Does anyone build rifles here?

[mamaflinter]

If so what do you build? Half stocks? Long rifles? What time period do your rifles resemble?

I've only built one myself. I've helped hubby build several. I'm normally the one who draws the designs on them for him to put the nails in the stock. The rifle I built is based on the pre-revolutionary war era Vernor school of riflemaking. The barrel is a 44", A weight Colerain, swamped, .40 caliber. The stock is 3A fancy curly maple. I've got 14 inlays in the stock. Eight of these are for the pins that hold the barrel in. It's got a Large Siler lock, & Davis double set triggers. This rifle stands 60" tall (I'm 66" tall) and weighs in at about 5-1/2-6 lbs.

[kevin]

   Hi mama yes i build them ,i'e built many the ones that are left are a brown bess,indian gun, two side by sides a uberti hawkin thats about 15 years old and still in the works two pisols that are in the middle of being browned both were rayl brass octagon to round barrels with l&r round faced locks and single triggers , a .southern moutain rifle in.45 cal with a douglasxxx barrel ni longer amde with siler lock , a simile rifle for m wife in .38 cal a , a . 36/.50 cal interchangeable barrels- just pull the three pins and tang screww and replase with either barrel, one for squirrel or deer, two civil war guns, a 1861 springfield with oiginal parts, and new stock, and my pride and joy a 1855/"61 fayetteville two band rifle thats helped me and my team clear many apigeion board at N-ssa skirmushes, and an now in the process of finishing a colonial smoth rifle, its a more commoners type of gun used during pre revolution,and through the revolution, its going to be pretty.
                                             kevin
p.s. your moose milk recipe is neat, thers another name for it that was used 20 some years ago, but it works, i my self stil use boiling hot water to do all my cleaning, i guess i'm just a traditionalist.

[mamaflinter]

I use warm water and some dish soap. Using boiling water will cause flash rusting. I realize that it's only a minute amount of rusting, but think of it this way. That's a small amount of barrel that has been removed when you wipe it out.

Shoot straight.

[kevin]

 Hi mama well i don't know were flash rusting comes from, but in 31 years of cleaning muzzlloaders i've never ever experianced it , after the boiling hot water you run some patches down the bore usually no more than 5-6 and the bore is dry, and leave it sit, the barrels are ussually hot as h$#l, and letting it sit and cool untill you can grab hold of it , oil it down or use wonder lube , ive used this time and tested primative method that our forfathers have used.
                                          kevin

[mamaflinter]

Kevin have you experienced any problems with accuracy in your rifles?

I ask this as we too used to use Wonder Lube for years. We also had 3 rifles RUST while this lube was in the rifle's bore. On a fourth rifle, there was so much build up that accuracy certainly suffered. This fourth rifle was one I seldom shoot and when it first began, my husband thought it was his vision giving him problems. It took 3 days of scrubbing, soaking to get it all out.......

Wonder Lube, Bore Butter and all the lubes of this nature despite their advertising hype is petroleum based and will build up over time.

[kevin]

no mama i havent as yet , in my match grade fayetteville the barrel costed me 325.00 and i was worried that i'd have problems with rust, but with my system i haven't yet, as far as accuracy the only rifle to give me a ration of doodoo was a t/c hawkin, that i still have . the same one my dad and i built that has had thousands of rounds shot through it, about the middle of last year, the accuracy was at 1/2 inch at 75 yards off hand when a, i reloaded and shot another group the group suddenly opend up to almost 10" i went nuts tring to figuar it out , when i looked at the muzzle and relized that after years of sevice the muzzle showed obvious
oval shape, sent it to a good friend who recut the crown and for giggles i tried a exparament and had him do what t/c does to thier new production guns and reamed 1 1/4" of barrel, i now shoot those funky powerbelts out of it and proud to say accuracy also seems to have really improved , that is the only gun to shot modern copper jackets out of a muzzleloader.
                                              kevin

[mamaflinter]

Well that's good to know that you haven't experienced it. If you should happen to have a falloff in accuracy, this might be one more thing to consider.

[peter nap]

Mamaflinter, here's a post I made on Realtree's ML Forum last fall. This recipe works pretty well and is non petrolum:

The last few weeks I've been trying to come up with something a little better than Bore Butter. Don't get me wrong, it works pretty well but it doesn't protect against rust quite as well as I would like.

I've pretty well settled on this recipe for those who want to try it.

2 heaping tablespoons of melted beeswax

4 heaping tablespoons of Anhydrous Lanolin.

4 1/2 heaping tablespoons of Crisco.

1/2 tablespoon of fake beeswax (craftstores like Ben Franklin) This adds stiffness and body to it.

1/2 tablespoon of Mink oil.

1 tablespoon of Wintergreen oil (the real stuff not the synthetic)

Heat it well and mix. Let it cool!

The lanolin is a super rust inhibitor. I use it in Ed's Red. The Wintergreen oil is a very good penetrating oil and seems to help removing any surface rust.

Crisco has always been used as a patch lube and beeswax just plain seals the surface.

The Mink oil just balances it out. I use a 50/50 Mink oil-Fake Beeswax mix to hot dip knife sheaths in and found it lubes metal very well. It is used here to remove the sticky feeling of the lanolin.

Let me know how you like it

[mamaflinter]

Peter I have a gunbuilding friend of mine who is really into blackpowder cartridge shooting. He uses alot of the hydrous and anhydrous lanolin. He tweaks his lubes mixing this and that to see what is giving him just the right combination. It's really good stuff if you can find it. Alot of places don't carry it unless you special order it.

[msmith]

I have been using rendered and boiled beef suit for a few years now. It works good and it prevents rust better than the ben-gay smelling stuff.