.67 Canoe Gun Flinter Completed!!!

[Razor62]

I've been promising myself for years that I'd own a flintlock. I've never even fired one but I'm in love with the whole idea and style of these classic arms of old. I'm not a student of the whole historical aspect. At least not yet. For now I'd be content to build and to hunt with a left hand rock lock that at least looks similar to something from years gone by.
So, I picked up a 16 ga barrel blank from Numerich Arms and set my sights on a left hand, smoothbore shorty for deer and turkey forays. The barrel was originally destined to become an L.C. Smith 16 ga but it never made it that far. Instead, it was bored to .670" but never cambered, choked or reamed out to 16 ga. The perfect starting point for muzzleloader. I ground away the stock at the breech which was left to machine the locking lug assy. and installed a breechplug...Voila! A muzzleloading barrel was born. The stock blank was a chunk of grade 3 curly maple and I settled on a Queen Anne style lock in left hand of course. She'll be decked out in brass furniture.

Here's a few photo's of the progress thus far...

 

[03mossy]

woohoo another project to watch! you sir are a talented individual!

 

[Edwardamason]

Hate to break it to you but the lock is on the wrong side. :wink: :wink: :wink:

 

[WV Hunter]

woohoo another project to watch! you sir are a talented individual!

x2

 

[Razor62]

Got most of the final shaping done today. I wanted to get things down to final contour before installing my trigger plate. Drilled for the tang bolt and got some preliminary work done on the side plate. This is where I start to get charged up. I must've shouldered her a hundred times today. She really feels like a gun now. Lightweight and fast.
Still have the trigger guard to install and I need to modify my trigger to make it fit into the relatively small trigger bow.

 

[LarryBud]

Vary impressive. keep the updates coming.

 

[oldfox]

Another fine looking job Razor!

 

[Razor62]

Thanks guys. Your feedback makes posting worthwhile.
This one's a challenge. Never built a flintlock before. Lots of fun but there are lots of things that need to be considered before preforming any part of the job lest one gets himself into a bad situation.

 

[lefty41]

Looks great! being a lefty I will follow this work closely.

 

[hawk_driver]

Looking forward to how nice looking this one turns out as well.

 

[greenbowfish]

Very nice work. Do you have other projects posted?

 

[Razor62]

Thanks guys. Here's a couple of links to the two others that I've done. They're kind of pic heavy because I saved every pic to the Photobucket files for each of them. I wish that I could figure out how to reverse the viewing order because you'll be seeing the completed rife pics first followed by a reverse order of the actual building process. It just seems like it spoils the surprise when you view the albums like that.

This was my very first build. Loosely based on an 1863 Springfield.
I decided to attempt a build because I had a barrel from a H&R Springfield Stalker which was a production gun for a short time back in the seventies. There are a few pics of an original Springfield Stalker mixed in this album for reference. I'd purchassed it new from a flier that Numerich Arms mailed me about twenty five years ago. I dug it out of storage and lcoated a suitable lock to fit the barrel's bolster and went to work. It's a mongrel. The trigger and guard are from an all but destroyed percussion fowling gun from the mid 1800's. The barrel band and latch are from a WWII Mauser. The butplate is from a Ruger Mini 14. Ebay score walnut blank. Poured pewter forend tip and various other odds & ends from a muzzleloading builders supply co. She shoots well in .45 cal

http://s154.photobucket.com/user/klaros ... %20project


This was my second build. It's based on a boxlock action by Pete Allen. (He's the guy who makes the underhammer action that I used for the gun in this thread)The .58 cal. barrel was part of that 25 yr old purchase from Numerich Arms that supplied the barrel for the Springfield Carbine above. I kinda cheated on this one I bought all of the parts from Petaconica River including the fancy walnut which was semi-inlet for the barrel, action and buttplate. Still, There were lots of challenges not the least of which was the location of the factory drilled ramrod hole. you can see in a couple of the pics that it was dangerously close to breaking through once the forend was brought down to final dimension. Shoots tight groups and that heavy barrel all but eliminates the felt recoil.


http://s154.photobucket.com/user/klaros ... %20Project

 

[Razor62]

I've been experimenting with aqua fortis which is a staining technique used in days of old. Very interesting stuff that's made by dissolving steel in nitric acid. When the solution is applied to the wood it turns maple into a awful combination of grey, green and yellow. Once the solution dries heat is applied and the transformation is like magic. As the heat is applied the color changes to a beautiful reddish brown that really accentuates the depth of the tiger striping / curl. Here's a test from the scrap off the same block as the rifle. It's a little light. A second treatment will give more brown to the wood and darken it up some:

I've also been working on a technique for the barrel finish that will give that appearance of damascus steel. I chemically etched the pattern on to a test piece and then proceeded with a browning process. This first trial is just a little bit too dark. I'll stop the browning a little bit sooner next time. Here's that test piece:

Made up a crude rear sight too. It's loosely based on pictures of original rear sights from flintlock fowling pieces that I've seen however most of the originals were much more ornate. This gun will be used primarily for turkey and if it shoots a round ball well enough also for deer. Because of the intended usage I felt that a primitive rear sight would be appropriate. Here's what I came up with:

 

[cayuga]

Very nice and very interesting project!! My hats off to people with talent like yours.

 

[Dwayne]

I was just reading the forum rules. . ..

Rule #13. ..

All Members with "Razor" in their names must make Dwayne a gun. . .

 

[LarryBud]

Very interesting and great wok.
j
Can you give the short explanation on how you made that rear sight? I assume that's brass.

 

[Razor62]

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Here ya' go Larry. They say a picture is worth a thousand words:

The last line got cut off. It reads: Grind away tab and solder sight onto barrel.
I have a flat on top of the breech of my barrel if yours is round you'd have to grind the base in a radius to match the barrel contour.

 

[Razor62]

.




Well, I had a little set back the other day while I was browning my lock parts, I was carding the surface rust from my frizzen using an ultra fine wire wheel and it snatched the frizzen from my hand sending it to the concrete floor at my feet. I was shocked and upset to discover that the frizzen had broken in two upon impact. I'm assuming that the frizzen hadn't been tempered properly because it hit the floor with very little force. Only slightly more than it woud have had had I merely dropped it. I'm pleased to announce that after calling the manufacturer I'll be sending the entire lock to L&R and they'll fit a new frizzen. I left it up to them to determine if a warranty is in order. Either way I was told that they'd have it for no more than 24 hrs and ship it right back to me. looks like I'll have time to work up a load for turkeys and get out there on the 25th. I was able to achieve a very nice brown patina to the lock parts using Brownells slow rust formula and a damp box. The lock looks like it's been around for eons.











The stock is 90% complete. I used my homebrewed aqua fortis stain. ( Very pleased with this stuff! ) A few more coats of Tru-Oil and then I'll rub the gloss back some with rotten stone / mineral oil to put a few years on the appearance. I'm hoping that this one gives the impression of being an antique.




















I've been working on the barrel finish too. I was able to etch a nice damascus pattern into the steel and the browning process is underway. You'll have to wait at least until tomorrow to see that however 'cuz it's not quite ready. should look aged like the lock if I can pull it off.

Currently looking for ideas as to how I can age the brass somewhat. I've heard of using black powder fowling and many other concoctions even yellow mustard. Just wondering if anyone's got ideas???

 

[ShawnT]

Razor,

Very Nice work indeed! That is an interesting stain method, and turned out beautiful. Keep up the great work. Looks like another heirloom in the works. :yeah:

 

[edmehlig]

Razor, my god what talent you have!! You ought to go into the custom gun building business.

By the way I shoot left handed as well, so if you ever get tired of any of your rifles, let me know. GRIN.

I hope you have children and grandchildren to pass them onto. If not I'm always available for adoption. LOL

Ed