Considering a "kid build" with some existing parts

[recurve]

 

Deer creek muzzle loader supplies has several cva parts that may help you
www.deercreekproducts.net

Here's my covid grandson rifle project and the 100 yrd sight in target , traditions also a shallow rifled 1-66 good kids starter flint (I replaced the lock w L&R) #40 pocket drill tallow lube sw 3 f 65 grn 490 ball

[Steeltrap]

Deer creek muzzle loader supplies has several cva parts that may help you
www.deercreekproducts.net

Here's my covid grandson rifle project and the 100 yrd sight in target , traditions also a shallow rifled 1-66 good kids starter flint (I replaced the lock w L&R) #40 pocket drill tallow lube sw 3 f 65 grn 490 ball

Very nice!!  I like the "red" finish. How did you accomplish that?

[recurve]

my grandson likes red so cherry Laurel Mountain Forge stain from Dixons then several coats rubbed in of boiled linseed oil (really made the birch stock pop)

[Steeltrap]

my grandson likes red so cherry Laurel Mountain Forge stain from Dixons then several coats rubbed in of boiled linseed oil (really made the birch stock pop)

Thank you!!

[Steeltrap]

Moving along....I've got the breech plug seating very well and aligned with the right barrel flat. Then i cut the plug tang and am now in the process of shaping the plug, and the hook breech tang so they align and match up correctly. I will say in hind sight that the $100 to buy a hook-tang looks pretty good as I don't think I'm "making" minimum wage on this part!!!

[Steeltrap]

A few pics of getting the hook breech done. I have some small cleanup to do, but the plug\hook\tang are done and it hooks up quite nicely.

The tang looks a bit odd when compared to a store bought one, because the 50 cal bore of the barrel is wider than the tang. But the 4 corners and the top\bottom are more than enough to have a strong hookup.

My first attempt at "fab-ing" a hook breech. It came out very well. But I think I must have measured ten times for every critical width, height, depth before I began filing.....I'll bet I have over 300 "measuring before filing" on this one!!

Now i'm waiting for my blank stock order and lock to come. I do have some other furniture to work on\make in the meantime.

[Steeltrap]

Well, I have this old T\C trigger guard that I think (not 100% sure yet) I'm going to repurpose. I initially soldered on a tab, then looked at it and thought something looked really wrong. It's the "curl" on the end. It's upside down when compared to every other trigger guard ever made. So, I decided to just cut it off and I'll solder the tab to the back "tail" in pic #2. I will also cut off that big ugly lug in the front.



Since the weather isn't the best, I decided to work on a butt plate. Using .80  brass plate I wanted a slight curve to the buttstock so I figured 1/4" dish would be good. I carved out a pattern in a 2x4 and a few whacks later got the curve I wanted. Then a bend, a few rough cuts and I have my BP. Well, still work to do on it.  I plan to leave the BP flat, sort of like a Northwest Trade Rifle. I'll also "thin" the bottom and top so it will look right on the butt stock. Simple but will work.

[Steeltrap]

Project is moving along. Of course, my "cheap build" because I already had a CVA barrel went out the door when the CVA was found to have a large void in the barrel. So, now it's a 45 cal 7/8" barrel....which I believe is more kid friendly anyway.

I received the stock blank and had the barrel channel and RR hole pre-drilled. The channel was tight (the barrel would not seat) so I spent time carefully removing wood and getting the barrel to seat.

This is the first build I'm doing from a blank, so some additional thought (for me) has to go into it. Once I got the barrel in-letted I was then going to plan out and draw the plan on the plank. Then I thought of the relationship between the bottom of the RR hole, and the placement of the lock.

That sort of gave me pause as I needed to see how far from the flash hole a RR hole bottom "normal" is. I measured my Leman and that was 1/4" from the bottom of the hole to the flash hole. (Horizontally)  This kid (kid...not kit) build is a bit more compact so it's going to end up that the RR hole bottom will align with the FH.

The second pic shows where the breech will end up. Looking at the photo the lines I've drawn look incorrect, but it must be the camera angle. 

I have very little room (wood) at the top of the tang.....so I think I can file\sand down that wood to meet the top of the tang. If not, I'll be looking at moving the barrel a little deeper. I believe I can squeeze another 1/8" in depth if I have to.

[Blacksmoke]

Wonderful job!!  And I thought that I was the only one to specialize in "low tech" !!

[Van]

   I had two CVA percussion barrels laying around since the early 90s from kits that I picked up for $35 each I believe.  They were incomplete kits that had major parts missing.  I got them just to get the barrels, one Hawken 50cal and one longer 45cal Kentucky.  After finally getting them in a gun they both shoot great. Just as well as my Green Mountain barrels.  The 45cal is in this Leman half stock with a Dixie percussion lock and a bunch of parts I had laying around and wanted to put to use.   

[Steeltrap]

Very nice Van. That's the same color I intend on making this build.

This build will be a half stock. "Sort of" in the likeness of a Northwestern Trade Rife. I'm aware that they did not make NW Trade Rifles in half stock. They apparently did make a blanket rifle. This is not either. So, I'm going on the notion that it was a full stock....and the kid broke it.!!

I've got the barrel almost fully inletted. Right now I'm finishing the hook breech tang and I'm almost done.

However, knowing this build is for a smaller frame person, I've chosen to cut the 7/8" 45 Cal barrel to 30". I've also chose a smaller lock that measures 4-3/4"x 7/8". The comb will measure 8" and the LOP 12.5". (And yes, the back of the lock is sitting to high right now as I couldn't get it to stay put to take the pic)

I've taken a NW TG, heated it, and reshaped it to a smaller "loop".

From my measurements the wrist should come out (approx) to 1.5" in height. My Greenville book states the wrist should be barrel width (7/8) plus 1/8" width on each side. That comes to 1.125", but I think 1.5" will be a better wrist.

So I'm posting this to "fish" for any feedback of anything that I may be missing or not understanding. Comments much appreciated!!

[Van]

   If you like that color on my gun, it is Laurel Mountain Forge Maple with True Oil finish. I rubbed it back to a satin sheen with 0000 steel wool to cut that shine a bit.  I convert this one to flint occasionally with an L&R RPL lock and a vent liner made from a M10-1.25 bolt to replace the percussion drum that came on the barrel. It shoots great both ways, but I really prefer flint. I scored a bunch of caps when Walmart had the $5.62 per tin this last hunting season so it's percussion right now.   Looks like you have it going great. Looking forward to seeing it done.

[Steeltrap]

After some consideration of my initial buttplate width, I scrapped the skinnier idea and went with a 1.5" width....looks like a NW Trade idea.

[Steeltrap]

The project is moving along. The style is a "Northwestern-ish" Trade gun, but in a half-stock. I figure a kid doesn't need more wood to potentially break. But that's just me.

Because it's approximately 80% of a full size rifle, I went with a small lock. Hindsight being 20/20 I likely could have used a full size lock as there is room for it. I think once I shape the lock panels and forestock it will look better.

Initially I made the comb nose 3/4" wide. But after shaping I can see it needs to be narrower. I'll go with 1/2" and see how that looks. In addition I think I will "steal" another inch off the comb's nose to give the wrist a little more length. But I'll check the drop at nose first. I want that to be about 1.5".

[Steeltrap]

It's moving along. Got the lock and tang bolt installed. I'm still pondering weather to remove more wood from the comb. The rifle mounts very nice. The lock plate panel is just a rough sketched in and I removed some wood just to see what the panel will look like.

And comments are always welcome.

[Hungry Horse]

 What is it? It’s stock shape, trigger guard, trigger, are all tradegun. But, it’s a half stock, with a hook breech, and a rifled barrel. In my neck of the woods you would have a lot of explaining to do at most events. Why mix tradegun and rifle features?

Hungry Horse

[Steeltrap]

What is it? It’s stock shape, trigger guard, trigger, are all tradegun. But, it’s a half stock, with a hook breech, and a rifled barrel. In my neck of the woods you would have a lot of explaining to do at most events. Why mix tradegun and rifle features?

Hungry Horse

I understand. I don't shoot in BP events so this wouldn't be at one. This is strictly a youth model that would be used at the range, and for flintlock hunting. My objective is to keep the cost as low as possible while the rifle has a nice appearance. And it would not be a factory cookie-cutter. (Not that that last one is a big deal. I've been killing deer with a T\C for decades)

I fabricated the hook-breech. I wanted that so cleaning would be easier than with a pinned barrel. I wanted the size to be "small frame" appropriate. It has a 12.5" LOP, 30" 45 cal barrel. I also already had the under rib. I started out with a CVA barrel that was laying around for years. But, when I cut it down I found a large occlusion. That barrel is scrapped. But a 45 Cal is Pa. hunting legal and the 45 cal with reduced loads has mild recoil.

So....Hook breech...No cost as I made it from part of the CVA barrel. Brass buttplate....cost peanuts as it's just bent sheet brass....Thimbles, nose cap, peanuts from sheet brass. NW Trade gun TG (which I already made the bow smaller) was $20 (Worth that in time of me not hammering one out), and plain jane half-stock less $$$ than full stock. Plus no upfront barrel wood for Jr. to not pay attention to and whack against a tree.

And that's why.

[Hungry Horse]

 I found the Trade Gun stock profile to be very hard to shoot comfortably. With no cheekpiece, and the very square profile of the comb of the stock, I got whacked pretty much every time. Thats why when I built my first trade gun I built a chief grade, with rounder stock profile, and more drop. I also found the trade gun trigger guard to be a knuckle rapper with a hunting load.

Hungry Horse

[Steeltrap]

Since my last photo post the stock wasn't completed. I've removed more wood at the top half so there is no angle in the comb from the buttplate to the front of the comb. The nose of the comb is also round, and the last 2/3 of the comb have the angular corners softened round.

I've shouldered this rifle and it's, to me, quite comfortable. I (of course) haven't shot it yet, but at 45 caliber I don't expect the recoil that my .54 and .50 cal rifles offer.

As for the trigger guard I can understand your comment of a knuckle buster. Hopefully I've removed that issue as I've made the loop much smaller than the original.

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate them!!

[Hungry Horse]

 Just trying to make sure a junior shooter has a good experience. I’ve seen a couple of kids get kicked on their first shot, and never shot again. Best of luck.

Hungry Horse

[Steeltrap]

Thanks HH. The Chief's Grade TG is a bit more slender\round at the base vs the standard NW TG. I've reduced the size of the standard NW TG and it has a bit more of an angle as opposed to that 90 degree. That, with a smaller caliber and hopefully Jr. won't develop the flinch or finger bite pain!!

I wanted a serpent type of side plate. Since cast serpent side plates are 6"+ in length, those won't work for this smaller rifle. (I needed a 4.5" length) So I took my amateur skills and made one from sheet brass. I need to round the edges and do some clean up. The face\tongue did not bode well, but it will grow on me.



Edit:  Still wasn't happy with the serpent head, so I modified it. Still not the best, but better than it was.