Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Ramblings of an amateur gun tinkerer

i can not wait to see a pict of your finished rifle. life is to short to hunt with an ugly rifle that said there are many diferent thoughts on handsome. i wish i had your tallent
thanks chris

RickyD that was too funny! I got tears in my eyes...

Just the way it seemed to me at the time, Blammer. Glad to bring some joy to your day, friend!

how's she looking? will be fun to carry for the first time again.
thanks chris

Very, very nice work. You are obviously a talented craftsman - I'm impressed.

still hoping for a pict of her?
thanks chris

Chris...

I'm knee deep in a honey do list at the moment. Good Better weather has inspired the wife to inspire me to be inspired on finishing our house. Right now I'm trying to balance a third shift gig, Daily Dad chores, siding and deck work, and finishing the sheetrock downstairs...

I'm trying to remember the last time I jerked a trigger. I haven't even been trout fishing yet....

I got a few loose ends to tie up first.......

Wow sounds like you have quite a load there Wilds Hated that 3rd shift gig myself, had to cover all the bedroom windows with black plastic just to get some sleep. Then you have that one happy neighbor out mowing their grass or some other noisey event at 7:30 in the morning.Save that fine craftsman ship untill your well rested and have foul weather about. Good luck on that honey do list, mine just keeps getting longer : )

well i still hope to see a pict when your done. i put off some honey do's today and shot my 54. (i hope she can see past this) out to 50 paces did ok but 100+ will be a challenge one shot at 120+ my brother stated nice shot if you were trying to hit an elephant! my shot was 3' left. this offhand flint thing may be more of a challenge than i thought it would. thanks chris

I won't let anyone down...I'll post pics.

With a flinter--Aim small, miss small...with nerves of steel.

Great job!! I usually don't look at in-lines of any type but this one you've built has had me following the progress through all of your postings! As a traditional yacht carpenter I can truly appreciate the workmanship evident in your masterpiece.

May I humbly submit an idea for the checkering pattern? Using the pattern you posted pics of recently, how about substituting circles for the fleur-de-lis in the bottom panel on the forend? They would mimic/flatter the circular motif of the tail end of the ebony tip. Just a thought.

Gary

Gary...

Do humbly appreciate the sentiments. Re: the circle in the ebony tip. I've a sling stud planned for that spot as soon as I get around to making the "thimble" piece for it. The wood is rather thin in that area and there is the ramrod that passes through so just a regular wood thread stud isn't going to hold up. My thought is to make a round "thimble" mebbe an inch or so long for the rod to pass through, tig weld a fine threaded nut to the bottom of it, inlet fit it to the inside of the barrel channel and epoxy it in place. Then having drilled a hole dead center in the "round spot" I can screw a swivel stud in place. This should provide a more sturdy platform not likely to "pull out".

As far as the checkering pattern I posted, I kinda like it with only the sweeping divider lines and without any fleur-di-lis.

I'm not sure how I missed this thread, but you have done an awesome job on re-stocking that muzzleloader of yours.

Wildswalker: Obviously, you are a patient man. I'm taking my first turn at stock making. My first effort involved a pre-inletted unit, and I will not do that again. A little too much wood was removed in a few spots and there's no way to put that back on. A good oil finish is quite demanding too and that's where I'm at now. Must admitt that I've learned alot, and it has been fun.

I've picked up some wood now, and have 2 more projects planned that I will do from scratch. Modeling the Shiloh forarm pattern looks to be a difficult effort too. I waited almost 2 years for one of their rifles with delivery about 6 months ago. Those folks can flat fit wood and metal together, and I can only aspire for that degree of perfection.

I'm still working on getting a good set of tools together, and envious of your work bench too. Thanks for the progress reports and keep us posted. A fun read... 1Minute

Thanks guys......

Gary,

Thanks for jogging my memory, I threw this together at work last night. 'Tis the part I described that will anchor the front swivel stud.

Drilled this little piece of steel pipe out with a "Y" bit, .404", and then tig welded a screw boss onto it that I made out of a piece of half inch key stock. The little hole is dead center and will serve as an index hole that I will use to line it up properly when I go to epoxy it into the barrel channel. I'll then, after the glue dries, D&T it for one of those machine screw swivel sets in the Cabela's book........

Neat solution to a vexing problem. Keep 'em coming!!

Gary

As mentioned earlier, before I checker this thing I needed/wanted to trim and slim up some parts just a bit...

The whole thing lacked a certain ergonomic appeal.........pudgy, IOW.

Slimmed up the forearm, the grip, the butt.

Also carved in some palm reliefs....

I'll do a final sand then post some pics.

Stay tuned...........

Changed the channel..............

That's some nice work there....makes me want to go light some powder!!