older than old school---matchlock

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icebones

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i have a flintlock kentucky long rifle ive had for about 5 or 6 years now, but ive always wanted to get my hands on a matchlock musket. now seeing as the only one ive ever seen was at antique and modern firearms in lexington (i think, memory is rusty) kentucky.

im not interested in spending several thousand for some antique rifle, because i actually want to fire this musket, so i got to thinking, i can run a lathe and im fairly decent in the art of wood working... so why not make my own?

i want this to look like the antique matchlock musket from the 1600's, by that i mean i want it to look authentic...

i was thinking about getting some 1.25'' or maybe 1.5'' bar-sock for the barrel, and getting a 4x4 post of walnut for the stock. the lock will be made of steel barstock also. i was planning on this rifle being .75 caliber and having a bbl length of at least 36''. now here is where the machininst comes into play... its gonna be one heck of a pain in the butt to bore out a bbl that long with the tools and bits i have, so im guessing that maybe i could find thick walled conduit piping somewhere, but i want at least a good 1/2'' of thickness in the barrel walls. tapping the breach and turning a breach plug and welding that sucker in place would be no problem though. i wanted a steel ramrod too for durability's sake, and 1/4'' steel stock with something on the end to seat the ball would be a snap to make. i was planning on making a simple serpentine and trigger to hold the match cord

no comes the big question... what kind of finish? i want this musket to have that old look. petina i think its called. you know that deep brown color...
ive read in the old days gunsmiths yould use cow urine :what: and heat the metal and pour the urine on the hot steel, seems it would oxidise the metal and give it that deep chestnut color im looking for. any suggestions that dont involve cow pee? :D

also, anybody know where i could find match cord to use in this rifle?

before anybody says that this would be dangerous i was going to do a simple low tech proof test by tieing a string around the trigger and firing it from a safe distance with a heavier powder charge than i plan on using, probably from behind something thick, hard and heavy (like hiding behind my old chevy truck:D)

now i was planning on using 23/32'' or 3/4'' ball bearings or maybe making another mold on the CNC at the shop i used to work in, i already made one for my .50 flintlock, and its fairly easy.

my regular load for this musket would be around 20 or 30 grains of 2ffg or 3ffg powder behind a ball held inplace by paper. i know this wont be powerful or give smoking hot velocity, but this thing will lob a .75 caliber ball. and i think thats a big enough hole...

also from the legal standpoint, im almost certain you dont need any registration or paperwork to manufacture a blackpowder weapon. although i will check with the local boys in blue to confirm this.

any thoughts? comments?
 
Airman Duff, thank you for your service.

Actually your plan has a lot of merit. With the loads you are contemplating the conduit should work out. Consider that you are essentially building a shotgun barrel and shooting a slug with it.

You can make your own match cord; a short internet search should come up with a number of recipes.

With regard to finishing the metal - you aren't using primitive processes or materials to build the gun, so using a primitive finishing process makes no sense. There are a number of commercially available browning solutions that will give the finish you're looking for. I recommend Laurel Mountain Forge degreaser and browning solution for a cold process or Birchwood Casey's Plum Brown for a hot process. You could also simply use a vinegar solution to get a natural patina; however, that will take several years to reach the dark color you're looking for.

Good luck, and take pictures of each step. They'll come in handy some day.
 
If you want authentic rust brown then laurel mountain forge rust brown is your answer. It is a cold process and super easy to apply.

Dixie gunworks stocks match lock fuse. search for 'matchlock'

For the barrel head over to jim chambers, www.flintlocks.com and there is a barrel shop there, around $250 plus s/h you can get a swamped barrel already made up.

Chestnut color you say? That rings of Chromium Trioxide. Dixie also stocks this as well.

No you dont need registration bs unless you live in a nazi/commie state :) The boys in blue does not even know how to spell black powder and they are not lawyers, they only think in terms of liability and will generally be little help to you. As they say google makes you smart and photoshop makes you pretty.

OR you could head over to the riffle shop and buy a kit. Or just the lock itself :)

http://www.therifleshoppe.com/matchlocks.htm


http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Campground/8551/locks.html match lock mechanics.
 
Actually it's legal to build your own firearms for your own personal use regardless of whether they're black powder or use modern cartridge ammunition. You just can't sell them or give them away without a license. That's why it's legal to put a cartridge conversion cylinder on a percussion revolver without getting a license or going through an FFL.
 
Icebones

annyeonghaseyo

I see you are in Korea, the Koreans have some very strict laws on guns.

Don’t use tubing. Buy a cheap barrel.

You can brown gun parts with anything that promotes rust.
You can buy rust brown chemicals from Dixei and the like or look at the book
“Firearm Blueing and Browning” by R.H. Angier.

Hemp twine work well for match cord I believe.

Good luck, be safe.
Tinker2
 
hehe, annyeonghaseyo, seems the international culture in good ol america isnt as dry as i though. aw thats a good one. :D

thanks for the advice, but i really dont want to buy any parts for this rifle, except the match cord, unless i find a good recipe. anybody know if brownells or midway stocks tool bits for boring barrels?


also thanks for the finish sources, i will look into the birchwood casey browning stuff.

and im pretty shure my wife likes my face too, though i wouldnt call it pretty:rolleyes: i was only planning on using conduit as a last resort, i really wanted to machine the barrel out of steel bar-stock.

maybe i could go really old school and turn down a steel bar to .730 or .740 and then heat a steel strap to cherry red and hammer forge the barrel by hand:what: im pretty shure thats how they did it in the ol bygone days, though i could be grossly wrong. still im a machinist, not a blacksmith, and im pretty shure that wouldnt be safe at all

if i could find a boring tool for my pourposes (boring gun barrels, boring bars on lathes, well arent meant for this) i would definately go that route.

thanks for all the goodies and advice.
 
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you know, the more i think about it, i might make an old "hand gonne" before i start making my matchlock musket, just for practice.

i remember back when i worked in a machine shop i made several "hand cannons" out of 1'' bar stock by drilling a short 3'' or 4'' deep hole down the center of the stock, to serve as the barrel. and a 1/16'' hole down to serve as the touch hole. the completed weapon was about 1 foot of solid steel so you had a lot of material to hang on to. i made a few of them with a 9/16'' bore so i could shoot airsoft pellets and 1/4'' ball bearings out of them.
i also counterskinked the touchhole so it would hold a little pool of black powder for easier shooting. i would load that sucker up, pack BP in the touch hole, put on a face shield or shootin glasses and fire off a shot or two.


i only used about 3 to 6 grains of black powder for the main charge and a ball bearing with paper wadding. i used to use those long wooden fireplace matches to ignite the touchhole. sufficed to say, they had almost no recoil, make a puny poping noise when firing, as you could imagine, they had zero accuracy and very little power, i still mamaged to give a few water filled beer cans a really bad day at point blank range with the few of em that i made. unconventional? yes, useless? pretty shure... but there were fun as heck to make and a blast to shoot in front of a impressed audience of friends and family. :D
 
+1 on the laurel mountain forge for browning it. I just got done refinishing a gun with it and it's really easy to use, and ends up with a nice patina.
 
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