Soddy Daisy Copper Thimbles

[Daniel Coats]

Starting with my usual blue painters tape. This makes easy straight easy to follow lines that offer some protection during construction. Copper material is .040 cut to 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 for a 5/16 ramrod. In the last photo they're trimmed and soldered and sequence marked #1 and #2 with the front pipe slightly larger inside diameter.The trigger guard sneaked in to photo bomb the shot since it missed out on it's own topic.

[Curtis]

Nice work!  I will be interested in seeing what they look like on the rifle.


Curtis

[Daniel Coats]

Nice work!  I will be interested in seeing what they look like on the rifle.


Curtis's

Here's where they are this morning. I'm trying to finish up for the CLA show.

[bluenoser]

Have not seen compound action tin snips before.  Looks like they would work well for heavy cuts and old hands.  What brand are they?

[Daniel Coats]

Have not seen compound action tin snips before.  Looks like they would work well for heavy cuts and old hands.  What brand are they?

They're not marked but they sure work great! I can cut a perfect straight line with one hand that doesn't require cleanup or filing. I got them at Harbor Freight.

[HighUintas]

I love it. Nice work.

Was copper common on original mountain rifles?

[Daniel Coats]

Thank you!

I don't think copper was common on original mountain rifles. It is more common on contemporary mountain rifles like mine and the few builders I know personally and aspire to be more like one day. I'm referring to Jack Duprey and Don Burton for example.

[whetrock]

Thank you!

I don't think copper was common on original mountain rifles. It is more common on contemporary mountain rifles like mine and the few builders I know personally and aspire to be more like one day. I'm referring to Jack Duprey and Don Burton for example.

As Daniel said, but it's not an oddity, either (for thimbles, I mean). Some schools used it. Others didn't. Unfortunately, most of the books that show mountain rifles don't show closeups of the thimbles. And since copper tarnishes brown, it can be difficult to recognize it in poor resolution full-length photos of rifles.
(See this one, for example: https://www.icollector.com/item.aspx?i=26475181 )

Here are photos of the entry pipe (iron) and middle thimble (copper) on an antique North Carolina SMR. Both the middle and front pipes are copper. I don't think there is any reason to assume they are replacements, but if they are replacements, they were replacements installed during the working life of the gun.

[Clint]

The last southern rifle I made had a wrought iron butt plate, trigger guard and patchbox, I used copper for the rr pipes because the iron pipes wanted to spllit along the length.