Show a rifle I built from scratch

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alphawolf45
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Location: South Central Arkansas

Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by alphawolf45 »

Al_Messer wrote:Good looking start. Please keep us posted with your progress!

Al
Yes I will show when I have significant progress.....Fun project ... I have worked with tools building or rebuilding things since I was a kid...Love working with tools..I am online to share in and soak up enthusiasm. Dont neglect to post your own projects Al .. Are you working on a gun project now?.....

.Here this is fun.Couple years ago I built this .410 single shot shotgun based on the Stevens Marksman rifle..I used it this week to scare off a crow that was stealing young birds from nest in tree overhead from where wife and I relax in the backyard.......uhmmmm , I cut the chamber too tight, doesnt extract empties easy as should be....Have to grind a new .410 chambering reamer to open it up to Saami chamber dimensions...Easily done but nuisance I didnt get it right the first time......
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alphawolf45
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by alphawolf45 »

Okay now I have barrel on it and am grinding and filing for hours shaping the receiver..Hoping tomorrow I'll mill the round barrel into octagon.
I enjoy the shaping with angle grinder and files, stones and sandpaper...Start off with roughed chunk of steel and end with something pretty decent and essentially handmade and certainly homemade and what is even better I am building a new toy for myself..What a hobby...LOL

You might notice my vice, I removed the original steel jaws and substituted nylon plastic....Does real good for these kinds of projects.

I need to buy a good piece of wood..Need to decide if I will make the trigger guard or just buy one, they certainly are available cheap but I rather make every piece that I can....I'll have more done and better pictures in a couple days..
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alphawolf45
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by alphawolf45 »

I did manage to mill the barrel into an octagon today and am 90% shaped in the receiver so its time to make the hammer and finish making/fitting the guts and proof fire this beastie...
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alphawolf45
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by alphawolf45 »

I wasnt going to show this picture as it requires an explanation.
The barrel is torqued tight into the receiver while I cut the first flat, that is so I get the barrel flats for sure clocked to the receiver..Then I took the barrel off the receiver for the rest of the flats milling......anyway everybody likes work in progress pictures showing setups..
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alphawolf45
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by alphawolf45 »

Here I making the hammer..Wow thats a heap of work grinding and filing to get it shaped for function and aesthetics..Image
Al_Messer
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by Al_Messer »

I cheat----I buy mine from Dixie Gun Works! :mrgreen:
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Al Messer

"One nation, under God"
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alphawolf45
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by alphawolf45 »

Al_Messer wrote:I cheat----I buy mine from Dixie Gun Works! :mrgreen:
What ? You dont want to spend 2 or three days making a 12 dollar part? Wheres your work ethics? :lol:

Nothing wrong with buying your parts...Almost without exception when a guy tells you he built his own black powder rifle he didnt make any part of it but bought the lock and barrel, pre inletted stocks and castings for trigger guard, buttplate ferrules ......That would be fantastic hobby for guy with the interest and just a bench full of tools.. But I have the machines and my hobby is making every piece that I can..Lot of fun working in the shop .....I buy what I have to.. .
.
I ordered a .40 caliber barrel from Green Mountain Monday..I am gonna build a Billinghurst revolving cylinder rifle.....Metalshaper made me do it..LOL ...
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steamin10
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by steamin10 »

I like the one that looks like an extended New Army pistol with the frame around the Cylinder.

I suppose this one is held together by the center pin that goes through the cylinder. About what year would be this creation? I dunno the history that well.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
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alphawolf45
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by alphawolf45 »

Dave
Yes the axle through center of the cylinder is pinned in place with a taper pin driven down through the wrist.

These were built from 1829 to 1880 when Billinghurst died.Most were pill lock like the gun in the picture, a few at the end of production were made in percussion cap..I'd have to make a percussion lock if I wanted a reliable rifle but the only picture I seen so far of this gun using percussion caps shows nipples poking out around the perifery of the cylinder looking really awkward.....

Or,,,,for something closer to original authentic-and this fairly tugs at my imagination-- they still sell caps for cap guns and a man could punch out the centers of the caps and poke a couple into each of the pill lock pockets....And if later got tired of playing with the cap gun cutouts , I could tap and install nipples and change the hammer to make it into percussion cap rifle....... I dunno....

Its right at a year now since I finished my last gun build...Easy to think of fun projects, much harder to devote the time to actually complete them.
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steamin10
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by steamin10 »

GET STARTED! Ya, I know the time factor only too well. I bump my head on it all the time. I like it, very nice work.

I hate patting people on the back for what the KNOW is good work, they didn't do for me, but for their own frustrations and joys. But for lack of a better method, I put it out there for all. I live right near on of the TOP TEN pistol smiths in the US, who learned his trade from his Dad. Not an extremely happy person, he builds custom Handguns, and says his customers are very hard to please, he has to perform to perfection plus. he has worked on several of my field grade long guns, and rejected others as JUNK, like my sons newer Rem 700. He claims they are a bad design, and like the lottery, if it is bad, its way bad and dangerous. the gun store jsut about wrecked the feed ramp to get a good feed on Sons Gun. It should have been returned.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
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alphawolf45
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by alphawolf45 »

Dave
You have a hundred times the distractions that I have..Its interesting to read your threads ..

I personally know a couple guys whose work puts mine to shame..And if I knew lot more guys, many more would show up to outshine my best efforts...But,but,but.... I am not competing with anybody but myself......I am not certain why I even build guns since I dont hunt, I dont shoot targets, I dont collect, I dont sell anything, I dont have any heirs to pass anything down to the next generation...

.I just build projects as chance to play with my tools....20-plus years I worked on other peoples projects , I like it now I only work to suit myself and I am rather easy to please- I dont expect miracles......

.There still a lot I can learn about gunsmithing and metals working..Its still interesting....
.
I learned to use Autocad version 14 a couple years ago...Bettering my CAD skills will help me in the future.
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steamin10
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Re: Show a rifle I built from scratch

Post by steamin10 »

Uh-huh..With all due respect to any builder , repair, fixxit type. The Craftsman knows the means and limits of his trade. He peruses the BEST. That is to say, the best he can do with what is available at that moment in time.

Perfection is an Ideal, that is very rarely attained, achieved, or even wanted. Just able to work again, with unsightly welds and globs, not the most desirable on some level, but WORKING. Collecting the knowledge, the tools, the PATIENCE to see problems through, well, anybody that survives that maze of frustration and failures, has my deepest empathy. I know the road all too well. The less knowing, can always criticize, but not in a lifetime will many even ATTEMPT what repair and machine guys do, routinely.

Hat is off, and a salute to your efforts at making antique replicas come alive.

I built a coupla Italian kits, and found it fun, bought a coupla broken civil war replicas, and they are still broken. You have to be in the right state of mind to relax and enjoy the hobby of repair, or it is just a frustration, added to the rest of life.

Thanks for reading my other Drivel, I hope somebody gets the dark humor, along with the sideways look at life, even my disasters. Like the 'Submarine' incident. Not my best showing, but like telling on yourself, maybe someone will learn from the Horse laugh I had.

I bid you peace in your endeavors.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
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