Picked up a Jackie Brown Canoe Gun

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Since the canoe gun came setup for a sling I made one last night.

I cut a length of cowhide ~1.25" wide by ~48" long. One the butt end I punched a hole and then made a slit so it fits over the sling mounting button. On the muzzle end I punched a series of holes for a leather thong to go through.

The leather was a light natural tan color, so I used some Fiebing's dark brown leather dye to darken it. After that dried I worked some neatsfoot oil into both sides of the leather to moisturize and soften it. The leather drank it up. Finally, I gave both sides a coat of Montana Pitch Blend dressing. This is a mix of pine pitch, mink oil, and beeswax. I also worked the leather back and forth to soften it a little since it was very stiff.

I'll probably punch a few more holes in it so I can let it out to go over a heavy coat.

It came out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself.

sling.jpg
 
Might have to add something like that to the list of muzzleloaders I would like to build one day.

I've seen a couple of (in "real life") canoe-cabin-Tee Pee guns made from Brown Bess Muskets. I've always wanted one of those. If I ever got one, I'd like to do that flared-muzzle thing. But, my Brown Bess "Ranger Carbine" with a 31" barrel serves me well, so it probably won't happen.
 
Since the canoe gun came setup for a sling I made one last night.

I cut a length of cowhide ~1.25" wide by ~48" long. One the butt end I punched a hole and then made a slit so it fits over the sling mounting button. On the muzzle end I punched a series of holes for a leather thong to go through.

The leather was a light natural tan color, so I used some Fiebing's dark brown leather dye to darken it. After that dried I worked some neatsfoot oil into both sides of the leather to moisturize and soften it. The leather drank it up. Finally, I gave both sides a coat of Montana Pitch Blend dressing. This is a mix of pine pitch, mink oil, and beeswax. I also worked the leather back and forth to soften it a little since it was very stiff.

I'll probably punch a few more holes in it so I can let it out to go over a heavy coat.

It came out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself.

View attachment 1100987

Wow, looks exactly like the sling on my Jeager, which was once on an old Mauser I picked up. Good job, a sling on an already light and easy piece to carry really makes it portable as you can sling it over your back and almost forget it there, for crossing raging cricks in the spring, climbing steep stuff or riding on the dirt-bike. You put some icing on the cake! But please...take that jag off the end of the rod and put it in your possible's bag.
 
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Hey Dave, try this when you are playing around with loads. Get you some brown paper grocery bag paper, make some tubes, put a ball in the tube (slight press fit), then powder charge of your choice, and fold a tail over the open end. Dip ball end in pure hot bee's wax, no lube. To shoot, pop off tail, tear off, pour in powder and ram down. Cap and fire. Actually don't have to pour, the powder will fall down the bore before you can ram. Just place the open end into the muzzle and press it in. Very fast, especially if you have an in-line capper. (or any capper)

They are surprisingly accurate, and just the thing in case you get attacked by hostiles or a pack of wolves. They came in very handy for me last fall when I had to follow a wounded black bear into the heavy brush. Now I never leave home without them.
 
I've played around with paper cartridges for both cap and ball revolvers, and my Pedersoli Brown Bess carbine.

This is a .690 ball in a cartridge made from printer paper. (I didn't have any paper bags handy.) I don't recall the powder charge, probably about 80 grains. I didn't bother lubing this batch with beeswax.

finished-cartridge.jpg

BTW, I'm leaving the jag on the rod until I setup a shooting bag for this gun, so I don't lose it. ;)
 
Nice job. No, the kind of paper doesn't matter, I just like the brown paper bag as it looks more "down home" to me. Of course, writing the charge and caliber on them with sharpie don't look too old-timey. (not that anyone looks at my cartridges) I use about 120 grains of 1fg in my Brown Bess carbine paper cartridge loads. I was going to shoot some of the .62 loads today in the Jeager, but...forgot.

We'll get you a gold chain so you can wear that Jag around your neck, and not lose it. !!!!
 
I thought Jackie Brown was the NFL fullback for the Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965
and went into Hollywood movie making ... had no idea he made muzzle loaders !
He does nice work .
Gary
 
I got a chance to shoot the canoe gun Sunday over at a friend's place. He has some land and we can shoot safely in his yard. Unfortunately it was raining and the only place I could load while under overhead cover was his patio. I'd then step out to shoot and some tin cans we placed on a hillside.

My load of 1 oz. of #5 shot on top of 65 grains of Scheutzen 3Fg black powder penetrated both side of a #10 can from about 20 yards, so it's got enough power for hunting.

I also tried a couple varieties of ball loads. I shot a half dozen .570 balls loaded in paper cartridges on top of 65 grains of powder. I also tried a few shots with .575 balls loaded on top of a tow wad, with another tow wad over the ball to hold it in place. The balls loads shot high with how I was holding the gun.

I absolutely need to put both shot and ball loads on paper to verify point of impact and patterns.

Everything went mostly well until the gun fell over onto the brick patio, landing on the hammer which was set to half cock. That broke the half cock notch on the tumbler. (Insert vast amounts of profanity here.)

When I was done I used tow wrapped around a worm to scrub the bore. This was the first time I've tried using tow for cleaning and it works pretty well, much like a bore brush. I'll be using it at least for my smoothbores in the future.

After getting home I ordered a replacement tumbler from Track of the Wolf and I paid extra for 2 day delivery. My order arrived today and I repaired the lock after work. It took about a half hour with some needle files to fit the new tumbler to the hammer. I also cleaned up the side of the tumbler that rubs against the lock plate, using a stone.

The hammer now clicks solidly into both the half and full cock notches.

I may be going upstate next weekend and if so I should be able to pattern shot loads and figure out how to hold it when shooting ball.
 
Wow, that is very cool, except for breaking the half-cock. But very cool you could get parts. Man, yeah that had to hurt. I can't imagine dropping my Jeager, or Bess, or having it fall over. That would suck. Glad it came out okay.

I put "period correct" sights on my Bess. There is an original Brown Bess in the NRA museum with sights, so the period correct police can't bust me on the grounds that smoothbores or muskets "never had rifle type sights". Not usually, but ya can't say never. But, it sure made a difference, you can get really decent accuracy with a smoothbore out to 50 yards and a bit beyond. I like lining up the sights on a turk's head too, a little more precise.

Okay good luck with the shot loads. A bazillion ways to do it.
 
Well, I thought the lock was fixed. Last weekend I went to shoot it and now the full cock notch is slipping. <grrrr> So, today I sent it out to Brad Emig at Cabin Creek Muzzleloading, which is near York, PA and it should arrive Monday. He came highly recommended on the muzzleloading forum for lock repair. He charges $95 for tuning a Siler, plus any required parts, plus return shipping.

So, now I have a lock-less gun here. But not for long, because a couple days ago I also ordered a flint conversion for it from the Log Cabin Shop. :D A southpaw large Siler flintlock and a vent liner threaded the same as the drum.
 
I am really impressed with Brad Emig at Cabin Creek Muzzleloading. Last Monday, he received the Siler lock that I shipped him and he called me on Wednesday to let me know that it was fixed. The cost was more than I expected but the lock was a real dumpster fire inside, not just due to the tumbler I broke. He also had to replace the sear and bridle.

fixed-lock.jpg

Brad shipped it back to me last Friday and I received it today. It looks great inside and after remounting to the canoe gun, it has a nice trigger pull.
 
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