Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders New 8 Bore

Dan, this is basically a "shakedown Cruise" and "Re-Orientation" in my own shop. As you know, I haven't spent enough time there in recent years,.........it's nice to find stuff I've grabbed on the fly and tossed in corners, and as well to get a feel for what consumables have been, well,.....consumed, and need replacement.

Working this old thunder stick over has been the PERFECT mechanism of getting it all back in gear.

You KNOW what's next on the agenda

I thought those looked like primers but no way in hell I was gonna say that

Nice Work Cross, hope ya can find some game to align in the sights this fall.

Gunner

looking real nice .

Some more Wood restoration, with no deference to "Invisibility", Rather a stout, workmanlike, and strong REPAIR.



The Red Oak chosen is very supple and strong, and good porosity for soaking up the acraglas.
Pretty straightforward approach, ....the strips are laid up like little bricks, individually fitted to the milled recess that removed all the old busted up and baked out Maple. remember, I'm just making a "quilt" to pattern a new blank off of here.



"Looks good from the airport",.....that old S. African Coin was discarded as a front sight,....too narrow and "Fine". What I'd though a Buffalo is actually a Wildebest,......the hacked up asymetric remains of the coin now grace the completed Wrist Bolster plate. The Allen Head machine screws are now recessed into the bolster, and some quick "aging" has been thrown at it, as well.



Wider front sights don't come cheap,......I've had this coin around since I was a very young man,.....a time when it would get you a decent meal, properly laid, and leave enough for a three day hangover. 1963 Mexican 100 Peso.

Very nice, and also nice job on positioning that trigger guard with trigger itself towards the rear of the guard.

Wish I had that level of talent and patience. ,and me and that 100 peso coin hit the dirt in the same year.

Gunner

this fellow will make you exactly what you need. i got an 8 ga and a 6 ga mold from him. he ships extremely fast, and you pay him to his usa account..

http://www.jt-bullet-moulds.co.uk/

and this is his email i think

<jeffjt-bullet-moulds.co.uk>;

that will be fun!!
good luck.

Thanks, cable, I appreciate the lead.

GTC

Indeed. Will be contacting the Casey in about 2 weeks.

I will certify on my honor that my lips went numb; the lower lip more so. I think it was because the blast lifted them "up and out". Maybe I had my mouth open. It was a unique experience. The lower lip especially felt (or should I say unfelt) like they were nearly frozen. I had that happen once at the top of a mountain above the Schoharie Creek near Liberty, New York once. When my frozen lips tawed out, they felt just like the after effect of firing that 8 bore. Next time I'll keep my mouth shut for sure.

Famous last words!

Ed

Well, like I said,.....that was the SAME 250 gr charge of "Rusty Elephant" that I was shooting,.......I did TAMP it a bit harder than the others,.....but you saw me loading the thing, they were ALL stepped on pretty hard.

Like dancing the Polka with a Fat Lady, once she gets moving, ya' gotta' hang on.

GTC

There's a great thread running about frozen / seized nipples, and freeing them up for replacement. Knowing that this particular project gun was about the worse possible example one was going to find, I recorded what I did today. This thing was rusted just about solid, I mean YEARS of rust.



No flame (pun intended) towards the other thread, but a propane torch is just to "SOFT" to do much more than heat up the entire mass, ....and slowly, at that. What one wants is LOTS of heat, focused FAST, and on a SMALL area. While one can get GREAT results with a small Oxy-Acetylene bud, The method I used here is probably the BEST "Never sweat" approach I know. I've set up a wind break, and using the TIG Torch, commence to bulding up a blob of weld on the recalcitrant nipple,...nothing fancy, just HOT



The idea is to take the siezed part (nipple) over it's "Critical" temperature, and in so doing EXPAND it, withing it's recess. Again, LOTS of tightly focused heat is run up that part, and into it's concealed threaded shank.



The torch was put away, and the whole piece allowed to cool a bit. The nipple was than screwed out with a small pair of Vice Grips,.....no appreciable force required.



The bolster was spritzed with a little Lube Guard, and, as well, required minimal force to spool out of it's lair



Barrel and breech plug threads have been chased, and a new bolster generated, ready to re-assemble.



I've pulled an AWFUL lot of "Hopelessly Seized" fasteners over the years, using this method, some all packed full of busted easy outs, and twisted off drill bits. IT WORKS.

I gots to find me one of them TIG torches. Marvelous tool...loosening tight nipples (always a good thing) and making politicians honest across the land (even better).

At this point I'll "fore swear" hooking up my Miller Dynasty DX 300 to politician's .

That being entirely based on today's current events.

..............as far as doing the BEST work with small pieces, parts, and ABSOLUTE demand for success,....

TIG RULES .

"Forge" that.

GTC

does it affect the barrel any when you apply the heat to the nipple and bolster area?

Probably you should make sure the barrel is not loaded. Just a guess on my part.

true. i was referring to any type damage to the outside or inside with that much heat.

Nice tutorial....

Is that rear sight set a wee far back..? Never seen one all the way back by the breech plug.

Not in my experience. In point of fact,the "Heat" is VERY localized, and the adjacent mass doies not really get all that hot.

In Arizona's Summer clime,I've had my Badger barrel on my Sharps hot enough (in silhouette matches) that the varnish on the forend was smoking. ML barrels do not get that hot during the process discussed.

A bit of an "Experiment",....this, since the last photo was taken, that rear sight has been opened up,.....BIG TIME. It now resembles a set of Cape Buffalo / Mbogo horns, and everyone that's thrown it up for a squint says the set up is FAST.

The front sight is VERY wide, and very BRIGHT (when polished).
Remember, the whole thrust of this stunt is "Minute of Hippo at 40 Feet"(or anything ELSE feeling stupid, aggressive, formidable, and outside of the laws of Physics),.......given that we were knocking down NRA Rams at 100 Yards with NO sights at all,......I think this is worth playing with a bit.
I doubt I'll be mounting an MVA or a Baldwin on this old wreck.

Next stunt,......"Honing a somewhat Rusty Bore"

That'll work , too, and I'm willing to bet will yield a "softer shooting" arm.

GTC