It's New Rifle Day!

Some time ago I bought a flintlock rifle kit in .45 caliber. I intended to build the rifle in the 'early Virginia' style. Before I could start, however, I got a job. After that I was so busy I couldn't find time to work on it. I hired the gun club's resident gun maker to finish the kit.

Today, he delivered the rifle. Here are some pictures showing the elegant 'set trigger' and the stock's figure.













And here I am taking a shot at a bowling pin about 30 yards away. The rifle isn't sighted-in yet so I was delighted to hit the target at all.

Shooting Justin's Flintlock

Justin and the club gunsmith finished Justin's rifle. We went to the range this weekend so I could try it out. The gun is a 'golden age' Pennsylvania rifle typical of what would be made in Lancaster county.

In any event, here's Justin taking a shot. The other shots you hear are from the shotgun range. This range is only for black powder.





And now it's my turn.





These rifles are pretty long (42" barrel on this one) and they're heavy. So you hold them in the crook of your left arm and prime the pan with your right hand.

The rifle shoots well. Sometimes when you shoot you have no idea why the ball hits where it does. With this rifle the ball hits pretty much where you point the rifle. Unfortunately I didn't always point it well ;-)

The Shooting Bag, Part 2

(continued from part 1)


The bag hangs on a strap that's 2" wide, from left shoulder to right hip. The strap is made of a long piece with holes in it (like a belt) and a shorter piece with a buckle. The differences in lengths keeps the buckle off the wearer's shoulder. Here's the buckle:





The powder horn attaches to the strap using it's own buckles. These are situated so they're about 8" above the bag.



Here's a close-up of one of the powder horn's buckles - it accepts a 1/2" wide strap.




Once the straps have been stitched on, the front flap is stitched on. It's stitched through the back of the bag as well as the straps, strengthening them. That's why the flap goes on last.




Here's the completed, unstained pouch. The straps still need to be cut to length.







And here it is, stained, with my reluctant model.



And Dottie and the left, Spice on the right.




Spice Girl!




After it was done we found out it's nearly too small. If I make another I'll make it wider. And the alcohol in the dye stiffened the leather considerably. It was horrible. I pretty much soaked the bag in neatsfoot oil and worked it like a baseball glove until is softened. It's usable now and will get better over time.

I wasn't too happy with the dye. It left lots of streaks. By the time I got the streaks evened out the bag was darker than I wanted. Still looks ok. But I think I'll try a different dye next time. The book I linked in Part 1 gives a recipe made of iron and vinegar. I think I'll experiment with it.

In any event, we're ready for the range!

The Shooting Bag, Part 1

A shooting bag is a small bag that includes everything a black powder shooter might need for an afternoon of shooting. I made one based upon the North Hampton pouch from Recreating the 18th Century Hunting Pouch by T.C. Albert. This pattern includes a gusset to increase the bag's capacity, a leather strap, and hangers for a powder horn. I'll be attaching the powder horn I made some time ago.

I bought all my supplies from a Tandy Leather store that's basically across the street from me. The owner was very helpful when I had questions. I bought about 10 square feet of 4 or 5 ounce leather. This is probably enough for 3 bags. It was hard to stitch sometimes; I think 3 ounce might have been better.


Here we see all the major pieces. The front and back are to the left, the flap is to the right, some reinforcements are below, and the gusset is at the very bottom.




I'm working entirely by hand. Before I can stitch, I first have to punch holes using an awl. Then I use a length of 'artificial sinew' (waxed nylon) with a leather needle at each end to stitch through the awl holes using the durable saddle stitch. It's a slow process and hard on my hands.

Here I've stitched the gusset onto the front. If you look sharp you can see that there's a 'welt' piece between the front and gusset. This will produce a nicer result. The stitches aren't perfectly linear. This is because I made the holes from the other side.



Here's the back side. I laid out the awl holes using an over-stitch wheel. This is a spiky wheel that leaves regular marks. Where there's a mark, you punch a hole. Easy peasy.



Now I've stitched the back onto the front and gusset.


You can see the welt here. Notice there are three layers of leather.




You might have noticed the bag seems to have the rough side of the leather on the outside. That's because the bag is made inside-out, then inverted. I soaked the bag in water to soften it, then turned it inside out. And here it is.



And now two views of the gusset. I suffered to stitch that thing, you're gonna have to look at it!





Now the straps need to be made. I'll continue in part 2.

The Powder Horn

Since I'm shooting black powder lately I thought I'd make a powder horn. Making a basic horn is pretty easy. Here's the cow horn I started with. It was was about 12" long:


The first step is to remove any 'scale', a loose covering, from the horn. I did this with a file. Then I cut the big end square so it could receive an end cap, cut the tip off, and bored the spout hole.




Already it isn't so gross :-) I assure you, it smelled like a cow.

I bored the spout to 1/4" using a standard twist drill bit. But the stopper will hold more securely if the hole is tapered, not straight sided. Being totally cheap, I wasn't about to buy a tapered reamer. Instead, I made one using from a piece of bar stock using a hacksaw and a few files. The taper is 1/16" over 1 1/4". I sawed a 5/16" wide finger in the bar stock then filed one edge so it tapered to 1/4" at the end. I selected one corner to be the cutting edge. I rounded the two opposite corners. Then I relieved the remaining corner so it wouldn't rub.

In this picture you can see the taper clearly. The shoulders at the wide end of the taper serve as a depth stop - when the shoulders touch the spout, the tapered hole is finished.


In the next picture, the geometry of the reamer is a little more evident. The 'rounded' corners on the right ride against the far side of the hole. The corner on the left top is the relieved edge. The remaining edge (left bottom) is the cutting edge.



I turned a cherry stopper on the lathe taking care to produce the same taper. Here's the stopper in the spout.



The next step was to fashion the end cap, a wooden plug glued into the end of the horn. Normally the large end is rounded using heat and a form. Then a round end cap fits very well. I opted to leave the horn in its natural shape pare the end cap to fit. Sometimes the end caps are inserted all the way into the horn. I wanted this end cap to protrude from the horn and overlap it's edges. I traced the large end of the horn onto a piece of 3/4" cherry then bandsawed the cap, adding some 'diameter' for the overlap I wanted.
I decided that 1/4" of the disk should remain outside the horn. To assure I had a clean shoulder to butt against the horn, I scribed a line around the circumference of the cap 1/4" from the 'outside' end. I sawed with a dovetail saw on the line all the way around to about 1/4" deep.

I pared the corners off the 'inside'-side of the blank so it would fit, if barely, into the horn. I rubbed a pencil lead on the inside of the horn to form a 'marking medium.' When I tried to insert the unshaped blank, it didn't go in far. The parts that rubbed on the inside of the horn picked up some graphite. This showed where the end cap was too large and prevented the end cap from seating properly. I pared off the graphite and a little wood underneath it then reinserted it. Now a different place rubbed and picked up some graphite. I pared that too. I repeated this fit/pare procedure until the lip I left on the end cap sat against flush against the end of the horn. This process, which is simple if tedious, eventually produces an end cap that fits beautifully.


After doing the fit/pare cycle about 100 times,... success.


Now horns are very thick at the pointy end. So thick, in fact, you can shape them easily using files, rasps, sandpaper, scrapers, etc. Powder horns frequently have a ring carved in them so they can be securely hung from a strap. I filed such a ring, then added flats to the spout to make a hexagon.



Once I was satisfied with the spout, I glued the end cap in. I used the entirely non-traditional Gorilla glue as it is waterproof and very strong. In addition, it expands when it cures hopefully plugging any gaps between the horn and the end cap. Common wood glue works too.

Once the glue cured I inserted 8 pegs around the circumference of the horn into the end cap. If the glue fails hopefully the pegs will prevent the end cap from popping off and dumping the powder onto the ground. Once the end cap was properly secured, I shaped it to my satisfaction using files, sandpaper, and steel wool. Then I carefully inserted a staple I made from a nail. I said previously that I carved a ring for one end of the carry strap. The staple holds the other end.

I think the perspective of the image is a little off - the staple isn't that large, lol.


A good going over with sand paper and steel wool finished the horn.





This was a very entertaining project. This horn is very spartan and is likely a fair representation of most 18th century horns. Most of these 'everyman' horns have been lost to time - there was no reason for people to save these relics. The next time I make a horn I'll try my hand at some more advanced carving and scrimshaw.

Remington and Flinter

My son Justin, his friend Trey, and I went to the range today to try out Trey's new Remington revolver. It's a black powder pistol of 44 caliber. While he was loading it, Justin and I were trading off on his flintlock pistol.

We decided it was high time to get the pistol properly sighted in so we benched the flinter and started filing the front site. The pistol is shooting about 12" low at 25 yards. Justin took the following frame captures from a movie he shot.






Here's a sequence showing Trey firing the Remington. Note the primer 's blast.

















The Remington was pretty accurate out of the box. I hit 3 'bottles' in 3 shots at 25 yards. Apparently, I'm delighted ;-)



Going to the club was a spur-of-the-moment decision. What a nice way to finish up the afternoon!

-=-=-

Edit - We have been duly chastised for our lack of safety glasses.