Second Introduction

[randyc]

Howdy,

I introduced myself in the "general discussion" part of the forum a few days ago. Briefly I am a retired engineer, relocated from the San Francisco area to Eureka, California (behind the Redwood Curtain as the natives say). I have a small machine shop and formerly used it in support of my consulting business.

One of my interests is firearms, although I'm not a hunter. I truly love skeet (occasionally trap) and enjoy target shooting with my boy. Because my son enjoys these things, it's been a convenient means of introducing him to machine tools and mechanical design techniques. Two years ago, we spent several weeks building a target rifle from an 1893 Mauser and he enjoyed the process. The experience continued with handload development and the possibilities of improving accuracy as a consequence of having metalworking machinery.

He's away at school (on the east coast) now but we were talking about another project last time he was home. Somehow the topic of snake guns came up - the boy defines that to mean a fairly light handgun capable of firing shotshells. He asked if we could design and make something like that and I said "sure, why not?" without giving the subject much thought. I knew that California has strict firearms laws but I didn't see any real problem with the project. In fact, I called the county sheriff's office, explained what I wanted to do and asked for their advice.

The nice female deputy said that she'd research the project and call me back. She did call back but seemed uncertain about what was actually legal ... consequently I looked up the law myself and found that there are restrictions on what I assumed would be a simple single-shot, smoothbore project. Anyway, in spare moments, I worked on the pistol, which has morphed into a rifled .45 Colt variation that will accept .410 shotshells, with fully legal dimensions.

I used a finite element analysis (FEA) program to check my stress calculations and the results indicate that the following design would be safe for .45 Colt pressure levels (.410 no problem at all). So, for entertainment value only, here's a sketch of the snake gun - whether the boy and I will actually construct it is doubtful, his interests are starting to wander in other predictable directions

Cheers,
RandyC

[JackF]

Hello again RandyC,

This same subject (snake gun) came up a while back on maybe another forum. Looks like a great project. That wasn't you who started that thread was it? Anyway I was wondering where that 8 lb. trout was caught.

Jack.

[randyc]

Hey, Jack -

Yep, that was me (I have the same member name on "PM"). I posted the snake gun design there last summer, including the stress analysis results) and have fiddled with the design recently. I started lurking here a week or two back and noticed a lot of familiar names from other forums.

That's cool because we sort of "know" one another in other contexts. Some may not remember me because of recurring cancer hiccups that make my participation intermittent. (I'm good for six or eight months and then offline for three or four months.) This is a good period for me

Oh yeah, DEFINITELY not MY 8 pound trout (except in my dreams) !

Cheers,
Randy

[JackF]

Hi Randy,

Sorry to hear of your health problems. I'm glad you are in a good period now and may it continue. Keep up the good fight. I think the 8 lb. trout may have been another member.

Jack.

[sandman2234]

Thompson Contender with the 45 long colt is the gun to copy. Great snake gun!
David from jax

[randyc]

Thompson Contender with the 45 long colt is the gun to copy. Great snake gun!
David from jax

Hi David,

I think that I know you from another forum, maybe ten years back or so ... You're right about the Contender, it's a good, sturdy, inexpensive design that has proved itself many times in many calibers. The point was to get my boy interested in the entire process: specifications, investigation of stresses involved, the mechanical design, selection of materials and of course, making all of the parts.

At the time the project was being discussed, my boy was a freshman at VCU and hadn't declared a major yet. I was exploring his interest in mechanical engineering at the time ... Since then, he has decided on journalism so, rather than making single-shot firearms, I'm recommending books written by journalists that I've enjoyed (Terkel, Mailer, Wolfe and so forth).

Thanks for your suggestion,
Randy C

[hammermill]

randy c a well proven design that will fill any tool shop and i have seen numerous variations built on 2 gunsmithing forums i moderate is the jaco design

my sons and i build several pistols and a couple rifles off of the action plans

garagegunsmithing is one of the forums and reciently had a build post that cover a pistol on the pattern that was reminscent of the early contenders.

hope this helps

[randyc]

Thanks, hammermill, the project is on the back-burner for now.

I'll be seeing my boy next week, he and my daughter are flying in from the east coast (they both attend VCU). We're meeting up in Sacramento, my wife and I are driving down from Eureka. The kids have never seen the Railroad Museum in Old Town and it is really interesting.

I'm bringing along the laptop to show him the snake gun design as it has finally evolved. If he shows interest, we might get the thing going again but I sort of doubt it. BTW, I think that one of the gunsmiths on PM may have mentioned the design that you described - it sounds familiar.

Cheers, thanks again !
Randy C