Homemade flintlock Rifle Build Along

[Pierce]

Hey guys, after my sucess with my first hardware store flintlock rifle I am going to build another one and do kind of a build along. I am trying to be a little more period accurate a little more traditional with it instead of completely going my own way with it hahaha. I really had no idea what I was doing the first time, just knew the concept and well that one turned out pretty good. I was gifted some drawings and literature by Gary so this time I have a little more to reference off of. Although I am still probably going to put my own little touches on it. It also may not be the most exquisite piece as I am only using a hacksaw, some files, and taps. I learned a lot from my last build and after close to 1000 shots out of that thing haha I know what I like and dont like about what I did.

[Pierce]

Here is the barrel breech plug and touch hole bushing. The barrel is .5in DOM tubing 1/4" wall. I tapped the hole for the breech plug with a 9/16" fine thread tap in about 3/4". I am later going to just be welding a tang onto the breech plug bolt but for now I havent yet.

Some may already know about this technique I used to rifle the barrel from the shooting BP section of this forum. Anyway I scratch-rifled it first with a 1:70" twist then I put a small metal chisel that I made on the side of a ram rod and then build up the other side of the ram rod with electrical tape and paper to push the chisel into the side of the barrel. The scratch rifling guides the chisel down the barrel to get fairly perfect rifling and then you just do that a bunch of times around the barrel, with a little finesse of course. All of those micro rifling grooves will grab onto that bullet and twist that ball downrange. You need a fairly tight fitting patch and roundball of course.

Anyway I used a 1/4" bolt to make the touch hole bushing. First I coned one end of the bolt with a drill bit that I modified a little to be more pointy ro make a deeper cone of course and then I drilled a tiny hole through it using the apex of the cone to guide the bit into the metal. I then cut it off from the rest of the bolt with a hacksaw, filed it smooth and finally used the hacksaw to notch a groove for a flathead screwdriver.

[Pierce]

Pictures

[Pierce]

I have already started the lock mechanism. And I have a very rough drawing of the design I am going with.

I already for the most part finished the tumbler. I used a 9/6" bolt and pretty much just filed and sawed it into my desired shape.

[Pierce]

Tumbler pic

[t.caster]

I commend you on trying to build one from scratch, while this sight is filling up with so many Kibler kit threads.
I am sorry to see you installed the touch hole line already. I never do that until the barrel is installed and pinned in place and tang bolted down to the trigger plate and the lock is inletted and bolted down. Then you know the exact position of the pan to the barrel.

Good luck and keep posting, you will learn a LOT through this process!

Tom C.

[Pierce]

I commend you on trying to build one from scratch, while this sight is filling up with so many Kibler kit threads.
I am sorry to see you installed the touch hole line already. I never do that until the barrel is installed and pinned in place and tang bolted down to the trigger plate and the lock is inletted and bolted down. Then you know the exact position of the pan to the barrel.

Good luck and keep posting, you will learn a LOT through this process!

Tom C.

Yeah it'll be alright as I can still weld the tang in whatever orientation I need. And if for some reason I need to move the tough hole back i can just remove material from the back of the barrel and rethread it. No big deal

But today I got the hammer roughed out and some more done on the tumbler. For this gun I want to have a hair trigger  trigger so that is why I put that little stop lever thingy in it. Otherwise the search pin would just catch on the halfcock.

[Pierce]

Tumbler


public image sharing link

[smart dog]

Hi,
Is that how thick your flint cock will be?  It looks more like those on dog locks from the 17th century.  Is there going to be an internal bridle for the tumbler?  Also it is far better to shape and orient your mainspring so that the lower leaf is straight at full cock.  See photo below. 




Let me help you by giving you some terminology so we all can be on the same page.  The thing that holds the flint is called a cock.  It has a lower jaw and a top jaw held in place by the top jaw screw.  The thing the flint strikes to create sparks is called the frizzen but in the 18th century it was called a hammer, steel, or battery.  The frizzen covers the pan where priming powder is put.  It pivots on the frizzen screw.  The spring below the frizzen is the frizzen or feather spring.  It is held to the lock plate by the feather spring screw.  Inside the lock, the cock is attached to the tumbler which has the notches and toe upon which the mainspring presses.  The screw holding the cock to the tumbler is called the tumbler pin or screw.  The little sliding neck tie looking piece of steel is called the fly detent.  The "L" shaped part that has a tooth engaing the notches on the tumbler is called the sear and the screw holding it in place is called the sear screw. The sear is tensioned by a small spring called the sear spring which is attached to the lock plate by the sear screw.  On all locks with fly detents, the tumbler is held in place on the inside of the lock by a bridle held on to the lock plate by a bridle screw and the sear screw.  The big spring powering the lock is called the mainspring and it is either anchored to the lock plate with a screw or a tab that fits into a slot in the thickened section of the lock plate behind the pan called the bolster or reinforce

dave

[Pierce]

Thanks Dave and yeah kinda I'm just using a screw to hold the little lever thing down, I still dont know what its called haha. It's not the prettiest I guess but very functional and I guess I think it looks pretty neat.

[Bob Gerard]

That’s going to be a big lock judging by the size of that tumbler!

[smart dog]

Hi Pierce,
It is called a "fly' or "fly detent".  It probably is not a good idea to hold it in place with a screw unless you can assure that the screw will not loosen or tighten during use. A better solution would be to insert a threaded pin into the tumbler that the fly can rotate freely around.  Then cap the tumbler with a bridle that keeps the fly from falling out and also supports the inner side of the tumbler. You can see the bridle in the photo I attached above.

dave

[Randall Steffy]

This is well on the way to becoming a most interesting thread! I hope all involved can stay the course as this project evolves. Thanks for the pleasant diversion. There is much to be learned here. I'm hoping for a slow burn, rather than a flash in the pan. Thanks, all!

[JTR]

This is well on the way to becoming a most interesting thread! I hope all involved can stay the course as this project evolves. Thanks for the pleasant diversion. There is much to be learned here. I'm hoping for a slow burn, rather than a flash in the pan. Thanks, all!

I agree, keep going!
This is an interesting project, and you are going to learn a lot!
Try to use the correct terminology as smart dog has posted so we all know what you're talking about.
John

[Skeleton]

Well dang, I might have to give a flintlock a try. About 5 months ago I started my first muzzleloader build, a .45 caliber long rifle. 42 inch barrel from track of the wolf, white oak stock, I made the lock from the JACO plans. It's *almost* done. I own a lathe now, could save some money on powder drums and nipples. I can't think of much else to make on one of these.

[Pierce]

Well I refined the Cock a little and added the key hole. I also drilled and taped the tumbler pin screw hole. It's all fitting perfectly.

[Pierce]

Made the lock plate and slowly refining everything to make it look nicer. The Tumbler and the cock fit perfectly to the lock plate, no wobble and very freemoving

[rich pierce]

This is fun to watch. I like your can-do approach. On the cock, do you think you have enough vertical spur to allow accommodating flints of different thickness? Generally the rear of the top jaw needs to rest its backside against the top spur to stabilize the flint well.

[Pierce]

This is fun to watch. I like your can-do approach. On the cock, do you think you have enough vertical spur to allow accommodating flints of different thickness? Generally the rear of the top jaw needs to rest its backside against the top spur to stabilize the flint well.

Not entirely sure yet. I know the lower jaw on the cock seems to be a bit long but I'd rather it be a bit long for now until I tap it and put the top jaw screw in with the upper jaw. Also I knap my own flint so I can knap it however I guess

[Pierce]

So got a good chunk done on the pan and got it fitted to the lock plate. The place where the sharpie mark is is where I am going to put a counter sunk screw. To hold the pan to the lock plate. The other end will be key holed in with the frizzen screw.

On my last lock I made i welded the pan onto the lockplate and I found it to be very difficult to make that look nice at all. Having them separate makes it much easier to machine with hacksaw and files. On that note I'll post a photo of how I machine things. I mostly just cut slats with the hacksaw and then cut those off and file it smooth. It works suprisingly quick.

[Pierce]

I put the screw in and then hollowed out the pan and milled away the material for where the frizzen will go and also drilled the hole for the frizzen screw.

Side note, I just love the way countersunk screws look. They look so very clean and elegant

[Pierce]

I made the top jaw and threaded the bottom jaw to recieve the top jaw screw. I also threaded the frizzen screw. All I need to do for the lock mechanism is make the sear pin, searpin spring, frizzen, frizzen spring, and the main spring!

[Pierce]

I have the frizzen roughed out. I still have to refine it and make everything work properly but anyway I just took an old chisle and welded it to a piece of mild steel that I cut out to the desired shape.

I think I'm gonna do some engraving on everything to make it look prettier. Any tips on polishing the steel up and getting scratches out of it?

[Pierce]

I am trying my hand at engraving. I took triangle file and sharpened one end into a chisle shape and it seems to be working pretty good. I want to try to engrave a grouse in that section where there is no engraving yet. Its pretty fun and satisfying!

[okawbow]

Interesting posts. Good job learning to engrave.