If you could build from scratch

ontarget said:

I'd go for historic built with modern metallurgy

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You mean something like these rolling blocks? The 45-70 is made from 1045, the 30-06 from 4140. Many hundreds of hours and years in those two. Barrels and screws were the only things I didn't make. Made the pistols also. All centerfire.

Well, actually the small pistol is a 22 magnum. The cat is a Replicant..

You think I could afford a REAL cat ??

Very nice builds. Impressive.

CZ 527M/CSR that could take vz-58 magazines.

I'd build a left-handed .22 bolt-action rifle with a buttstock-fed tubular magazine (like the Nylon 66 & Browning SA). I don't think such a rifle has ever been created before. In fact, the last left-handed .22 boltgun with a tubular magazine was a limited run by Mossberg in 1938.

Wait... which one is the "small" pistol?

Beautiful guns. I desire to build something similar, but I won't be starting with .30-06!

I was thinking the "Replicant" was an example of your taxidermy skills... but apparently not...

I had a dorm-mate in college who skinned mice and made mouse-leather bookmarks... so I thought cats might be a "thing" too...

Mauser lover said:

Wait... which one is the "small" pistol?

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The one closest to the cat.

Mauser lover said:

I was thinking the "Replicant" was an example of your taxidermy skills... but apparently not...

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It's a reference to the science fiction movie "Blade Runner" Replicants were androids, to include pets. The real things were too expensive and near extinction.

A bigass revolver in .375 winchester

George P said:

http://hoferwaffen.com/hofer_52.php?lang=en

Click on models and scroll down to see the various concepts

He will build you one that is not heavy

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The most beautiful shotguns I have ever seen! The HummingBird was exquisite. That and Funfling! Who Knew?

I think his hand plied to a polished action and polished, action-diameter barrel. A Japanese-esque cherry tree in blossom with song birds engraving, seamless from action to barrel. Polished " in the white" Schmidt and Bender. In a laid-up Bird's eye Maple and English Wenge stock, Cardinal wood red inlay.

Would a glass bi-pod be too much?

If I'm dreaming I'd do something weird like a blow forward pistol or a Sjögren Inertia Shotgun. After that I'd make a 1911 in 9x18 Mak just to mess with all my friends at the range.

Because I actually am a machinist, I've kept my thoughts on this pretty realistic.

-One of these


-A smoothbore muzzleloading pengun. For this I wouldn't be running afoul of the NFA (so far as I know) because I would be using percussion cap ignition, so it's legally an antique. I choose smoothbore because it's easier than making rifling and also my idea is to use 2 or 3 round balls so that there's some spread at such a short distance it has a greater chance of hitting the target.

-.53 Caliber percussion revolver. I'd pretty much have to take a Dragoon and do what Colt did with the 1851 Navy to make the 1860 Army in cutting a step on the frame and bumping up the cylinder diameter in the front so a larger ball could be used. I'd have to make the cylinder and barrel and loading lever from scratch, but hey, not too many .53 caliber percussion revolvers are out there. BTW, I'd probably make it a 5 shot because I'd plan to use the Hornady Great Plains bullets.

-4 Bore muzzleloader.

-Burnside Carbine. I would change it a little bit so that the cases were not so tapered and I'd make it for smokeless powder.

-Some sort of falling block rifle. Very simple and strong action. My uncle made a falling block rifle action decades ago and mounted a custom barrel to it, but he used a round pin as the breechblock, which would be as strong as square stock would be.

-A drop in sear for AR-15, but not a full auto one of course. That'd be illegal

-A Puckle gun. This would be my Magnum Opus if I ever did it. I would probably also opt for some form of percussion ignition for this. I just think flintlock is too tough to make work.

I think Franklin Armory completely missed the ball with the Reformation.

It's amazing that straight rifling is kosher (for now), but 5.56 is a total waste if the effective range is 50 yards. And I'm not convinced that the Nerf football bullet is a workable idea.

Pistol rounds, though, hold a lot of promise. Rifle caliber cartridges, and even intermediate rifle cartridges have a lot more kaboom risk if something goes wrong. Rather than a Nerf football, I think a shotgun slug is a more useful model. Pistol cartridges are relatively low pressure, and even a spicy pistol cartridge isn't going to be much faster than a shotgun slug. The effective range of a shotgun slug from an unrifled barrel is around 100 yards, which is about the range of a pistol caliber carbine anyways.

For ease of experimentation, I'd start with an externally attached rifled muzzle device. Just how hard is it to stabilize a pistol bullet with a goal of useful accuracy at 100 yards? Would you need a gain twist? Or would ordinary rifling suffice? How long would it need to be? Due to the square cube law, I suspect that the proportionately greater bearing surface of a pistol bullet over a shotgun slug might make for relatively easy stabilization. Something resembling a rifled muzzle brake would be ideal, but I suspect that it would have to be too long.

Once I'd have stabilization dialed in, if the device proved too long, the next step would be an internal device resembling a rifled choke.

If none of that panned out, bullet design would be next. A long bullet with a long hollow base that would be easy to cast, maybe powder coated to reduce leading. Like a Foster slug without the vanes. Or maybe with the vanes if it needs a little cushion when it hits the rifled device. Something with an attached base like a Brenneke slug would be too awful to hand produce in any significant quantity.

If none of that panned out, why not go full musket and fire a gosh darned roundball!?!?!

Except, I'd try to stabilize it with a backspin. Straight grooves only on the top half of the barrel, or maybe a roughened surface, or maybe even try some partial horizontal grooves. Roundballs tend to be around half the weight of conventional pistol bullets, so that would be a definite issue. Duplex loads also have their own issues, but I bet you could fit a triplex in a magnum cartridge. Probably need wads or disks or something between the roundballs. And of course lift generated by backspin might be an issue. Oh well.

Wilson Combat beat me to it with their EDC X9. I'd love a lighter weight double stack 9mm 1911 (I know it technically may not be a 1911).

The Taurus Judge is a silly pistol, and .410 is a silly gauge.

And that's such a shame. Their 28 gauge concept revolver seemed a lot more interesting, but I think it was only a ruse to distract from S&W's introduction of the Governor. 28 gauge is .550 caliber, so it's tricky to make a non-NFA 28 gauge pistol.

But .50 isn't NFA territory.

So, I'd like to experiment with necking down a 28 gauge hull into a bottlenecked .50 cal shotshell, maybe by abusing crimping tools.

The hard part would be monitoring pressure.

Loads would be single pumpkin balls for plinking, and slugs and twin/tri-ball loads for defense. Maybe buck and ball. #4 buck might just barely fit, but there might not be enough payload and it would suffer in rifling. You could probably get just under 3/4 oz of birdshot in there, but that's not the point at all.

Federal's 000 buck .410 loads seem to respond well to rifling, so I'd experiment with different twist rates. Fast rates if it stabilizes the projectiles, nearly immeasurable rates if it can't. Intended firearms would be something resembling a lupara (rifling makes it a pistol so length is irrelevant), maybe a revolver, and existing 28 gauge shotgun platforms would really only need a new barrel.

Straight rifling could also make this fairly exciting. Imagine a .50 cal Reformation. Or the Remington 870 version of that.

I would build a gun in the style of Ruger's old .44 autoloader, but in a more powerful chambering. How neat would a .500 Magnum or .480 Ruger self-loader be?

A .308 Krag, using modern steel to withstand the pressure.

Mauser pistol in 9mm that takes Uzi or colt smg mags

I'd try a lever action in 500mag.

Which, yes, it's already been done but I'd use a barrel twist for stabilizing saboted .308 caliber bullets.

It'd technically be a straight walled pistol caliber carbine, but essentially be a 308win carbine. Seems like a long way to go, but it'd get around Ohio's pesky PCC only for deer regulations I think.

A 357max/mag/38 over 12ga drilling rifle would also be a very versatile and interesting proposition.

Bbear said:

Newton 1st edition rifle in either 256 Newton or 6.5-06.
Savage 99 in 300 WSM
O/U 20 gauge with an extra set of O/U barrels in 6.5x55 patterned off of a Beretta 687 style receiver. Top grade walnut with family crest engraved on the side plates.

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Ok, I'll have to edit mine. I won an auction for a Newton 1st Model in 256 Newton. So, one of my bucket list guns will be in my hands soon!

Armored farmer said:

A fellow bp shooting enthusiast, and neighbor built himself a .72 caliber hawken style caplock. It is beautiful, and a total deer cannon.
I want one.

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YO, dittos on the .72cal/12ga rifled muzzleloader, I have lusted after same for quite a few years.
I used to hang with a guy in Michigan who hunted with a custom 20 ga rifled muzzleloader flintlock IIRC it was a (.60-ish) caliber), he was into "Living History" and had seen an original that some early trader/trapper in Michigan had carried back when. He was able to fire 20ga slugs out of it as well as balls and he did take deer with it.
Another long gun Ive lusted after is a drilling- double 20 ga barrels under a .30-30 or .35 Rem. Good for woods hogs, deer, and elk closer in.

I would remake the Security Industries .357. It was CLOSE to a S&W 60 but in .357, spur hammer, and recessed chambers in the cylinder. I have 2, with box, and would buy more if I could find one.

I'd like to make a could of new designs:

1: Break open .357 revolver.

2: Semi-auto with revolver shaped handle, magazine in front of the trigger a la Mauser Broomhandle, and a blow-forward action so as to regain as much barrel length as possible for ballistic performance.

Basically a cool-looking semi auto that has the ergonomics of a revolver.