Shooting my '58's

I cut the bbl to 6 Inches yesterday. Now the hard part to make the dovetails and re-install the rammer lock and make a new front sight. I put it all back together last night to get a feel for the balance and suc, Had to tape the rammer in place. Feels pretty good. The rest of the work will have to wait till the weekend.

Cutting the bbl was not a hard chore. Putting a speed clamp around the bbl at the cut is a great idea...wish i had thought of it. I placed the speed clamp on (behind,(toward frame)the line I scribed, lined it up to be just behind mark(Line across the flats) then cut the muzzle end off. Nice straight cut using the clamp as a guide/shield.
I still need to finish off the cut more and recrown the muzzle, but that is what these cold nights are for.
Rammer lever should be easy to shorten as I will measure the difference now in the bbl/rammer length and redrill the spring hole to that depth. that should put me very close to final depth and the location of the rammer stop. Then assemble, pin and mark, dis-assemble and cut the end off.
 
Dragoon,
Sounds Like You Got It Going On!i Wish I Had The Right Tools And Know How To Do All Of That Stuff You And Others Do Here.i've Been Shooting These 58's For About 10-11 Yrs Now And Had Never Tore It Total Down Till I Got This Site And Found Mike And His Wealth Of Wisdom,and Yours As Well.you Guys Have Been A Lot Of Help And I Thank All Of Yall For That.i Think The Podwer Charge Discussions Are A Little Much But The Custom Work Info Is Great.the Powder Charge Info Is Great But Just Too Damn In Depth I Think.hell,this Is Bp Shooting Not Getting That Right Charge For That Hunting Round.thats Just My Opinion.thanks To All.
 
What you said, Kevin! I have tinkered around with stuff all my life but mostly just mess things up. I admire the skill it takes to build your own rifle (that .32 looked sharp, Mike) or do the conversion like Old Dragoon did to his Remington.I have looked at his over and over and really love the way they look! Mine will get the plum brown treatment sometime this winter.

I had an old brass framed .44 replica I swapped for in 1970 or so. It wasn't new then. anyway, when you looked down the bore it looked fine but when you ran a patch down the barrel, it was tight-loose-tight. That thing never shot good at all but I still shot it a lot because it was the one I had. If THE KID or DRAGOON had had it, they would probably have made up some kind of jig for their vise to squeeze the ringed part back to the right size!

Steve
 
:D Steve, "they would probably have made up some kind of jig for their vise to squeeze the ringed part back to the right size!"
Now that would be a good trick!:)
 
Called my mechainic today and we got to talking about me shooting these muzzle loaders and revolvers all the time and he said he was going to make me some 2' square 1/4" pieces of plate steel to hang up for targets. His going to cut a hole in the top so I can hang them with chain or rope. He asked me if 10 of them would be enough!! This guy is really a good friend and the best mechainic I have ever seen.
 
Hey Mike,
If he welds a post (like a lollipop) and drills the post you can suspend it and it will swing forth and back. and if, just if, you are quick enough and steady enough you can keep it going for 6 shots.
I had one at 100 yrds. out my front door suspended from a tree limb, I could spin it with my Ruger Red Hawk with a scope. It was always a thrill to spin it.
 
Old Dragoon, Good idea and it sounds like fun too. When I was a kid my Dad bought me a an old pump .22 and a metal squirrel target the would spin around when you hit it right. I got to the point where I could keep that thing spinning all the time at 30 yards,:) Brings back a lot of good memories.
 
hey mike,
one of my co-workers has some steel plates he got from a srcap yard here in nashville and had a buddy of his cut them round and they are about 1/2 in thick.he loves his.i'll get some one of these days.
 
Kevin, Being a police officer like you are should make finding a few steel plates easy. I'm sure you have some welders or welding shops on your territory or even some mechaics around there with a junk yard in there back yard,lol. Just ask around and i'll bet one of them would be happy to fix you up. Take care out there and stay safe.
 
indentations in the rifings....Bright spots

I just cut the rammer latch out of the chunk of BBL that I cut off yesterday. I no longer will ever need to ask if this might affect accuracy. I cut about 3/16 inch on either side of the latch down (up) through into the bore. then turned the piece of bbl up and cut from the muzzle at the bore under the latch straight to the last cut so now I have a piece of the bbl that has the latch embedded in it and the rifling under the latch that (latch is under the bbl in real life) as I looked at this piece the indention into the bore (riflings) is really bright and the bore on either side isn't that bright. Affect accuracy, you bet it does! This indention was the least of the two. The sight indentation is deeper and I was sure it's really bright also. I checked the muzzle of the bbl piece and sure enough, there is a bright spot at the sight indentation also.

If you are having grouping problems check the bore at the latch and the front sight. There may be indentations there.
 
WoW!! Old Dragoon! I never would have thought of that but I can see how it can happen. I know mine are alright because the bore is the first thing I check. Glad I do now! Thank's for the info.
 
Bright spot.

This didn't photograph like it really is. It is really bright, but you can see the outline of the round latch indentation.
INDENTATIONBRIGHTSPOT.jpg


Ok so I didn't cut this off straight. I have to file a good bit off but I'll get there.
 
Conversion ejector assy....

I got my ejector assy's last night. So now all I need to complete the second '58 is the other Konverter. The Ejectors fit the guns well Just need to notch the rammers to pass the end of the ejector pin. It is an L shape and the rammer traps it under the bbl on the base of the L just like the Factory Remington Conversions.

I'll wait to antique them until the Konverter gets here(next week) then antique the original 58's BP cylinder, the ejector assy's and the new konverter and maybe the old Konverter too to get it looking more like the rest of the gun.
Looks like I'll be busy this week and next. finishing up the shortening of the bbl on the first '58.
Off to the tool store in the morning to get some Swedish files and such to cut the dove tails and a small ended Cold Chisel to help with the dove tails. and a couple or 3 more 3 sided files. Need more Saw blades too.
 
I've been puzzling about your bright spots, Dragoon. I'm guessing there was a tighter place in the bore which was wearing those places but how do you suppose they came to be tight? I haven't taken either the front sight or the rammer latch off of mine, don't know if they are threaded or what but it would seem to have taken a pretty good blow to the bottom of the hole to have caused that. I'd be curious to know what processes Pietta uses to drill the holes and install the sight and latch. I think I've got what you are intending to do. You are going to work the piece of barrel down into a dovetail around the latch and then put it into a dovetail you have cut into the shortened barrel. I would be interested to know how close the bottom of the hole is to the grooves inside the barrel if it works out you have to remove enough metal to tell.


Steve
 
Steve,
As far as I can tell they are a force fit. under pressure and that will deform the rifling if not done correctly, that is the why and wherefore of the indentations and the bright spots. I remember slugging the bore and there being slight tight spots in those locations.

Yes, I am going to work down the existing bbl piece with the latch on it to dovetail into the bbl. It will be a shallow cut, both for the sight (which I have to make, and the latch. I'll let you know the depth(approx.)
Right now the Dim. at the muzzle, bore to flat is .130. So my depth of cut will be about half that depth. Like I said very shallow. I'll work down the bottom (boreside probably to or past the latch base, then work down the top to match the flats of the bbl. Same deal with the sight base, but I might use other metal than the bbl for that one. If the latch loosens up then I'll silver solder it solid. I could just drill a hole in the bbl and cut the latch out of that piece but I have no way to cut the bottom of the hole flat My guess is that Pietta drills a hole then finishes it with a flat mill.
 
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shooting my 58's

I know the barrels can have tighter spots and that lapping with the rod and the lead lap that is poured in the barrel to form it can remove high spots as well as polishing and do it better with more control than fire lapping with balls or bullets. With the lap on the rod and hand use the resistance can be felt and when the resistance is uniform from one end of the barrel to the other the high spots are usually pretty much gone. High spots in a barrel can asffect accuracy akin to the way a bad crown does.
 
The barrel metal if not stress relieved and cut rifled will be affected by dovetailing or heating to solder a sight ect. The spot where the dovetail is cut in the barrel relieves stress in the barrel metal at that point and causes a bulge to protrude into the inside where the cut is above it. Tight spot. The same type of thing can happen where a barrel is screwed into a frame with the stress of the threads causing a slight choke just about where the shoulder of the barrel is. That slight choke naturally sizes the lead ball or bullet a little loose for the rest of the barrel.A lot of shooting ,about 100-200jacketed bullets can get rid of the slight choke but the lead lap on the rod used by hand is more consistant. The barrel being cut off and dovetailed may end up with the tight spot "again "so a lap on the rod or at least fire lap should be done to ensure the tight spot is gone. See yas!
 
Hey there Wayne, had to say hi... Is that buldging simular to what occures when you cut , crown, and lap the burrs from the end of a barrel. As in that Tennessee Mountain Rifle I did many moons ago? Or is the buldging caused primarily from the heated metal being cut, drilled, silver soldered or ?

See ya on the home front, is sure was quiet in there today :o)

SG
 
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