Maynard civil war era carbine, hobby machinist built

back when i was a teen ager i had a 40 cal kentucky rifle. i gave it to my nephew probably 25 years ago and as far as i know he still has it.
 
Dirtyjim
You have any muzzleloaders right now?
....I see in Dixie catalog sells a bandsawed full length stock blank for 110.00 for their lowest grade wood and sell a whole kentucky rifle kit for as little as 265.00..Dont hardly make sense to fool with carving an entire stock when can get a well started kit of parts for less money than buying all the parts separately.



back when i was a teen ager i had a 40 cal kentucky rifle. i gave it to my nephew probably 25 years ago and as far as i know he still has it.
 
i have a inline muzzel loader thats based on a commercial mauser action, being a mauser nut i had to have it as soon as i saw it.
i've looked through dixie's catalog a few times and really like their 32 cal kentucky and Pennsylvania kits
 
Followed your work on another forum.
When I saw your name I read the article and true to form your work remains, in my opinion, some the best around.

Inspiring.

I think there are artists in every medium you sir are truly one in gunsmithing.

Look forward to further posts
 
wildcatfan I appreciate the kind words. The classic old American guns are true works of art..I am happy to be a modern metalsworking hobbiest trying to make myself a copy of that art.. Makes me look good but I am not the artist, I'm the tradesman.

I am fortunate I can build the old American guns that are fun to me..It has been a good hobby .Shame there arent more guys out there building the Classic old guns..While entire forums are filled with fellows building assault rifles or Muzzleloaders there is only a few guys here and there building the old breechloader cartridge guns..

I have a second Maynard thats far enough along that I test fired it a couple shots yesterday, testing function..Works good. Its only just roughed in right now ..Nothing finish contoured yet..I sawed out a buttstock for it this afternoon..If I push I can have it completed in a few weeks to a couple months...This is certainly a slow paced hobby..

That first Maynard I showed was true to its civil war roots. It is a .50 caliber cartridge rifle fired by a percussion cap......This next one shoots modern .45 ACP cartridge ..

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Etard I like your signature line...I have a favorite line I used to say to my pretty woman... To my wife- "Stick with me Darling and someday you and I will have everything I want!" :rofl:

As to amatuers working on firearms...Its good to feel some intimidation..A too cavalier approach can getcha hurt in a hurry..I had a gunsmith friend online who would answer questions as I learned enough to ask a reasonably intelligent question..And I started off building .22s ..Still I overbuild and I dont take chances.. I wear hearing protection and safety glasses whenever I am shooting or running noisy machinery.

My impression of the hobby is that the hardest part is keeping the interest going long enough to finish a long duration project..Many folks may be better off buying a Ruger 10-22 and buying/changing out nearly every part on it to make it something wild and special and all your own..That would go reasonably quick..You would gain some familiarity with the work and end up with a real good toy. That is the .22 rifle with the largest selection of aftermarket custom parts available..Good one to start with.
 
That is a wonderful recreation of a 2nd Model Maynard. The only other person I have heard about built a 1st Model with the tape primer door and all the ratchets, springs, and etc. to actually advance the tape primer to the top of the cone (Maynard-ese for nipple).

Beautiful work !!!!
 
That is a wonderful recreation of a 2nd Model Maynard. The only other person I have heard about built a 1st Model with the tape primer door and all the ratchets, springs, and etc. to actually advance the tape primer to the top of the cone (Maynard-ese for nipple).

Beautiful work !!!!



MaynardG (Krebs? :-)
I am blessed to be able to build projects that are more than good enough to satisfy my own standards.

Is Maynard primer tape manufactured by anybody or does a guy have to make his own? Would not be hard to make the Maynard tape primer mechanism. Kinda clever how they work.

I have too many projects going and too many distractions plus my poor eyesight is a growing nuisance..But its a lot of fun..Decided last week I wanted a rifle in .25-35 caliber so I ordered a good barrel blank, brass, bullets and loading tools. Pulled barrel off a scratchbuilt Highwall I have 90% finished and will now turn it into a .25-35 instead of .17 HMR that I originally intended..Once a guy has all the tools his only difficult problem is deciding what he wants to build..There is a boatload of old guns I would like to replicate - and play with- but there is just not enough time to build more than a very few of them.
 
One of the things that fascinate me the most with your build is: How did you go about determining the relationship between the pivot pin on the front of the breech piece, the mortise in the breech piece, the "C" hook on the forward barrel lug and the rear barrel lug ? Not to mention the lever and links !

The 1st Model Maynard had a set of screws and an adjusting piece to adjust the head space or as they called it "barrel gap," before they simplified the breech piece and did away with all those extra components after the fire in 1861.

As far as I know no one manufactures the tape primer (other than roll caps for cap pistols and I doubt they would work). Those original compositions were not only extremely toxic and corrosive but quite dangerous as well.

During tape primer manufacture at the Arsenal in Bridesburg, PA they had an entire sheet in one of the presses explode. They said the report sounded like a 6-pounder going off. At Massachusetts Arms Company women used to shellac the tapes to make them water proof, roll them and put them in the little tin canisters. Ten rolls to a tin. Women also checkered the pistol grips of the Adams revolvers they manufactured.

Several years ago some enterprising individual made the "Tap-a-Cap" where he cut the caps from the roll caps and would place up to three of them in a cup and thereby make his own percussion caps. Not sure how successful that was. Only important thing is to get enough flame to ignite the black powder - with some sort of consistency.

Yeah - Both Maynard G. Krebs and Maynard rifles were popular in their day and I still get a kick out of both of them.


MaynardG
 
MaynardG
I didnt have any trouble building the Maynard and I know less about them than you do.What is your background?

Most difficult for me was locating and then drilling the .040 hole in the breechface so that it lined up perfectly with the even smaller hole in the cartridge base..........

First connecting link I made wasnt long enough between the holes so I made a second one with that correction..Not everything works well right off the mill table..

Guns is nice easy projects if a guy dont quit 'fore its done....Uhmmm- my disclaimer- I am certainly no Turnbull-- I dont build,and dont have the skills to build anything high dollar fancy. I dont even aspire to that level. .I'm just a hobbiest dinking with my various projects. ... The projects I have shown here can be done by any capable fellow owning the basic metalsworking machinery.. The big difficulty is to keep going until its done......Would like to see more guys build the old guns..Its a lot of fun.
 
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