Poured my rifle a nose cap

[oldracer]

Whew, it was not as hard as I was afraid of. I used about 8 ounces of silver solder and a tin cup and torch to melt it. The hardest part was getting the card stock "dam" or mold made up so the liquid solder would not run out. I am currently shaping it and re-staining the fore end around the edges. I'll post a few pictures once the finish gets done. Pictures are at the end.

[CastingFool]

Probably too late now, but photos of the work in progress would be great.

[Omnivore]

Cool! I've read about it and thought about it but never tried it. Would love to see your photos.

[aspangler]

Wow! 8 Oz of silver solder? Bet that set you back a pretty penny!

[Omnivore]

asp;

Just so we're all on the same page; the term "silver solder" is used to describe totally different products. The stuff used here is a roughly 95% tin, 5% copper alloy, which is close enough to "pewter" as no matter. Last I looked it was around ten dollars per pound in the hardware stores as wire solder. It's also called "lead free" solder, for use in plumbing and such and its meltig point and use is close to that of regular tin/lead solder. I've seen a similar product called "silver bearing solder" which did contain a tiny amount of silver, for use in the same applications.

True silver solder does usually contain silver, but not necessarily in large amounts. It comes in different alloys and colors, and its use is more akin to brazing than "soft soldering" as its operating temp is far higher (close to red hot under regular indoor light). Rather than an acid or rozin flux it uses a borax mixture as flux, which melts at a high temp, just before the solder melts. A good silver soldered joint in copper alloys will be about as strong, or stronger than the brass, bronze or copper, or silver, that its used to join. It's great on steel too-- same process but of course it's not as strong as a good weld.

This is preaching I know, but I often run across misunderstandings of this term. You may already know it, but some people don't. In my music instrument shop we use silver solder and soft solder, and silver solder flux and soft solder flux, and so we have to make that clear distinction between the two systems. What oldracer is using we call "lead-free solft solder".

[Zymurgy50]

This might be called "Silver bearing solder" and just a couple weeks ago Menards had all you could want at $25.00/lb.

[oldracer]

Since I was a Lowes to get a new head for my 27 year old torch, I bought the solder there in the plumbing section. On the roll it said lead free, plumbing silver solder. It was in 8 once rolls so I got one which was a more than enough although I could have made it bigger I suppose. There are a couple of You Tube videos that show how to pour one better than my pictures could do. Some things to note: I used old fashioned masking tape around the barrel which left no residue since the barrel has been blackened. Since the barrel floats in the channel except at the under lug, I added a few card stock filler plugs so the molten metal would not run in the small openings. I used two wood screws into the wood about 1/2 inch and sticking out 1/2 inch to help anchor the cap and it seems to be pretty solid. We'll see when 110 grains of FFG light off but I expect it will be fine? The metal did polish up pretty well with my buffer wheel (soft) after shaping things. Finally, I was very careful to make sure the gun was sitting vertical and well braced as I did not want hot metal splashing all over my feet and legs!

[bigted]

pictures man ... pictures !!!

[Good Cheer]

Ah ha! A timely topic. Was just threatening to try my hand at pouring one for Ol' Ugly.

[Dryball]

I used to pour nose caps for flinters and spouts and rings for powder horns. It's hard til you get a system. I ended up using tinkers' dam for certain things. If the overlaps were pretty straight I just doubled up on the masking tape at the seams.

[oldracer]

I read a couple articles in Black Powder Cartridge News about this and from the few diagrams and pictures I could not see what they were doing. When I got Doug's handmade Hawken type rifles, they all had poured nose caps so after getting them home I pulled a barrel and saw what he did. I asked a bunch of questions and the main one was how to hold it on and he said he uses a pair of small wood screws that stick out towards the muzzle about 1/2 inch. He noted to not make the edges real feathered but try to have a small shoulder and then the metal will be a bit stronger. He wrapped his barrels with some masking tape as did I and built a dam around the wood, making sure it fit tight against the wood and barrel edges, which I used several pairs of vise grips to squeeze the card stock. He said to not use duct tape due to the plastic in it and it would melt and make a mess.

I plan to take the gun to try the accuracy tomorrow and then finish the stock completely as right now I have 8 coats of lacquer with a lot of sanding and will probably put on 8 or so more. Pictures are coming so be patient.

[rhbrink]

I've been following along with this one too and just about brave enough to give it try. I figured that I would leave the half stock along as possible just in case I mess it up I could cut it off and go back to the standard nose cap.

RB

[Boz330]

There was an article in Muzzle Blasts several years ago about doing a cap with Acraglass and atomized aluminum. It looked really good when finished and you didn't have to mess with hot metal. I have played with the idea of putting one on an old junker to see how it worked. Just haven't gotten roundtoit.

Bob

[oldracer]

Well I put the gun together yesterday and found that the first thing I had to do was remove the lacquer buildup in places where the trigger plate and lock plate go as well as the tang. Once I did that, and checked tang sight alignment it was bore sighted on my neighbor's garage door which is 50 yards away. At the range the first shot with a 0.449 540gn lube groove bullet and 80gn of powder was about a foot too high at 50 yards. So some sight adjustments and it was level with the bulls eye. It took several wind adjustments and it was in the center. I was happy nothing fell off and it went bang reliably and even though it was only 50 yards it is a great start. So last night I took it apart, sanded the wood with wet 400 grit paper and sprayed a coat of lacquer. This morning I sanded with 600 grit and after drying gave it coat number 10 of lacquer. As per Mr Johnson's recommendation, I'll probably let it sit for a couple days, sand one last time with either 600 or 1200 wet paper and one last coat of lacquer and then polish as per his directions. I will say the extra fancy tiger maple that Petcatonia sent me really has some beauty to it and I think everyone at the range came by to look at it. The high polish trigger guard and hook butt plate really set it off as does the black barrel. Have patience, pictures are coming.

[OverMax]

Seen a few over the years poured using pewter. Would hate myself in the morning losing a end cap poured in silver. I'll bet a silver end cap sure enhances your rifles looks. Probably the first thing some other takes notice of.

[docone31]

Pewter, silver, wheel weight, they all look good.
Pewter, wheel weight, easy to pour. All you need to do is preheat the barrel a bit. Some smoke, but it holds well.
Silver gets complicated. A good inletting job is needed. Silver will burn off the wood for a while before it cools. The nose cap will fall off.
None the less, pouring a nose cap can make a tight attractive addition . Worth the effort.

[oldracer]

As I noted earlier in the post, Doug Knoell told me to use a couple of wood screws about 1 1/2 inches or so long and about 50% into the fore end. He also noted to not use any feather edges which can peal up a bit and look bad. I did both of these things. My fore end cap was also a bit loose around the barrel at the nose as the gun has a hooked breech and the barrel floats only sort of on the pinning area. The solder I used melted really fast with a torch and never even singed the tape around the barrel?

[waksupi]

I've always used babbet. I cut away about 1/8" at the top of the stock line, and then cut away the wood down to a 1/8" depth on around the fore end. I then drill a bunch of small holes as anchors, rather than using screws.

[rhbrink]

After reading this I did as waksupi did plus I drilled two holes from the outside of the fore end through the angled portions of the barrel flats on the stock and then chamfered them form the inside and then placed two screws in the front of the wood as oldracer did. I had some babbit and was wondering if it would work? I tried melting it and it melted very easy and a less that 500* so figured that it would work. So I made me a form around the wood and heated the barrel some and got brave and poured it and proud to say that it worked just great and I bet that sucker ain't going to come of anytime soon! And I don't have any picture cause my old puter blew up and now have a new lap top and nothing like camera or printer will work with the new laptop, about normal?

RB

[nekshot]

funny this stuff runs according to the moon I do believe. I am considering it on a gun also. I never thought of the plumbers solder, shoot I a have a couple rolls of that here somewhere.

[Junior1942]

I'd love to have brass nose caps and wedge plates on both my Lyman GPH and GP Pistol. There's a market for those, I believe, especially drop-in fits.

[oldracer]

96602966039660496605Here are a few pictures. Note the clearance between the barrel and the nose cap as it is a floating barrel and only contacts the stock where the under lug is located. Also note I am holding the card stock "dam" but you can see where some vise grips clamped it against the unfinished barrel with a tight bent edge at the top of the stock and against the barrel. The barrel is finished now so I did not want to mess it up. Since there was some oil on the barrel the masking tape did not stick....but I figure as many old guys we have here that you can figure how to wrap some tape around the barrel!? I still have to polish the nose cap and will do that after one or two more coats of lacquer. I tried doing it before the finish but the tape did not want to stick to the wood to protect it so I'll do it after.

[gnoahhh]

I've always used babbet. I cut away about 1/8" at the top of the stock line, and then cut away the wood down to a 1/8" depth on around the fore end. I then drill a bunch of small holes as anchors, rather than using screws.

That's exactly how I did one on a Vincent rifle. The pewter nose cap is about 1" long, and the web of wood under where the nose cap is got pretty thin after cutting the 1/8" rebate so I too drilled a bunch of 1/8" holes with little countersinks on the barrel channel side. 19 years later it's still going strong.

http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr174/gnoahhh/100_0017.jpg (http://s481.photobucket.com/user/gnoahhh/media/100_0017.jpg.html)

[oldracer]

That one is similar to the ones on the Hawken's that I just bought. The BEST part of this is when someone looks at it and you tell them you made the nose cap yourself and they go wow! Doesn't matter if there are scratches or it doesn't shine super bright or what ever.....YOU MADE IT!