Anyone ever make their own BP firearm?

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away

We did metal casting in High School. My class mates made a lot of lead and brass hammer heads, and metal art. I used the brass I got from a scrap yard to cast a .451 caliber copy of a Civil War Dahlgren Cannon similar to what was used on the U.S.S. Monitor. I would have used steel but our furnance did not have the capability. It was made by glueing two pieces of wood together, shaping on a lathe, separating the wood die, pressing the die halves into a two piece sand mold, and pouring molten brass. Local gunsmith inspected it, gave the ok for boring to .451 and loading with round ball and 30 grains of fffg. Using cannon fuse for ignition it shot great. I used to fire a powder and wad load lin the backyard every Independence Day before the days of Police Sound Locators and kids getting shot by idiots shooting bullets into the air.


"In a world devoid of semiautomatics, a properly set-up Webley is the ultimate full-size self-defense handgun."
 
make a bp rifle

HI , I f you really want to know how it was done way back then , go to the National muzzle loading Rifle assocation and buy their book called "Journal of Historical Armsmaking Technology" it has all you may need to know picutres , measurments , instruction .. I didn't forge may flint hammers but fabricated them , it was easier for me , a good source of spring steel is ford window winders ,well the older fords had good springs in their window winders ,but a visit to an old wrecking yard should be on your list of things to do ..Rob
 
Good luck in finding copies of those journals. They've been snapped up when the NMLRA announced it was getting out of the publishing/sales business. :( They actually have material for a Vol. 6, but haven't printed it. Years ago I suggested they farm out the printing and the sales. They don't listen. :mad:
 
I have!

I ran across this post while doing a Google search and had to respond. I have made six longrifles and one pistol to date. All the rifles were from a blank. There are lots of others who also build traditional muzzleloading arms. Check out www.AmericanLongrifles.com. It is a web site for builders, collectors, and shooters of traditional muzzle loading arms. You can also visit my site at www.VALongrifles.com.

Thanks,

Mark
 
....Well; it's been a while, but depending upon the 'smith' of course. They are usually rather simple 'bare bones' pieces, smooth bore & they generally use whatever powder is available cheaply (not necessarily blackpowder :) )...I always intended to bring one back but never did...This was back when you stiil could do so without a hassle ..................
 
About 25 years ago my father made a couple cap and ball rifles for which he bought only the barrel and the nipple, everything else he made himself from a design that he created himself with only 4 moving parts - the trigger guard was made of spring steel and served as the mainspring. There was the hammer, the trigger, and the trigger spring.
 
....Thass purty good Radshop......That's how John Browning got started :D (Of course he probly had a little inspiration from his dad ;) )....
 
Radshop

I can see how the trigger guard can be bent to provide spring tension for the hammer. Can you post pics of your father's guns (if any are still around)? If you got one or have access to one, why not write an article for one of the blackpowder magazines?
 
Thanks for the interest - I don't have any of them readily available. Although I technically own 1 (a 58 cal made from a barrel I bought at Friendship), I didn't bring it with me when I moved to the city, so it's in my brother's gun safe. I'll get some of them out next time I visit and take some pictures. One thing to explain is that the hammer was mounted on the underside of the gun, so there was nothing tricky about getting the trigger guard/mainspring to reach up to a hammer on top. The minor disdvantage of this design is that when you put the cap on, you had to pinch it so that it wouldn't fall off, but with a light pinch we never had a problem. So, go ahead and laugh at the attached drawing, but it's the best I could come up with in a few minutes. The part that's not shown is the trigger spring - I don't remember exactly where it was located, but I think he used a spare coil spring from a ball point pen (so I guess that's another part he didn't "make").
 

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......I pretty much assumed that it was an underhammer design....That's how they were made = Simple & effective ( But you did have to insure that the nipples were well attached)......
 
Thank you for the drawing. It's good enough for gubmint work. I may have seen a design like that before but do post pics. It's pure American ingenuity!
 
Thank you for the drawing. It's good enough for gubmint work. I may have seen a design like that before but do post pics. It's pure American ingenuity! :D
 
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