Forms for Shaping Entry Pipes

[t.caster]

I'd like to see some of the forms/dies you goes are using to form the entry pipes. I am tired of using the store bought ones....I'd like a little more offset on the tang, and of course nobody makes the long flowered tangs like they used on Bucks Co. rifles. My mentor (the late Jack Gee) used a machined die, but it was kind of angular and not a very graceful  bend.
Making the middle and front pipes are not the problem, just the entry pipe.
Thanks,

[Dphariss]

For soft metals, brass etc, I make a form with a groove that will accept the pipe. Contour the rest to make the tail piece as you want. I put a steel rod in the pipe and use this to clamp it in place. Then I use a smooth rounded punch to form the tail piece to the wooden form. The form can be made to form about any shape needed.

This is aluminum but I have used wood with equal results.




For steel pipesI use a different form that is steel and turned on a lathe and I form the tail over it.

The rings are formed on a flat plate with a groove filed in it and a punch to form the metal to the groove.The grooves in the form accommodate the rings.

Dan

[wvmtnman]

I have one that I carved out of a piece of oak.  I took a store bought one and did a "reverse" inlet.  After I made my first one I adjusted it get what I wanted. I made a punch out of some 3/8 inch round stock to bend the brass down. It basically looks like the one Dphariss posted but mine is made out of wood.  So far I have made 4 or 5 entry pipes and there is no sigh of wear.
                                                                         Brian

[Nate McKenzie]

Dave Keck at www.knobmountainmuzzleloading.com sells one for $25. Its shown on his website under "parts".

[flehto]

Seeing that lately I've been building Bucks County LRs and IMO it isn't a Bucks County unless it's got a long tailed entry pipe, I made a female form die out of oak and it's similar to the one pictured by Daniel Russell. Mine however has a matching piece that clamps down on the barrel w/ clearance for the tab and the male form is a loose piece.  The spherical radius at the "stepdown" is peened into shape w/ a metal radiused punch and then the male form  is used.  I'm in the process of lengthening the female form die and the male form  because some of the Bucks County entry pipes are longer than what I'm presently making. .....Fred

[Acer Saccharum]

Some of the Bucks County entry pipes are two piece, soldered where the tube meets the skirt.

Tom

[Acer Saccharum]

Can we take all these posts on forming tools and put them into 'Shop Made Tools' for easier reference?

Please?

Tom

[flehto]

Thanks for the reminder of the 2 pc  BC entry pipes....would eliminate the radical transition from bbl to tail.....Fred