The Gunsmith Of Grenville County Pdf
Shown here is a previously unpublished John Davidson longrifle. It was made for a farmer in Rockbridge county Virginia and is still in the family. While the rifle is the victim of a very poor restoration job many years ago, there is still considerable artistic merit to the gun.The longrifle is mostly intact. The original nose piece is missing as is the trigger guard. The guard on the rifle now does not belong by any stretch of the imagination. It was just stuck on there so there would be a guard.
Missing wood in the forearm and around the lock and tang was replaced with body putty, but the thimbles appear to be original as does the lock plate with a period conversion from flint to percussion. The best part of the longrifle is the butt stock. It has a typical John Davidson patchbox with some great engraving, and some unique floral cheek side carving.Rather than further describe the longrifle, I will let the photographs speak for themselves. I do have to beg your indulgence for any deficiencies in the photographs.
They were, by necessity, taken at the owners house, outside, on a sunny, windy day, in the partial shade of a large tree. It is amazing they turned out as well as they did. Shown here is a an original signed Simon Lauck fowler. The distinctive signature S Lauck is shown in the last photo.
I had originally believed that this gun was mostly a restoration. However, after a careful and detailed examination of the disassembled gun under expert guidance, I have come to believe that this gun is mostly original and a good example of a product of the Simon Lauck shop.At some some point this gun was shortened and a pparently converted to percussion. Everything from the front thimble forward is a obvious restoration. The stock from the front thimble back appears to be original and unaltered except for the repair of a crack through the lock mortise. The lock appears to have been reconverted to flint, but I believe the lock plate is original to the gun because the lock screws fit the plate and the stock without any obvious modification. I believe that the gap along the bottom of the lock plate is due to the repair through that area.
Some of the guard may be a replacement but it is hard to tell.One important marking to mention is a very bold “LS” stamp on the bottom of the barrel at the breech. I have been told that a barrel with this marking was also observed on a gun from the Haymaker shop. It would seem that there was a barrel maker by the name of “LS” supplying the gun makers in Winchester around 1800. Some more research into this would certainly be in order. Overall Length: 62″.
Barrel Length: 46 13/16″Author Posted on Categories Tags,. Shown here is an original rifle attributed to William Britton of Hampshire County, West Virginia. It is published on page 64 of Gunsmiths of West Virginia by Lambert and Whisker.
This rifle has been re-converted from percussion to flint. The Maslin lock shown is not original to the gun and is poorly fitted in the lock mortise.
The forearm has been replaced forward of the rear thimble. Otherwise, everything else appears to be original. The best features of the rifle are the incised carving in the wrist and buttstock and the engraving of the side plate, toe plate and patchbox. Overall Length: 61″. Barrel Length: 46″.
Caliber: 50.
Handmade Tumbler TroubleLock templates & old tumbler mill made from a fileIn conjunction with some recent repair/restoration work, I have started working on an all handmade flintlock. That means one made of wrought iron in the same manner as an 18th century Virginia gun shop including making all the screws. I have completed a set of templates for the lock and have forged a blank for the tumbler. I have also made a tumbler mill from a large file that is used to mill the parallel sides on the tumbler.
I will probably do the plate next.I had to use my last tumbler blank for another project, so I will have to make another for myself; most likely with a newly made die. It is probably instructive to explain why I had to use the wrought iron blank on another project. I had been trying to make a replacement tumbler for a contemporary flintlock pistol using O-1 tool steel.
I was forging a blank just like with wrought iron which involves hammering out what looks like a large lopsided nail. Then I was machining the blank on a lathe and filing the profile and notches. The problem was that I had been running into forging cracks in these tumblers, and you don’t find them until you have machined each surface. I lost count of how many blanks I made. I almost finished two, only to self inflict some other injury at the end. That was two out of six or seven blanks that were free of forging cracks.The problem was that the tool steel was being quenched by the colder anvil and hardened in spots. So, if you are working below the re-crystalization temperature, about 1500F (cherry red), you run the risk of cracking the tumbler on the side against the anvil.
Rainbow Six - Vegas v1.06.215 RUSENG by MellWin version 1.06.215 is to use Advanced Uninstaller PRO. Rainbow six vegas patch 1.06.215.
The more the blank was worked, the more likely to produce cracks. The two blanks that were free of forging cracks(or at least as far as I could tell) were ones that I worked the least. My blows just happened to be more efficient on those. I decided that it is just too much trouble to try to forge tumblers from tool steel.Fortunately, I have plenty of third run 1.25″ round wrought iron bar that is just fine for lock parts. There are a few small inclusions, but not many.
So, from now on, I will make all my lock parts and many tools, except the springs, from wrought iron or mild steel and case harden them. That is period correct anyway.
Tools for Creating a Handmade FlintlockDie for lock plate with integral pan used by CW GunshopWork is underway on the dies to forge all the lock parts as finished as possible. The effort to make the dies has two purposes; to explore period lock production and more efficiently produce multiple locks.
My intention is to make at lease two handmade flintlocks; one for a handmade flintlock rifle and one for a handmade flintlock pistol.The documentation for the dies I intend to reproduce, come from two sources; articles in JHAT Vol I & Vol V written by Gary Brumfield, and subsequent research done by George Suiter. Gary was the second master of the gun shop in Colonial Williamsburg, and George is the current master. George has added dies and jigs to the lock production in the CW Gunshop since the JHAT articles were written.Of particular interest is that the gun shop in Colonial Williamsburg has not been forge welding pans onto lock plates for some time.
They are using a modified lock plate die and a fairly complex die to form the pan, pan bridle, and fence. They actually have dies for most of their parts as well as a drilling jig for the plate. The dies and jigs are based on documented tools and processes used by the lock makers of Birmingham, England. Die for forming integral pan used by CW Gunshop18th C tumbler millA photo a the beginning of this article shows a tumbler mill copied from the JHAT I article and made from a 12″ bastard file.
This design never worked very well for me or the CW Gunshop (according to Gary Brumfield); and come to find out, the actual 18th C tumbler mills were not made exactly like a file. The photo to the right shows an fancy 18th Century tumbler mill of, supposedly, the same design; a design documented in Diderot and some period German publications. I plan to make a mill based on the tool in the photo. It is really hard to see from the attached photo; but the “teeth” in the actual mills were perpendicular to the long axis of the mill, cut with a triangular file, and flat on top.
That is why they worked better that our uninformed attempts to recreate them with a file. The CW Gunshop currently uses a copy of what is probably more of a 19th century English tumbler mill with rotary cutters. This is a more effective design that the tumbler mill shown. Handmade Lock Project ProgressLock die in progress for this project with die sinker chisels for clearing out waste metal.Steel has been purchased for all the lock dies, screw mills, and tumbler mill.
The pieces have been cut to shape and are ready for the dies to be cut and the hardie posts to be welded. The chisels have been made are are being used to cut the dies. I have also made the drill bit, reamer, tap, and screw mills for the internal lock screws.Screw mills, drill bits, reamers, and taps in progress for handmade lock project.I should note that while I intend to make the flintlock using period tools and techniques, I don’t intend to make the tools entirely same way. As these tools were usually purchased by the gunsmith from England, I feel perfectly justified in making them however I like. That includes using a belt sander instead of an old stone grinding wheel, a drill press, and a metal lathe, if necessary. I will point out that they did have water powered grinding wheels, drill presses and metal lathes in the English shops. As I have no other alternatives, I will still use the forge, files, and chisels in the old way.Case hardened screw mills, screw plate, tap drill, and tap with a screw and tapped hole made with those tools.Here is a photo of the first handmade lock screw I made.
I used the screw mills shown just after case hardening them. Also shown is the tap drill and tap that I made as well as a plate with a hole that I drilled and tapped with those tools. It took less than an hour to make the screw using a rod of 12L14 steel (the usual screw making stock and very similar in softness to wrought iron) that had been previously squared for the brace on one end and pointed on the other. I could have done a better job with the screw by pointing the rod with more care to make sure it was centered.Die to forge a tumbler blank.I had a job come up repairing an antique lock that allowed me the opportunity to make a couple more lock making tools on my list. I had to replace a cracked tumbler, so the time was right to make a tumbler die for forging a wrought iron tumbler blank.
I made the die so that I ended up with a blank large enough to machine a tumbler for most any rifle size lock.Lantern stock chuck for turning 1/4″ screw stock into a screw mill.Since I had a couple hours at the forge to make the tumbler blank, I slipped in another little forging project; making a lantern stock chuck for screw stock. In the past, I hammered a square end directly on the screw stock, but that wobbled too much in the brace. I felt that a lantern stock chuck would be more stable, and it is.Antique percussion lock with a replaced tumbler.I used the new tumbler die to forge a nearly perfect tumbler blank out of wrought iron. It took a little more time than I had thought, but I got a good result.
Since I had not made a period tumbler mill yet, I turned the axles and the parallel tumbler faces on a lathe. I ended up with a roughly shaped disk that I quickly filed to shape to match the original tumbler. The finished tumbler is shown in the lock above.Till later.Author Posted on Categories, Tags,. Shown here is a previously unpublished John Davidson longrifle. It was made for a farmer in Rockbridge county Virginia and is still in the family.
While the rifle is the victim of a very poor restoration job many years ago, there is still considerable artistic merit to the gun.The longrifle is mostly intact. The original nose piece is missing as is the trigger guard.
The guard on the rifle now does not belong by any stretch of the imagination. It was just stuck on there so there would be a guard. Missing wood in the forearm and around the lock and tang was replaced with body putty, but the thimbles appear to be original as does the lock plate with a period conversion from flint to percussion. The best part of the longrifle is the butt stock.
It has a typical John Davidson patchbox with some great engraving, and some unique floral cheek side carving.Rather than further describe the longrifle, I will let the photographs speak for themselves. I do have to beg your indulgence for any deficiencies in the photographs.
They were, by necessity, taken at the owners house, outside, on a sunny, windy day, in the partial shade of a large tree. It is amazing they turned out as well as they did. This document is not intended to provide detailed instruction in the loading and shooting of a traditional muzzle loading weapon or substitute for personal shooting instruction by an experienced muzzle loading shooter. It is assumed that the novice muzzle loading shooter will seek proper instruction before using their new custom firearm. Shooting. Never use anything but commercially available black powder in a muzzleloading weapon. Muzzleloading barrels are made of a softer steel than modern breech loading barrels, and smokeless powders will cause a barrel designed for black powder to explode!.
Never point the muzzle toward yourself or anyone else even if you think the gun is unloaded. The muzzle should be pointed up, or down range at all times. Make sure that your weapon is in firing condition before you load it.
If there is any doubt, have it checked by an experienced gunsmith. Although impractical when hunting, running a lubricated patch down the bore between shots will improve both accuracy and safety. It should extinguish any smoldering embers that might ignite the next charge.
Never load directly from your powder container. Use a separate powder measure. When not loading, make sure that your powder container is tightly capped and that you do not have loose powder laying around. Do not leave powder or caps where they might be exposed to the muzzle or pan flash. At the range, it is best practice to shoot from one bench and load at another taking only the powder and caps to the firing line that you need for priming. The frizzen/pan should always be open and the cock down when loading a flintlock.
The Gunsmith Of Grenville County Pdf Online
This is necessary because even an unprimed flintlock can discharge from an accidental frizzen strike. If you must carry a primed flintlock for hunting, keep a leather stall on the frizzen and the cock at half-cock. Be certain of the safe load for your gun. It is recommended that you start with a load of 1 grain per caliber, ex. 40 caliber – 40 grains, and work your load up (or down) from there. If you must exceed a load of 1.5 grains per caliber, do so with great caution; and NEVER exceed 2 grains per caliber in a traditional muzzleloading weapon.
If you think you need to shoot 100 grains or more for hunting deer, remember that the original long hunters routinely used loads in the 1 grain per caliber range and they hunted for a living. There is generally a high and a low load that will give you the same group. There is no reason to unnecessarily punish yourself and stress the barrel and breech plug. Note: As an interesting aside, Wallace Gusler told me that we know the historical average load from sales records of powder and lead. He said of all the sales records he examined from general stores, there was always twice as much lead sold b.