Got it Done .69 caliber Dragoon

[Eddie2002]

Here some more pictures of the left handed Dragoon in .69 Caliber build. Ended up finishing it with three coats of a paste polyurethane which I have used on furniture instead of an oil finish as was planned. 197116197117197118
It was a fun project and learned a lot about building a flinter. Don't think I have the stamina and patience to build a long gun yet.
If it ever stops raining I'll try a load of 25 grains of 3F behind a .69 patched RB at a 10 yd target.

[Maven]

Nicely done, Eddie!

[OptimusPanda]

I didn't know you could get left handed locks. I need one of these now...can I ask where you sourced all the parts?

[Eddie2002]

The left handed lock came from L&R lock company and is a model 1000DL open throat large rifle lock that I picked up a few years ago at a rendezvous. It's a late 1700's British style lock in the right time period but not quite correct for a military flintlock. They sell all the other parts for a build but I had a barrel and some brass laying around the shop from an early 70's Japanese kit I got at a yard sale. The build reached a tipping point where I had everything I needed so I gave it a shot.
Here's a link to L&R, http://www.lr-rpl.com,

[bubba.50]

looks like you done yerself proud.

[54bore]

Looks like you did a darn fine job!!

[thegatman]

Beautiful work.

[bedbugbilly]

Eddie - nice job! I'm curious if you have, or are going to, shoot this? If so, what did you use for ball size/load and how did it shoot?

Reason for asking - I picked up one of these old Tower pistols from the 60s - missing a few parts like th side plate, a couple of screws, etc. - looks like one of the "kits" and whoever put it together didn't do a fantastic job of finishing the brass, etc. Anyway - I'm going to pull the barrel and check it out as well as pull the breech plug, etc. We just moved, but I'm thinking that I may have a lock that would cover the existing lock mortise and work if the barrel turns out to be safe (the original kit lock is on it but they were never good - soft frizziness, weak springs, etc) so I wouldn't be using that. If I don't have a flintlock lock that will work, I may have a percussion lock that could be used and convert it. Just sort of a "project" to keep busy and possibly end up with a shootable smoothbore - time will tell. I haven't even measured the bore of it but am guessing it is .69.

Thanks for any info if you've shot it - a lefty is a bit unusual and you did a good job of utilizing the parts!

T
Thanks!

Jim

[Eddie2002]

Bedbug,
I picked up a Lee .69 caliber RB mold from Midway, after all the work putting it together it needed to be shot. I've let the smoke out of it only 3 times so far, first load was 30 grains 3F, second load was 35 grains and the finial was 40 grains all shot into a 1x6 pine plank laying on the ground. The 40 grain load penetrated the plank while the other two just put big dents in the wood and cracked the planks.
The Tower kits were popular back in the 60's, that's where the barrel and brass on the Dragoon came from, I have the lock but it's got too many issues like weak springs, soft frizzen and just being ugly so it's on the shelf. The wood that came with the kit looked like it was chopped out of a log with an ax and shaped with a grinder, it was as rough as a corn cob and ended up as fire wood.
The barrel had been on a different pistol and the touch hole was off by a bit. I ended up installing a touch hole liner to re align it's location which worked great.
It is also a solid one piece barrel with no breach plug and the tang is welded on. The main reason I honed out the bore was to remove some fine machining marks left by the boring bar, it also allowed me to open it up from a .68 caliber to a .69 so I can shoot a PRB.
I want to work up the load to around 60 grains of 2F which should be plenty for fun. The barrel has plenty of meat to it so I'm not expecting anything out of the ordinary at full load. Need to get over to my shooting buddy's 50 yd range but it's been raining for nine days straight. This is my third scratch build flintlock pistol, I just get a real kick out of making them.

[bedbugbilly]

Thanks for the info Eddie - greatly appreciate it! I have built quite a few rifles from scratch over the years but never a pistol - sort of getting the "itch" to do it! I haven't checked out the barrel on the cheap "Tower" that I have but am kind of thinking I might take a section of octagon barrel, have it bored out/honed to .69 and then transitioned from octagon to round with wedding bands at the transition, much like a trade gun barrel. I have a "Harpers Ferry" lock (L & R? I believe - a new on I picked up for a build that didn't get done). The design probably won't follow any specific pistol but I'm more interested in a "shooter" and the fun of the build. It will be interesting I'm sure when you get a chance to try it out at your buddy's range and distance to see what it will do!

Thanks again for the information - greatly appreciated and hope you'll post how it shoots at distances.

Jim

[toot]

CUDDO'S to you. a job well done.