Rays89, good luck on this project.
Dan and Lendi, thanks for the tips. Dan, your right, I usually do put to much glue on and cause the problem of having too much excess to clean up with solvent or water, depending on the glue used. If I was a little less heavy handed I could save myself a lot of extra work.
Lendi, your point about letting the glue start to set before clamping the pieces together is well taken. I have used Titebond and it's good wood glue, but this gun (11'' steel barrel) is only going to be outdoors to fire it, so I figured the hide glue would work well. I finished the carriage with Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil Gun Stock Finish. I only have a few more things to do on the carriage, then I'll post some pics.