[flehto]

If one hasn't previously made a Mcap, either a brass  {.035} or steel MCap would be a good choice....annealed brass  much  easier. Take a fairly narrow piece of paper and wrap it around where the Mcap will be located and pencil in both ends of the top of the forend at the bbl flats  and then add   some  extra length. If a groove for the RR is wanted, draw a line halfway and lay a length of RR on the line and pound the RR into a groove in a wood block that accounts for a double thickness of brass. and is the shape of the   forestock. ....the brass is then formed around this block w/ the RR clamped  in the groove. The groove is shallower than the RR groove in the stock but the bottom of the  shallow groove must align w/ the bottom of the stock groove.

Another wooden block that's the shape of the forestock but w/o a RR groove is used to form the brass. An end plate w/ the bbl flats marked on and filed  can be  either soldered inside the sleeve or laid on top of the sleeve and soldered.....the excess brass then has the excess  filed off. I always soldered the end plate inside the sleeve......Fred

[galudwig]

If one hasn't previously made a Mcap, either a brass  {.035} or steel MCap would be a good choice....annealed brass  much  easier. Take a fairly narrow piece of paper and wrap it around where the Mcap will be located and pencil in both ends of the top of the forend at the bbl flats  and then add   some  extra length. If a groove for the RR is wanted, draw a line halfway and lay a length of RR on the line and pound the RR into a groove in a wood block that accounts for a double thickness of brass. and is the shape of the   forestock. ....the brass is then formed around this block w/ the RR clamped  in the groove. The groove is shallower than the RR groove in the stock but the bottom of the  shallow groove must align w/ the bottom of the stock groove.

Another wooden block that's the shape of the forestock but w/o a RR groove is used to form the brass. An end plate w/ the bbl flats marked on and filed  can be  either soldered inside the sleeve or laid on top of the sleeve and soldered.....the excess brass then has the excess  filed off. I always soldered the end plate inside the sleeve......Fred

Good information on how to form and make a muzzle cap. However, brass mounts were not common on mountain rifles. Elisha Bull was known to mix brass and iron on the same gun, but most mountain rifle muzzle caps were made of sheet iron (or poured from pewter or lead). I’ve made “iron” caps from .025” sheet metal. The thicker you go, the harder it is to bend and form properly.

[Tim Crosby]

 This may help:

   https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=4669.msg43674#msg43674

    Tim

[Mike Brooks]

Most of the old ones had them.

[yip]

 i've done a few but the fore end on the Kibler is thin and not much room for error, but i think i'll give it a try, wish me luck!

[Hungry Horse]

The first time I saw metal cast on a wood mandrel was when I watched my Grandad cast a ring for my Grandma out of a piece of a zinc canning jar lid and a garnet he found while hunting deer.
 Twenty years later when I needed to cast a nose cap on a pistol kit, I tapped into what I’d seen, and what I remembered. Don’t overheat the metal, tin, lead free solder, of lead free pewter, seem to work best, rub your incised pattern with carbon from a carpenters pencil. That’s pretty much it.

Hungry Horse

[stuart cee dub]

Hungry horse idea of rubbing graphite from a pencil in the narrow channel grooves helps the flow of the pewter during the pour . Hershel House demonstrated this technique to a class on rifle building that I attended years ago. He also slightly undercut the grooves in preparation for the pour as well .It works .

[CooleyS]

Yup, if you decide to go forward with a sheet metal nose cap I can lend you a mandrel I made to form the outside of the nose cap on my Kibler rifle. Here’s the finished nose cap on mine and the mandrel made it go much easier. I made two copper screws to hold it on and just made them appear to be rivets as it would have been done originally, I just wanted to be able to remove it if needed.

[mjohnson]

CooleyS, that nose cap looks really sharp! Nice work!

[RAT]

Poured pewter is super simple to do, great looking, and are appropriate for this style of rifle.