For what it's worth, here's another

[Eddie2002]

Started a .50 caliber smooth bore pistol about a month ago made out of stuff laying around the shop. Barrel was a piece of 1 inch stainless bar stock which I shaped and bored out on my old South Bend heavy ten. It's a blind bore with no breach plug and was proofed with 75 grains of 3F and double patched round balls. Wired the barrel to a piece of 2x6, buried it in the back yard and covered it with some diamond plate and fire wood for the proofing. Bought the trigger guard but made the trigger assembly. The lock was from a cheap 60's pistol kit imported from Japan that had a soft frizzen and bad geometry. I made a new hammer since the build was a cap lock. The lock had a lot of problems including a busted main spring which I ended up replacing with one for a Brown Bess after tweaking it. Stock is from some 25 year old slab cut Pennsylvania walnut which I've been dragging around for what feels like forever.




Just for something different I carved a stylized skull in the grip. The butt cap started out as a flat piece of brass and must of taken 2 hours to hammer into shape. Gotta wonder how they made guns back two hundred plus years ago.

I've already shot it using 25 grains 3F and a PRB. Hit the same hole in the target twice at 5 yards free hand so I'm happy with it so far. Still need to finish sanding and finishing along with polishing the brass. Guess it's not very period correct or pretty but it's been a fun build so far.

[rancher1913]

wish I was that talented

[Edward]

Thats a good example of utilizing down time, wishing I had the talent but don"t so thanks for showing /Outstanding /Ed

[waksupi]

Good shop project! I think I would shape the top of the grip a bit more, to make the lines flow better. You could reduce the wood around the back of the lock to match the lines of the bottom. There should only be around 1/8" around the lock mortise.

[Eddie2002]

Waksupi, I'm still shaping the stock, not like I'm going anywhere for a while and will smooth out some of the bumps and fix around the lock. Thanks for the tip.

[oldracer]

That is similar to the target pistol I made earlier and caused such an uproar with my light trigger pull. I was going to shape my stock like yours then changed my mind to make the gun a target pistol. Really great looking job on that pistol!

[Txcowboy52]

It looks great ! I'm with rancher wish I talented !!

[LAGS]

All it takes to build a pistol like that is,
Time
Talent,
Skills,
Tools ,
And Money.
It sure looks like you have all of them.
Very nice.
Keep us posted on how it shoots.

[Bull-Moose]

That is really neat. Thanks for sharing.

[pietro]

.

Nice work !

It reminds me of my first muzzleloader, a like pistol I made from an 8" section of a cutoff .444 Marlin barrel & a hunk of black walnut, back in the mid-60's.

.

[Scrounge]

That's a terrible job! Send it to me, and I'll make sure no one ever sees it again. Except on weekends, or other days I shoot it...




I have a couple of machine shafts my former work told me to remove from the property some years ago. May have to try that myself. I have a souvenir flintlock pistol I got when I was stationed in Turkey in the mid-80's. Barrel is a piece of water pipe, but the lock may be a genuine antique. Stock is modern but pretty, and I'm more a wood butcher than wood worker, but I have learned some stuff about metalworking. Gotta fix the Heavy 10L before it's useable, but the Atlas TH42 should work for a short barrel.

Thanks for the inspiration! And shoot heck out of it! Ya done good!

[oldracer]

Your proof test reminds me of a flint lock kit a fellow I was stationed with in upstate New York at the Saratoga Navy Nuclear power plant. There were no barracks or such so everyone rented apartments or trailers or...... Anyways the guy got his kit finished on a Saturday afternoon and a bunch of us were lounging around drinking beer, lots of beer, so anyways he loaded it up with a bunch of black powder and a patched round ball and tied it to the rail on the back door landing of his little mobile home. I think it was made of 2x4s or something and ran some string back 20 feet or so. We all got back and he yanked the string and it made a tremendous boom and knocked the whole landing, steps and all down, nearly knocking the trailer off its stands! Well he said it worked real well but his wife and baby who were in the trailer were really unhappy! We drank some more beer.
John

[Eddie2002]

Thanks everybody, just finished the final sanding and hit it with a brownish Walnut stain and started a rubbed in polyurethane finish. Think I have around 50 dollars tied up in it along with about 50 hours shop time. Itching to shoot it. LOL
Will post some more pictures of it when done.

[toot]

WOW!! waist not won't not!! and you have a very functional shooter. KUDDOS to you!

[Hdskip]

Nice work!

[Eddie2002]

Here it is in final form, still need to drill and install a front bead sight on the barrel. For a rear sight I'll file a "V" into the back section where the tang connects. It's a smooth bore and I'm not expecting precision accuracy past 25 yds.



Well it turned out OK for a pile of miss matched parts, learned a lot which one of the reasons I attempted it. First time I tried to build a cap lock barrel. Going to keep the flat finish on the wood, think it fits the overall scheme of the build. Still have some stainless left over, maybe enough for a small cannon LOL.
Thanks for all the help with the build and hope everybody is staying safe.

[arcticap]

Congratulations! The total package is worth a lot more than the individual parts.

[smithnframe]

Cool!

[rodwha]

Way too cool! Wish I had access to a mentor with tools.

[toot]

well it is different, and it shoots. keep us informed.