Maynard civil war era carbine, hobby machinist built

[LJP]

Alphawolf, beautiful work. Very inspiring thread!
Larry

 

[Alphawolf45]

Alphawolf, beautiful work. Very inspiring thread!
Larry

Thankyou LJP..I dearly love working in my home workshop.. Guns is good projects. I forgot to show the rear sight I made for this Highwall..I made two of these and finished just two days ahead of the BPCR silhouette match..Didnt have time to get a great load worked up but I finished 4th place beating a couple guys shooting highdollar Sharps rifles and one of those guys was using a scope.It was first time I have fired at targets out that far..Mighty fun to shoot a home built rifle, black powder, cast bullets and iron sights and knock down steel targets at 500 yards..

And now that the rush to get ready for the match is passed I am back working on building my Sharps model 1877 in .40-65 caliber..

 

[reds]

AW

This is my second time reading this thread from start to finish.

Great work. I wish I had half of the talent you possess.

 

[pdentrem]

That rear sight is a real beauty!
Pierre

 

[Alphawolf45]

AW

This is my second time reading this thread from start to finish.

Great work. I wish I had half of the talent you possess.

reds I am glad you took the time to tell that my thread is interesting. Its a great hobby for a guy with tools and plenty of time to play in the shop. I am not great at this yet but I sure enjoy it.. Imagine my immense satisfaction shooting my own home crafted rifle in a competitive event. And the guys were real complimentary of my rifle. And I didn't mind that one bit)

 

[george wilson]

I would be very interested if you'd do a thread on your color case hardening process.

Quite by accident,when I was the toolmaker in Williamsburg museum,we had a 5 gallon brine quench. We had quenched many a part in it,many with PBC No Scale compound on them. A little bit of oil had gotten into it,too as the automatic transmission quench was right beside it. That quench eventually started giving colors just like on Colt 1873's! I wish I had brought it home!! No hardening case,of course,just gave those colors. Not bright colors,just those subtle colors like on genuine Colt 1873's.

 

[Alphawolf45]

That rear sight is a real beauty!
Pierre

pdentrem Thankyou. I wanted to make a rear sight that is different and bit fancier in my opinion but only had about a week to get it made so I chose this one to build.. Its from a picture I pulled off the net. Took the picture into AutoCAD and scaled it and then dimensioned the whole thing...

.I feel guilty I bought the front sight rather than making my own but again I didn't have enough time.....And I feel like I should make my own bullet molds.. In the match I actually used bullets I cast with a LEE mold that I modified.. LEE molds are not considered to be match grade but was giving me better groups than my relatively expensive LYMAN mold. I think I can make a mold that casts a bullet that fits my rifle better than buying off-the-shelf...Naturally I know I can have Accurate molds build one to my specs but where is the fun in that? This for me is more about enjoying the metalsworking than the guns or being competitive.

 

[Alphawolf45]

I would be very interested if you'd do a thread on your color case hardening process.

Quite by accident,when I was the toolmaker in Williamsburg museum,we had a 5 gallon brine quench. We had quenched many a part in it,many with PBC No Scale compound on them. A little bit of oil had gotten into it,too as the automatic transmission quench was right beside it. That quench eventually started giving colors just like on Colt 1873's! I wish I had brought it home!! No hardening case,of course,just gave those colors. Not bright colors,just those subtle colors like on genuine Colt 1873's.

George Wilson- Would been good to know exactly what was in that tank and the proportions .You could now be selling 5 gallon pails of the stuff for good profit.

I have to case harden because the steel I use is otherwise soft enough to easily scratch. Colors are sometimes nice. Often looks good on one side and UGLY on the other . I have re-done the colors on a few that come out of the quench ugly and on one I buffed off the colors because they were garish ,tacky, ugly to me. So I would have to be honest and say that I know nothing about color case hardening that would be worth sharing with the forum.

 

[LJP]

Alphawolf, just read your entire post again, as well. I have been thinking of building a single shot .22 LR. I think it makes sense to have something that can be copied, as you have previously stated. I bought this Hopkins & Allen .22 R.F. at auction a few years ago.




In your opinion is this a project that is beyond a beginner machinist skill level, with no gunsmithing experience? I have a bridgeport mill and a 13" SB lathe, and always want to buy more machines. What else is needed for a project like this?
I have been a custom furniture maker for 35 years, so I am very confident in the shop, just don't want to start with something too complicated.
Thanks, Larry

 

[Alphawolf45]

LJP
Thank you very much.. This is why I am here, hoping to interest a few folks (who have tools) into replicating old AMERICAN made firearms. Scadzillions of guys are building 1911s and AR15s and AK47s etc but too few like the old American Classics.

Copying that rifle right down to shape of barrel and stock will be a good project for you. It isn't too tough to start with but I suggest you make the lower tang as a separate piece so that you can get up unrestricted inside with an endmill..That originally being a casting they never did have to machine up inside it so it wasn't designed for easy machining...Of course if you want the challenge it can be machined as designed , you must decide what battles you want to take on.

I really do hope you build it. Schematic drawing for it is in the Frank DeHaas book "Single Shot Rifles and Actions".