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Post by jimiowa on Jan 22, 2008 9:25:11 GMT -5
If you want to see a picture of my rifle as it was about a month ago, open this link, opnen the gunbuilding section and open the thread "Packdogs makin Double set triggers. www.americanlongrifles.com/american-longrifles-BBS-frame.htmThe buttplates on and the butt shaped around it now and am working on shaping the upper forearm now. |
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Post by deputydon on Jan 22, 2008 18:23:30 GMT -5
Hey thats a nice site!!!!
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Post by deputydon on Jan 22, 2008 18:29:19 GMT -5
Also a nice rifle you are building there too!!!! Having watched 2M's and Bill build them I know theres alot of hours of sweat invested in one.
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Post by jimiowa on Jan 22, 2008 22:55:06 GMT -5
Yes Don that site has most of the big name builders in the country on often, giving advice and discussing rifle building.
They are a little biased in favor of rock locks over Cussin locks.
But a list of contributor is like who's who of contemporary rifle builders.
Thaks the rifle is going to be nice, partly because Bookie has looked over my sholder every step and taught me the right way before I made some of the common rookie mistakes.
There is a lot of sweat involved, but it's a labor of joy.
It's also a lesson in paitence, "Haste makes Waste" could have come out of a gunmakers shop.
I don't have a great deal of money in this one, but the expierience is priceless.
The next one I will make more of my own furniture for.
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Post by Bill on Jan 23, 2008 0:03:26 GMT -5
Thats the way Two Moons taught me to built guns too Jimiowa. Looking over my sholder and cussing me out when I screwed up and then teaching me how to correct the problem. ;D I still love working with the wood the best although polishing actions and action parts and making them work smooth was also something I enjoyed. I was always suprised that Two Moons didn't throw me out of the shop a few times. A few times he came close. ;D Browning barrels is another area I enjoyed. Simple once you get the hang of it. When I built my wife's rifle I wanted to inlet a couple silver hearts in the stock. Two Moons must of decided that I need to do it till I got it right as that rifle has all kinds of inlays on it now. ;D Wife loves it.  |
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Post by jimiowa on Jan 23, 2008 9:29:43 GMT -5
I agree Bill, inletting barrel, lock, tang, triggers, buttplate(maybe the most tedious) takes alot of time.
And you still just have these parts hanging on a big block of wood. It's when you start to shape the stock that it starts looking like something other than a bunch of expensive parts hanging on a 4X6. When the buttstock blended into the buttplate and the cheek piece was shaped and all blended into a thin wrist, I finally knew I had something.
I'm awed by the power of a rasp! ;D
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Post by Bill on Jan 24, 2008 0:29:48 GMT -5
God I hated installing butt plates. Its like taking a beating. Take a glob of inletting black and smear it on the butt plate, tap it with a wood or leather mallet to seat it good and then cut off the black and start all over again. Repeat till you can't see any light between the butt stock and the butt plate.  Great feeling when your done though. Inletting locks is another area I didn't like. Use to spend more time gluing Popsicle sticks into some of those area's than anything else. Now shaping the cheek piece and the forend and such was where I was happy. That and doing the finish work on the stock. Just a whole lot of rubbing going on. ;D |
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Post by deputydon on Jan 24, 2008 9:03:16 GMT -5
I have A LOT of respect for MLing gun makers!!!! They are truly masters of a beauiful and almost lost art!!!!!
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Post by jimiowa on Jan 24, 2008 10:36:35 GMT -5
Well the forearms are shaped. I'll do a rough sand in 100 grit and be ready to start inletting the toe plate.
That will take a bit since it will be morticed into the buttplate.
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Post by klsm54 on Jan 24, 2008 12:45:21 GMT -5
Well Jim, that was a great link... Not only did I get to see you and your future rifle, I found a member on there with ties to a gun I own. I have a half stock percussion rifle made sometime before the Civil war. It was made by a local gunmaker, Chauncey Brockway. The Brockway family is considered the founding family of the town of Brockway, about 10 miles north of me, although there are no Brockways anywhere in the area anymore. On the American Longrifles site I noticed a member with the last name of Brockway from Louisiana. So I sent him an e-mail. He had never heard of Chauncey Brockway, but thought it was interesting. I guess they had another family member, Norman Brockway, who was a gunmaker, but he was from the New England states. I sent him some information which he forwarded to his son, the geneologist of their family. Turns out they are definitely related. The whole story is probably of more interest to him than me, but it is still interesting to have found a relative of the guy who made my rifle over 150 years ago. Especially considering his interest in muzzleloading rifles... Thanks for the link Jim... ;D |
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Post by jimiowa on Jan 24, 2008 13:46:07 GMT -5
Thats Cool Scott! Neat that you could make such a connection!
I have been on that site for about a year now and hit it a couple times a day. It's amazing what you can learn lurking there.
If one has any remote interest in how these things go together or needing research on the oldies it's a good place to start.
The guy who posts as Flintsmith was the Master in the gunshop at Williamsburg.
Bill on the 45th Parralel is from Michigan(Yooper,upper penisula)
His son -in-law is a federal game biologist and lives in Pleasantville,Ia( 14 miles due south of me, but 30 miles by road, to find a bridge across the river) He is building a .45 for his grandaughter. He owns a Bookout rifle and I got to know him on this site and met him at Bookies after thanksgiving where he took that picture.
I had not known of any smiths in my family until about a month ago, when my dad told me his uncle Willard had stocked a lot of breachloading shotguns with little more than a draw knife and pocket knife.
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Post by Bill on Jan 24, 2008 23:28:00 GMT -5
I still can't find where you said to look.  |
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Post by jimiowa on Jan 25, 2008 8:52:41 GMT -5
I still can't find where you said to look. Bill click on the link. click on the "Gun Building section. scroll down to the bottom and select the 2nd page. then scroll down to the thread titled"Packdogs Makin Double Triggers" The pictures are posted by By Bill on the 45th Parralel. The last post on that thread was 1/21/08 that site is active enough that threads get buried pretty quickly. When I posted the link I tried to reference the specific thread, and that did not work. With your work and interest in collectors pieces you would probably find their collectors section useful and interesting too. |
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Post by Bill on Jan 25, 2008 9:14:10 GMT -5
Thats where the problem is. It don't show me a choice for the second page. |
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Post by jimiowa on Jan 25, 2008 9:21:09 GMT -5
Ok I just put in a Bump post on that thread it will be back on the first page for at least a few hours.
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Great feeling when your done though. Inletting locks is another area I didn't like. Use to spend more time gluing Popsicle sticks into some of those area's than anything else. 
