Good day of work.
Got the trigger pinned into place. The holes are pre-drilled. The trigger itself - the bit which fits up inside the gun - needed a bit of file work, as it was slightly too wide. Supposedly the upper surface, where it contacts the sear bar, also needs some material removed but this one was perfect out of the box. During final finish I will polish those surfaces but not remove any more metal than absolutely necessary.
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Trigger guard gets the edges filed, with a couple degrees of draft, and a little step cleaned up underneath. A slight bit of cleanup with the chisel helps inside the stock. Once fitted, clamps hold the guard into place while holes are drilled through a pair of tabs, using preexisting holes in the stock. Then pins are cut, rounded, and driven in. Very easy.
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Then fitted the entry pipe. The pipe itself needs just a couple of minutes with file, cleaning up the edges and adding draft. Rather than a hole in the tab, there is a small slot, allowing for slight misalignment with the pin. Again, perfectly straightforward.
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The other pipes go in the same way. I badly screwed up those pictures, but we all know what ramrod pipes look like, so...
The nose cap took some doing. It has to fit both the stock and the barrel, so lots of things to think about while running the file. I took my time fitting it - probably 30 minutes of fine work - then glued it with 5 minute epoxy, clamped to minimize any gaps.
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After the epoxy set, I drilled two holes through the stock and cap, chamfered them on both sides, set brass nails and peened them over. Filing and shaping made one dissappear entirely, while the other did leave a little gap. I've seen that on originals so am not bothered by it. It's pretty noticeable in close-up, but otherwise you kind of have to look for it. I may be able to improve it a bit during final cleanup, but really am not going to sweat it.
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Next up was drawfiling the barrel. I used a good single-cut file I reserve for finish work. Then sanding blocks down to 400 grit, and a final polish with Scotchbrite. That was a solid couple of hours, during the first heatwave of the season, and our AC is on the fritz. So I changed my shirt afterwards.
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Last bit for today was the ramrod. The cap fits onto a tenon and is pinned into place with steel nail. Again, a hole is drilled and chamfered, the nail is cut, peened over, and filed. It disappeared entirely, on both sides. Then the rod is sanded until it fits the pipes just right.
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So it's turning into a rifle. Tomorrow I plan to disassemble the lock and finish it to the same degree as the barrel. If I'm not ready to shoot myself afterwards I'll get to work on the brass parts as well. Still waiting on the replacement patchbox, and then I'll just about be ready for the final finish work.