a start in muzzle loading

back in the day (pre1956) I became interested in all things muzzle loading but at that time ml firearms were hidden in the past here in New Zealand with nothing available on the market here but I knew that they did exist because there was an antique firearms society active here .. So I had to make my own .. Where I worked i found a solid drawn tube ,which I was told had been the steering collum of a ford truck and it was said to be of hi tensile steel so all I had to do was get it rifled .. by 1959 I had figured out to make a sine bar rifling machine and a cutting head so got at it and turned out a usable 7 deep grooved 1 in 66 twist .69 calibre tube I made a cap lock breach plug and finished up with a half stock gun but no ball mould which came next .. it shot very well and its first hunting trip got me the smallest rabbit I have ever shot and that at 60 yards possibly also the greatest fluke ,when I picked it up I was surprised to find it had no head ... That gun is long gone but I still have the barrel and since then have made several more barrels and firearms including flintlocks from scratch the last lock I made took me 100 hours to finish and I sold it for $50 just love the challenge the last complete rifle I made I sold unfired for $350 a .36 but it did have a grrw barrel .. the same guy bought a lock I had made for $150 and he has it mounted in a glass case .. I would like to hear from others out there who have learned and done it the hard way or are thinking of having a go as we may learn by sharing our experiences .my bullet mould is quite different to those in common use ..

:thumbsup: :hatsoff:

That is amazing. I wish I could meet you in person.

Outstanding :hatsoff:

Absolutely outstanding :hatsoff:
Thanks for sharing.

B.

Awesome! Like the old saying: where there's a will there's a way.

Percy

Excellent story Sir!

Thank you for sharing my friend!! :thumbsup:

Respectfully, Cowboy

Thanks for sharing. Do you have any photos to post?
Flintlocklar :hatsoff:

Great story, thanks for sharing!

I would love to have a couple pints with you!

Hi All , thanks for the kind words , I must say that one of the things that helped /hindered me was first a lack on spare cash also a fair bit of pig headedness so when faced with a problem I asked a lot of questions read all I could get my hands on and when told you cant do that just adopted my I'll show you attitude and went at it ... So having said that I say come on guys YOU CAN DO it TOO It dosen't matter how big the finished job is/looks it starts with the first step and many steps later you have learnt a new skill or two and you have a finished project ,maybe not the best looker in the world but like a new mother it's your baby and you will be proud of it .. but you can all get me via private post or email and we can talk , sorry about the pictures haven't had time to perfect that skill yet see what I mean still got a bit to learn . Bit short on computer skills too but here I am encouraging you to have go

That's great Robin. It is great to hear experiences from an older gentlemen like you who had to innovate and do things the hard way. :thumbsup: