building a Muzzle loader from scratch

[Col4570]

This is one I built using Solid Drawn Steel Tube during the 80s.I took the precaution of sending it to the Proof house.It has had many Balls through it.

[Col4570]

Another View.

[Col4570]

Another View.

[John Taylor]

Nice work.

[crackerjack57]

Nicely done!!

[KCSO]

I made up a traditional bench for rifling pistol barrels and it was 6 foot long for a 12" barrel stock using another 12" barrel as a rifling guide. It didn't cost much but I figured for a full length rifle barrel I would need a 14 foot bench and I didn't have room. I built a rifle from scratch except for the barrel one winter with post drill hand drill and all hand tools. I wish I would have kept it for myself but a collector wanted it more than I could afford to turn down at the time.

Now we live in town and I can't fire up mu forge any more so I have to buy more of my parts. MY first home made GUN??? was a matchlock made from a steering rod from a car and a chunk of oak limb. That was close on to 55 years ago now.

[crackerjack57]

that is right up there where I would like to be however im not a black smith. i sell steel tube so work in the steel industry. I have been able to rub shoulders with some amazing craftsmen. there are several black smiths also. sadly they are at their retirement years and the few "blacksmiths" that are out there are young and im still not sure that they have read the oxford definition of blacksmith. they might be closer to assemblers of purchased components. I am no blacksmith nor do I profess to be. Im just a stubborn squarehead that would like to consider the possibility of making a wheel lock from scratch. not sure if i will do it yet but just asking a lot of questions first and after sit down and figure if im up to the task.

im curious..... if you used a piece of cdsm for the barrel, did you use a hand reamer to true the bore and get to your chosen bore diameter and did you rifle it?? if you rifled the barrel, might you go into a bit of explanation of how you did this process?

[oldred]

I too build from scratch, but cartridge rifles, and at first I wanted to build the barrel from scratch but then reality set in. I instead settled for raw blanks from Green Mountain, my reasoning is that building a rifle from scratch is an incredible amount of work and I was unwilling to settle for a barrel of questionable quality just for the privilege of saying I built it myself. No matter how much effort a person puts into doing this it's going to be almost impossible to match the quality of a barrel made on megabucks equipment and that's precision machined from steel of a known quality, air gauged then stress relieved before being formed to it's final contour by the builder. These barrels are available as raw blanks that are really no more than a length of quality steel bar with a rifled hole in the center, there is still a great deal of work to do to them before they can actually be called a rifle barrel!

It's just a matter of perspective, at what point does a person no longer consider it a scratch build? Is starting with a tube that's already bored from end to end really any different from a scratch build standpoint than one that's basically the same thing but with rifling? Wouldn't true scratch building mean also drilling the bore in the bar? My point is that just the rifling of a barrel involves way to much cost and effort to be practical to do just one or two barrels and then even at that it's still not truly scratch build since a great deal of the building process, the bore, is already at least started with a through length pilot hole. But the biggest drawback to me is that after all that effort to acquire or build a rifling machine I would still end up with a lesser quality barrel than if I had of started with a raw blank. The reality is that no amount of self-convincing is going to yield a barrel of commercial quality if made on crude home-built equipment, crude compared to the precision and very expensive machinery at a place like Green Mountain, so again it all boils down to at what point in the barrel making process and what kind of quality is a person willing to start and end up with in order to claim *scratch built*?

Trust me, there is PLENTY enough work required to make a usable barrel starting with a raw, as opposed to a finished or precontoured, blank to make the claim *I built it myself* and the end product is highly likely to be of much better quality than anything built on lesser machinery, building methods, quality control and testing procedures.

[crackerjack57]

thanx for your input. I appreciate it. Like i said....... after i get all these great points of view i will need to sit down with myself and say; SELF!! how much are you prepared and able to do? someone else said the same thing as your saying. In my head I would like to do the barrel starting from a piece of CDSM but no worries, I will be very closely evaluating the entire process. the barrel obviously would be the hardest to make well and I appreciate the wisdom you and others are offering.

[Col4570]

Yes the Tubing was highly polished internaly when Purchased.I rifled it as follows 1Turn in 120inches.I used a Twisted 1"x 3/16thFlat bar os Mild Steel.I put short shafts at each end,these revolved in a wooden Frame.One end was Drilled to take a 3/8th inch Rod.At one end I made and fitted a Rifling head that could be adjusted.I made a dividing head with 7 settings.The Barrel Tube I clamped down onto 12feet of 3x2Timber.The Wooden Frame and cutting Rod and head where pulled through the barrel tube.After 7 Cuts the head was adjusted and the pulling through repeated.Constant oiling is necessary to keep the Cutter sharp.When I had sufficient depth I cast a Lead Plug on a Rod and using Grinding paste I lapped the Rifling.I then cut Threads for the Breach Plug and Filed the outside to an octagon.The project took me 3 months of Winter Nights.Th work is very Time consuming.

[oldred]

I must say I admire someone with the patience to FILE a barrel to octagon! I have done a couple on my lathe using a powered milling attachment mounted at the tool post and another one on my mill but to file one takes determination!

[crackerjack57]

that's the beauty of this forum!! at this point I haven't offered the patience of filing a barrel or anything else yet!! I'm getting all this good advice and input from everyone so at the end i can make an educated decision. with what I have so far, I may easily be looking at a year, possibly two to finish such a project. I just want to make sure that the personal satisfaction at the end will be worth the expenditure of time and effort during as I'm sure there will be moments of wanting to walk away. possibly run!!

[big bore 99]

I built one years ago before the kits hit the market. I did break down and buy a Numrich barrel with a maple stock blank from Dixie Gun Works along with their percussion and caplock locks. I made the locks identicle so I could switch between flint and percussion. I made a stainless steel threaded insert to switch between a bolster for percussion and touch hole insert for flint. I made my own bullet molds too. For a round ball, I roughed out the cavities and then acquired a hardened ball bearing of the right size and pressed it in a hydraulic press. I machined a conical mold. Even if you have a life time of spare time, I would consider taking advantage of some of the rough parts available. I was lucky enough to be a tool maker all my life and had a machine shop at my disposal. I built this when I was an apprentice.

[Col4570]

Yes there are times when you want to walk away from the job but there comes a point when it is starting to look like a Gun that will spur you on.

[John Taylor]

I have scratch built several guns over the years. some of my first ones used match heads for powder as I didn't know where to get BP. Most of making scratch built is learning what not to do on the next one. While I have used DOM a few times I get a bored blank if I want a special twist. So far I have done cut rifling from 7MM to .72 caliber. Even made a few Titanium barrels but I did not do the drilling.

[Col4570]

This is one I built based loosely on rifles in Ned Roberts Book "The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle.It is 50 Cal 1turn in 26".I cheated a little by using an old Back Action Shotgun Lock and Modifying it with a Half Cock and a Detent (Fly).It was necessary to make and fit a single Set Trigger (push forward to set)since the light trigger pull would allow the Sear to Drop into half Cock.

[Col4570]

Another View.

[M-Tecs]

You read my mind. I was just about to ask for a better view of the lock area.

[Col4570]

You read my mind. I was just about to ask for a better view of the lock area.

Yes it was necessary to make a hammer to suit the swing distance to the nipple.The square headed Screw under the Breach is to hold the barrel on.(the engraving does not bear close inspection)

[Col4570]

The reverse side.