Blackpowder Pistol
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Blackpowder Pistol
When I got out of the service and started going to college I found that I needed a job to help get through those tough times. I asked a friend who owned a machine shop if I could work for him and he took me on as a kind of gopher and trainee. He taught me the basics of machine work and then put me to work where I slowly gained some knowledge of the profession.
After I had worked for a few years I got hooked on the idea of making a blackpowder pistol. I asked my boss if I could buy some of the scrap metal and use the machines to start my project and he countered with a deal I couldn’t refuse. He said I could use the shop anytime after hours and he would give me any of the scrap or even new material if I fulfilled my obligation to finish the project completely as a kind of apprentice project. The following pictures show the pistol that is the end result of that project.
I started by drawing up a rough plan for the work, barrel, sidelock and parts along with a stock pattern for the wood. The barrel is made of one inch brass hex bar stock, the sideplate and breechplug and all the associated inner workings are of stainless steel. The trigger mechanism and trigger guard are made of cold rolled steel and blued to give the pistol a kind of three tone appearance. The stock is red maple finished with Tru-Oil mixed with a little stain.
The barrel is .31caliber and rifled with two grooves by a broach I made myself and pressed through the barrel on a 100 ton hydraulic press. The sidelock is a coil spring type which I designed myself. I even turned the screws that hold the sidelock on and threaded them to fit.
This gun has never actually been fired, I only shot a few caps off to insure everything worked as planned. I treasure this pistol, not so much as a thing to be shot, but as a testament to my perseverance in completing the project and fulfilling my commitment to my boss. I went on to work in that shop for almost six years and the experience was worth every minute.
Chris
Interested in how you made the broach, and if it really takes a 100 ton press or if a smaller one would work.
The simplest way to make a broach is to use a bore size rod, I used drill rod which is hardened, and braze a cutting edge on it. However, to rifle we want it to twist slightly, there is a formula somewhere to determine angle of twist etc, probably in some manual which details machining mathematics, so I cut a slot at and angle and brazed a carbide cutter on it. This was small because my bore was only .312 diameter, and I guessed at the angle because I wasn't too worried about stabilizing the roundball too much. I ended up witha twist rate of about 1 in 8 or 1in 9 inches which is probably too fast for a muzzle loader but I wanted to be able to show the twist when someone looked down the bore. I started with about .001 thousandths and ended up with a .004 thousandth depth on my grooves. I had to make four broaches, actually I just unbrazed the cutter each time and did a slightly higher one on each pass and the brass was soft enough so a smaller press would be acceptable, I used the only one we had which was a 100 ton. Now, if you try to do a steel barrel you may need a big press. The old time rifle makers used to pull the broach through with a rope and guided it with a wooden drum with a spiral on it that corresponded to the twist rate they wanted. There is a very good description of rifle making and rifling in the Foxfire series number five I think. I seem to have placed my copy somewhere that is hiding from me. The flintlock rifle maker in that edition is now a famous custom Kentucky rifle smith. I also have James Howe's book on gunsmithing and he describes in detail how to make tools and such like a deep bore drill and rifling cutter tools, I don't know if that book is still around. Anyway that's where I got most of my inspiration and from the Dixie blackpowder catalog. We did a lot of broaching in the shop I worked in but it was all straight cuts but I figured a slight angle would twist if it was done slowly and it worked. A little experimenting will get you started and you don't need carbide, a high speed tool steel cutter is satisfactory. If you look at some of the pictures of rifling machines and broaches you see what they look like. Are you going to rifle a barrel? Chris
http://www.amazon.com/Foxfire-5-Inc-Fund/dp/0385143087/ref=pd_sim_b_2
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=James+Howe-Modern+Gunsmithing&x=15&y=22
I forgot to mention that I had to turn the broach 180 degrees for the second groove. Once I had the two initial grooves I just made two passes with each cutter. I stayed away from a double edged cutter because I was afraid the angles wouldn't be a perfect match and would throw the twist off and screw up the rifling. It is just a tedious process but it went ok. Chris
Found my Foxfire book, it's number five and has a whole section on making blackpowder rifles from scratch. Chris
That is nice work Cris, I like the brass and stainless mix!
Al, I have Foxfire #5 if you want it.ace
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