[Cosmoline]

I screwed up the cheapo walnut stock I tried on this .54 build, so I put down some more cash and got a much nicer curly maple. The difference is night and day. I'm just about finished with the barrel and lock placement at this point. I'm also experimenting with some engraving:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/engraving.jpg

Yeah, I know it's an appropriately ironic motto :D

[Oyeboten]

Cool..!

Uhhhh...

Where the rest of the Pictures?

[madcratebuilder]

The best engravers had to start someplace. I applaud your work.

[Das Jaeger]

Awsome to see another fearless gunsmith at work .
Way to go , lookin good . :D Love the Motto !

Jaeger

[Ratdog68]

But, we wanna see the rest of it too. :D

[Cosmoline]

The purists hate it, and I'm not overly found of the dremel look myself. I'm hoping to get a hard piece of steel and slowly smooth out the characters so they're less dremely.

In time I'll invest in gravers, but I really don't plan on doing the same old swirls and filigrees you see on every other rifle. If I build it, it's going to be a little crazy.

[Das Jaeger]

Its your gun , put Poseys and freekin Daiseys on it if you want , the more unique a gun is the more tis yours only and your stlye. What others think is none of your bussiness anyways , and who cares what other people think :D.

Get on it !

Jaeger

[arcticap]

I hope that you're going to also engrave your name and a date somewhere under the barrel so that it will live on into the very distant future... :rolleyes:

[Cosmoline]

She's fully operational again. The higher grade CM is FANTASTIC to work with. With that low grad walnut I had about half a dozen serious cracks, this one has had zero. The wood is nice and strong and curls off the blade very nicely.

The @#$ lock mortise was precut on this one. They didn't have one in stock that was left uncut. And inevitably in the fiddling to make it match up properly I had to expand the sides of the cut, AGAIN creating gaps around the lock. They're not as bad as the first attempt, but they still annoy me. I would like to have the barrel 100% in place and THEN put the lock's plate against the wood exactly where I want it, scribe around it and cut the hole myself.

Still left to be done is some work on the ramrod channel and of course trimming and sanding the stock. But I'm going to take it shooting as it is this weekend weather permitting.

I bored a hole for the central lock bolt through the back of the plug's tang, as pictured. I've never seen this done before but I've found most ML'rs to be far too loose and wiggly. Relying solely on pins and a wood screw to restrain the barrel strikes me as a bad idea, so with this design they are strictly backup. The main bolt locks the barrel, lock and stock together.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/Tang.jpg

Instead of a regular sideplate I'm going to go with the washer-type things I've seen on other poorboy style mountain rifles. I'm toying with idea of not putting a buttplate on at all, but if I do use one it will be very simple like a trade gun style. I really hate crescent-shaped buttplates.

I've also got an idea for a "gutter drain" to keep water from running down the stock's lip along the barrel back into the lock.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/No1C.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/No1A.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/No1B.jpg

[Ratdog68]

That's comin' along quite nicely Cosmoline !! Lookin' good amigo !!

[Cosmoline]

Thanks! I'm thinking about a Chambers English sporting rifle in .58 for my next build.

[Das Jaeger]

to see the finished product , hurry would ya ! :D
Very cool , and yes I hate pre-inletted anything, especialy when you have to bed the barrel after , whata drag . Break out the water and a blow dryer and tighten up the gaps on the lock , it works wonders , trust me . :D

Very Cool , Jaeger out

[Ratdog68]

Thanks! I'm thinking about a Chambers English sporting rifle in .58 for my next build.
Fish On !!!! Yup... me thinks ya have it pretty badly, yes indeed. Ain't life good? :D

[Das Jaeger]

all four my Pedersoli locks are done that way too with the cut-out on the tang . It works great . If I told you how many times I forgot to put the barrel in first then the lock , you'd laugh at me , well go ahead, laugh anyways :D

Jaeger

[Cosmoline]

The key is to claim you did it on purpose afterwards. That's called thinking like a lawyer.

Here's the "drain spout" for the gutter in Beta:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/gutter.jpg

Preliminary tests with some sprinkled water show that it works. A very slight indentation in the wood to correspond with the spout's location should be sufficient to wick water off and the the side, and keep it from running back into the pan/ flash-hole are.

[alemonkey]

That looks really good. The gap around the lock really isn't bad, IMO. What about filling it with brown dyed Acraglas?

You're getting me fired up to build a rifle myself. If I wasn't already pouring my pennies into having a custom martini-henry built I would have to start one too. Sitting Fox has a Southern Mountain Hog rifle for $350 that's been calling my name.

[Cosmoline]

Ray at Sitting Fox set me up with this kit, too. Great customer service, but I'd suggest spending a little extra to get a high grade stock. He'll let you know what he has available and give you some options.

[Cosmoline]

Finally, it's nearly complete. A few more bits and pieces on the way from Track. I may leave it sans buttplate, we'll see. I love the fancy curly maple. I couldn't bring myself to stain it as I like the tiger stripes subtle.

This is No. 1. No. 2 will probably be a TOTW trade gun for my oldest bro. No. 3 will be a big bore rifle I'm still theorizing about. I may never buy a completed gun again!

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/PBa.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/PBb.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/PBc.jpg

[Das Jaeger]

It would be a crime to stain that wood , it looks right just the way it is , Blond like my Lady :D
How did your Lock finally come out looking ?
Now go bloody this thing this Fall :D

Jaeger

[NobleSniper]

You did real good ;)

[TomADC]

That wood has a lot of character I would not stain it either, good effort I still want to do a kit just not sure what yet?

[Dave Markowitz]

Looks good and that rain gutter is really neat.