First Post - Boat Gun project

Hello! Just discovered this forum, and thought I'd show off my current project, a boat gun.
I found images of similar infernal devices here www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/search/listResults.cfm?category=firearms&name=Boat%
and am proceeding at a glacial pace.


The weapon has a 1" bore, which my calculations put at being, what, about a 5 bore? Barrel is 19" long, with a turned band 'round the muzzle. The breechplug was turned from a 1 1/8 dia. Grade 5 bolt, 2 1/2" long, with a powder chamber 1/2" dia. and 2" long bored into it.
The stock is a hunk of 2"x6" Maple that I scrounged up, no walnut was to be had. I don't have the profile of the butt right, I was going for the fusil-de-chasse look but ending up, well, where it is now. Intuition is telling me that maybe a fat, flat, heavy butt might be better.
The lock is one of the $99 Indian Bess locks that TOW is offering. It is cruuuuude in appearance, but functions well. Sparks very strong. I forged a trigger, nowhere finished with that yet.
I am learning more about inletting than any sane person should want to know. As the first from-almost-scratch firearm, I have run down a few dead ends, but am having a wonderful time.
Any hints for fastening the barrel to the forend? I am leaning towards three lugs and pins, the center one being a fat, hollow pin that would allow an attachment for the oarlock/swivel. What is the right way to attach lugs to the barrel, I'm thinking about silver brazing them in place.
What powder should I use? If it were a straight 1" bore all the way, I'd imagine 1f would be right. But with the counterbored 1/2" powder chamber, should I look to something faster? Where can I source balls for this thing? Thanks for any insight.
Ed

Never shot a boat myself but there's always something new to learn! Good job, by the way. Reminds me of my youth when a big bore was just the thing to load shooting sized marbles that powdered just great against concrete! Wonder if the statute-of-limitations has run out? :winking:

look up Jeff Tanner in the links he will make you a mold the last time I checked for about $35 delivered.
Now if only I would start a project like yours. Saw a beautiful Brass barreled swivel gun at the last gun show but it was to pricey.
Fox :hatsoff:

Not knowing how thick the walls of that barrel are, its hard to recommend dovetails in the barrel for barrel keys, or underlugs for pins to hold the gun to the stock. Some guns have underlugs consisting of staples that are silver soldered in place, or otherwise peened in place in small holes in the barrel. With that short a barrel, I don't think you are going to need more than 2 pins to hold it, in addition to the tang screw.

As to powder, use 1Fg or 2Fg powder. A one inch barrel is actually between a 4 Bore and a % bore( or gauge) gun. A round ball is going to weigh more than 1/4 pound- actually over 2000 grains. Newtons First law of physics says that whatever moves in one direction will cause an equal force to move in the opposite direction, meaning that ball, even at very low velocities, comparatively speaking, is going to creat a lot of recoil. I would not use more than 100 grains of 2Fg powder to begin, not because that is a heavy powder charge, but because that is a heavy lead ball to get to move. Since you are new to Black Powder, you must understand that such a round ball, very expensive to make, and equally difficult to shoot well, kills by its sheer weight, and not by velocity. You will be hard pressed to find any kind of backstop that will actually stop that round ball in any kind of reasonable distance. Even shooting such a ball into dirt will require a shovel and some time to dig it out!

Best wishes. I am glad its your shoulder and not mine behind that barrel when you fire the gun. I would plan on glass bedding the barrel to keep that stock from cracking after a couple of shots.

What you do is your own business.

Wow, That's a beast ! Cant wait to see it when it's done.

Oh my........ :shocked2:

am proceeding at a glacial pace.
One of the old sayings "maxims" of muzzleloading is "go slow slowely" you have a very interesting project there. Take your time and It will come out good.

Doug J.

P.S. Please post your snail mail address so we know where to send the "Get Well" cards after you shoot this thing! :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

Ebrush: George Mitchell built a 100 lb., .69 caliber slug gun that had an eight inch across the flats barrel, 4 feet long, underhammer action, with scope mounted in 4 rings, shooting 350 grains of black powder, ignited by a modern pistol primer held in a fixture for that purpose, pushing a 2-piece paper patched bullet that weighted either 760 or 1760 grains( I am not sure which now). Velocity was clocked 20 feet from the muzzle at 1050 fps. The recoil would dislocate your shoulder if you did not firmly shove that stock into your shoulder and hold it there when you fired, even when the gun weighed that much.

I thought you should understand what you are making, and just how much recoil forces you will have to contend with firing even " light " loads.

He shot a 10-shot groups at 500 yards that measured 5.26 inches across with that gun. 7 shots were in a one large hole that measured only 3.5 inches across, at best. The remaining three shots hit at 10:30 o'clock, together, in another one hole group, just slightly off the main group. Fantastic shooting gun, but George let someone who wanted it more than he did buy it. It was quite a workout just lifting the gun up and down after each shot to load it, If you think about it, He was lifting a ton of weight to fire those ten shots.

I know the kind of damage a 1 oz ball will do. I can't imagine what a 4 or 4.5 oz. ball will do. You are talking about a hand held cannon. I hope you have the " carriage " to shoot it safely.

Thanks for the feedback. I am envisioning this thing as filling the blunderbuss gap in our household, so if I shoot it at all, it will be with shot, I figure 2 1/2 oz or so. Lofting balls may be fun, but there ain't much room for such shenanigans around here.
The plan is to have a swivel-gun style thing-a-ma-jig (oarlock) in the forend, and a socket on a conveniently solid bench or handcart for demonstations (henceforth referred to as the cassion). Maybe I'll put one on the gunwhale of the skiff (henceforth referred to as the gunboat).

ejbrush said:

Maybe I'll put one on the gunwhale of the skiff (henceforth referred to as the gunboat).

Click to expand...

Love it - maybe the recoil will give your skiff a reverse gear :v .

I love it!

been thinking about making one myself, that gets a person thinking. A few years ago we shot a 4 gauge (.94) with .25 buck shot over a pond and it was wonderful sight.

Pat