What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

[longcruise]

I successfully managed to acid etch a brass sideplate. Not overly deep....my masking was starting to break down .....but still enough to call it a success.

Pictures!!?

 

[Omahkapi'si]

My new Frontier .50 cal caplock is a shooter....took it out to the range tonight.

50 grains T7, .480 ball. .015 patch

50 yds off hand after I filed down the front sight some, and this was in a 50km cross breeze. After the target I was ringing steel gongs at 50/75/100 yds with it. Pretty happy with it.

 

[BS]

Nearly blended in.
Top front of the drum needs some blending.

The tang extends over the lock, it will be tapered and cleared for the hammer.
Also need to bend the tang to match the stock

 

[Psycho Mike]

Pictures!!?

Hehehe...."By your command!"

Not easy with my lighting to get a "good" shot, but this one shows the full etch.

It's not super deep (my masking started to break down earlier than I hoped), but it should hold up for a while inspite of how fine the signature is.

 

[Gordoncourtney]

I successfully managed to acid etch a brass sideplate. Not overly deep....my masking was starting to break down .....but still enough to call it a success.

Oh you are into etching. I made some steel medallions Battery charger very cleaned steel object . Second bit of steel Plain water Plus salt
I painted the steel I did not want etched , I recall the positive went to the object and negative to the scrap bit of steel , after 20 mins at 12v the water had become thick and black and deep groves were cut in my medallion where it was not painted. Have a go !!! Experiment. You are stuck with acid on brass as it’s not a pure metal. , have to try copper sheet , never thought if that . Nit nice , cold rain coming west London

 

[longcruise]

Hehehe...."By your command!"

View attachment 309669

Not easy with my lighting to get a "good" shot, but this one shows the full etch.

It's not super deep (my masking started to break down earlier than I hoped), but it should hold up for a while inspite of how fine the signature is.

That looks very promising. I'm tempted to give it a try but I'm handicapped by a lack of art in my soul!

 

[nkbj]

I'm pulling out all the nominally .445 and .450 to .455 molds to see what there is to try out, paper patch or maybe modify for a .45 bore rifle.

And something I never realized before but just stumbled over, the Lyman .69 minie mold was designed to use the same diameter base plug as their .58 molds, something which may pose some interesting possibilities.

 

[Psycho Mike]

Oh you are into etching. I made some steel medallions Battery charger very cleaned steel object . Second bit of steel Plain water Plus salt
I painted the steel I did not want etched , I recall the positive went to the object and negative to the scrap bit of steel , after 20 mins at 12v the water had become thick and black and deep groves were cut in my medallion where it was not painted. Have a go !!! Experiment. You are stuck with acid on brass as it’s not a pure metal. , have to try copper sheet , never thought if that . Nit nice , cold rain coming west London

There are other ways to do it....acid is what I had available. Ferric chloride (a salt commonly used to etch printed circuit boards) and electrolysis based methods do work as well....they typically break down the copper component of the brass to work.

Personally, I'm just happy it worked....I used a signature I did with a fine nibbed fountain pen and then shrunk it down (after adding the Maltese crosses) to fit the sideplate. When I transferred the toner mask, I had to get out my optivisor and a pin to make sure I had removed all the paper from the actual signature to expose the metal for etching...yes, the signature is *that* fine.

And for those wondering...and I know there are a few... wth my "thing" is with Maltese crosses: I'm a member of the Order of St. John (officially The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John at Jerusalem) and have been decorated for my long service...now qualified for my first bar... with the St. John Ambulance Brigade / Community Services as a volunteer medical first responder. My "rack" includes a large Maltese cross and my undress ribbons, when I officially get my bar, will include two smaller ones... plus I belong to another Order that uses a Maltese cross that isn't part of the Canadian Honors System. I figure I have enough of these Maltese crosses in my life that if I'm putting a kit together and personalizing it to reflect me, then the Maltese cross was the way to do it. Sure, they would have been pretty rare to find on an original, but considering the long history associated with the Knights Hospitaler, Knights Templar and Catholic Church, I'm sure a few would have found their way onto rifles in the past. In my case, the patchbox lid is the most obvious (and it also functions as a thumb grab) while the other three (my inset "medallion" from a hat brass and the two on the sideplate) are a fair bit more subtle.

 

[Psycho Mike]

That looks very promising. I'm tempted to give it a try but I'm handicapped by a lack of art in my soul!

Thanks longcruise. I'm no artist either, though I am starting to gain a few "artsy skills" as I put together my Colonial. Lots of "firsts" for me while doing it.....first time carving anything, first time doing incised lines, first time insetting anything, first time etching anything, etc. As it's "for me", I figure I can live with my mistakes as I customize it

 

[longcruise]

I think I recall reading in one of the Dixie catalogs about coating the metal with wax and then scribing through and then applying acid.

 

[Century to late]

Got a new mold (mould) for my ICBM launcher (.58) can't wait to try in latest project. Took a rejected TC Hawken stock and cut it down for a carbine barrel bronzed all the the brass. .58 barrel is new condition. Stock was raw and missing some of the inleting. Need to get the screws replaced with new blacked ones.

 

[nit wit]

Since the previous thread was shut down (locked) by our new moderator, I thought I would start one up again, as per the suggestion.
So, let's get this thread going again, and share your muzzleloading related adventures of the day!

There are no new moderators.
NW

 

[Gtrubicon]

Received my brand new .315 mold for the rifle I’m getting ready to start building.

 

[Polecat_Tom]

I went shooting on Monday and was having trouble holding my SMR steady so I decided I needed to do some weight training. I have an original SMR that weighs 13 pounds. I am trying to hold it on target for 15 seconds at a time. I believe that people were tough back in the day.

 

[bpd303]

I have an original SMR that weighs 13 pounds.

Might also hold it at Port Arms and Hi port, really helped me in boot camp with the M14.

 

[aussie pete]

Might also hold it at Port Arms and Hi port, really helped me in boot camp with the M14.

Did you ever have a training session run by a Physical Training Instructor using your combat rifle? Back in the day, when our issued arm was the 7.62 Nato L1A1 Self Loading Rifle, our torturers had a whole regime of exercise positions to test our mettle. It's amazing how heavy a 9.5-pound rifle can get over a standard 60-minute training session. And the grumpies would sometimes make us fix bayonets. Oooooh, I'm getting a rash!

Pete

 

[bpd303]

It's amazing how heavy a 9.5-pound rifle can get

Oh ya and you better not lower it, sometimes we had to do laps with it too.

 

[Psycho Mike]

I think I recall reading in one of the Dixie catalogs about coating the metal with wax and then scribing through and then applying acid.

That's another way to do it.

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

I completed another rifle today. Thinking about selling, but not sure. .45 cal., L&R Lock. Semper Fi

 

[Hatman/2nd line]

I completed another rifle today. Thinking about selling, but not sure. .45 cal., L&R Lock. Semper Fi

View attachment 310106
View attachment 310107

Looking good!