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I've Contracted The Disease!

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azsixshooter

36 Cl.
Joined
Feb 16, 2019
Messages
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Location
Pinckney, MI
My name is Steve and I wanted to drop an introduction post to say hello to everyone and to invite any sagely advice you all might have to offer me.

My first real taste of the muzzleloader world was when I was a kid. My family spent all of our summers in northern Michigan around Mackinaw City. Once when we were at Fort Michilimackinac I witnessed The Voyagers paddle in from their long journey up the Lake Huron shoreline. There were teepees everywhere with trade blankets laid out, cast iron ware over open fires, big mountain man looking guys throwing tomahawks and knives at thick wooden targets and an awesome sense of freedom and a life close to nature and God. I think that was the original bite, but here I am 35 years or so later and I have still never shot a muzzleloader.

I have hunted with rifle, shotgun, pistol and bow for most of my life but it wasn't until recently that a series of events brought me to start feeling this passion for muzzleloaders. I bought my cousin's 2 boys a couple of Foxfire books for Christmas and one of them was Foxfire 5, on "Iron-making, Blacksmithing, Gunmaking and Bear Hunting". I flipped through the section on gunmaking before I wrapped the book up and I was intrigued. I ordered myself a copy and read that section completely. Reading about Bean, Hacker Martin, Hershel House and the others in that book started getting me real amped up about getting a muzzleloader. I work at a machine shop and there are a couple of guys there who are into the muzzleloader world and they have contributed greatly towards encouraging my new-found interest in muzzleloaders.

I bought a Lyman GPR, 54 cal Flintlock kit and just got it a couple of days ago. I've been watching the "Duelist's" video series on building the same kit (although in caplock) and I was planning to just follow his instructions and take my time and try to build something as nice as what he made. But since I got this kit I am finding myself really wanting to take a BIG step back and learn as much as I can about Hawken/Plains rifles before I start taking wood off of this stock. I've been sitting here holding the stock the last couple of days and I feel like it is almost speaking to me. I know there is something really beautiful in this piece of wood but I feel like I don't quite have the knowledge yet to bring it out. So I am ordering a DVD by Hershel House on Building Hawken Rifles and I'm looking at a book or two as well. As much as I want to dive right into this project and get something I can shoot asap (keep in mind I still have never ever fired a muzzleloader!) I really want to get a good idea of how I want the completed rifle to look before I start rasping away.

I'm really excited to have found this new interest. I'm a lifelong lover of all things firearms and I feel like I just stumbled into the purest form of firearm that exists. I know I have so much to learn, I'm hoping to glean some good information from some of you seasoned veterans to help me along the way. I have lived out in Arizona for 12 years and spent a great deal of time in the mountains there and I know what it is like to see bear, have a cougar walk through my camp at night while I slept, hunt elk and hear elk bugling within 100 yards of my camp at night and just experiencing the overall wildness of the mountains. I absolutely love the mountains and the American West and this Great Plains Rifle sparks all those memories I have of that stuff and of that rendezvous I saw when I was a kid. Also, I've always love "Jeremiah Johnson" and "The Mountain Men" and movies like that. I moved back to Michigan for family reasons rather than moving to Montana as I had planned, but now I have an awesome 8 year old daughter here and I am probably stuck in Michigan for quite a while. But I feel like Michigan is a great state for muzzleloading and I'm going to look for a local group to join once I get something put together that I can shoot.

Sorry this is so long, I'm just really excited to be becoming a part of all of this and I'm very happy to be here on this forum. In the Foxfire 5 book one of the old time Appalacian gunmakers was quoted as saying "this is not a hobby, this is a disease!" and now I am beginning to start to understand what he meant by that. And it feels like I haven't even seen the tip of the iceburg yet!

Thanks for any thoughts you all might want to share, God bless you and have a great week. Steve
 
Welcome! I’m new to this as well! A flintlock Lyman Great Plains is what I started with. They’re a great gun for the price! Along with the guns, this hobby has a whole world of accessories like powder horns and possibles bags etc. that are just so much fun to learn about. The people here are generally friendly and helpful.
 
Welcome to the forum and this hobby. Never thought of it as being the purest form of firearms, but that's a good point.

Also, you're in a great area for muzzleloader clubs.
 
Welcome to the forum. And, congratulations on catching the ml bug. You are wise to start slow and cautiously. There will be much to learn.
Foxfire 5, on "Iron-making, Blacksmithing, Gunmaking and Bear Hunting". I flipped through the section on gunmaking
It has been many years since I looked at my Foxfire books. But, I do recall, they caused quite a stir because of some errors in publishing loading information. The editors obviously do not understand black powder. Get your loading information here before you touch off a cap. Safety is #1.
 
Welcome AZ6, you have found the right place!

My first tip is.... if you don’t already have a gun safe buy one.
A tall , wide one.

You’ll need it.

That GPR is a great rifle you’ll enjoy it.

That was my first Flintlock rifle as well.
 
You will want a good book with details on assembly of a muzzle loading rifle. "The Gunsmith of Grenville County" by Peter Alexander is a good book. Lots pictures and detailed instruction in book form. You can see some steps in the videos and read the detailed instructions in the book. Talk to the muzzle loading rifle shooters in the shop. Visit this forum often. Be sure to follow the topics in the gun builders' forum.

Get the good tools to build your rifle. Get rasps of high quality. Iwasaki rasps and Nicholson Cabinet Makers #49 are so much better than cheap rasps that leave rough gouges and a surface that is almost impossible to smooth out. Scrapers can leave a surface that is smoother than you can get from sandpaper. You want good chisels to get into the inlets and mortises. Get some fine sand paper and stones to keep the chisels sharp.

A good mill file is needed to draw file the flats of your barrel. Use a brash brush to keep the file clean.

Time is your friend when building a muzzle loading rifle. There are some wonderful tutorial videos in the gun builder's forum here. Be sure to let us know how you are progressing.
 
Welcome. Plenty of knowledge here and lots of folks willing to share. I'm not sure if "disease" is the right terminology, but it will do. Affliction perhaps is more apropos, but whatever you want to call it, it's worth the time, money, energy and the sometimes maniacal screaming that comes with the territory. Enjoy
 
Use all of your machinist skills related to measurement and application when building. Sure there are some differences between wood and metal but in the end it is still "measure thrice and cut once".... Tools should be equal in performance to your machine tools.... SHARP. then its all art after that.... Good luck on your journey.
 
Welcome, azsixshooter. This disease is chronic, persistent and continues to become worse over time. BUT, it's not as bad a CWD or ebola; it does, however, keep one off the street, out of the casinos and off the golf links.
 
Welcome Steven. I hope that your enthusiasm persists, or even increases. I am, and never have been a gun builder and these days, not much of a shooter any more. Age and infirmity thing. I envy those, like you, who can and do build.
I am pleased to see your enthusiasm, its a very good thing.
Best of luck with your build. Keep us informed, please.
 
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Thanks everyone for all the kind words. I have done some minor woodworking, mostly carving Swedish spoons and I made a special curved handle for my hewing axe. I also carved a handle for a Mora 120 blank out of wild black cherry so now I have that nice little carving knife. I have mostly Nicholson files and one of their file card brushes. I always chalk my files up when I use them so they are in pretty good shape. Mine are all general purpose files though, nothing specialty like the Cabinetry one mentioned above, I'll have to look into that. I was looking at some Swiss needle file kits and thinking that might be a worthwhile purchase but the good ones sure cost a pretty penny! I'm a total knife nut so I have plenty of good Arkansas bench stones such as translucent pink and surgical black grades. I also have a Ken Onion Work Sharp with the stropping belt and some manual strops I made from scrap bridle leather. I would like to get some good quality chisels and carving knives, but for now I'll have to make due with hardware store quality. Thanks for the suggestions and I'll be sure to add that Peter Alexander book to my amazon cart tonight. I made the mistake of watching Denny Ducet's video on the Jacob Dickert rifle. Holy wah, I'm in trouble now!
 
You'll really have a fine time shooting muzzleloaders, and you'll also have a fine time here:D
Good luck on building, and please keep us posted!
 
DOOMED I SAY! YES YOU ARE DOOMED AND CURSED FOREVER!!!!

Let the wood talk to you, it will. Dont over think everything. Study the material you ordered for a general how to and then just let it come out as you go. It will. Take your time and it will turn out well.

You do understand that flintlocks multiply. Today there is one. Tomorrow the wife is saying "I did not know you had two of them". Then another will appear. Live with the curse. It can not be cured.
 
You do understand that flintlocks multiply. Today there is one. Tomorrow the wife is saying "I did not know you had two of them". Then another will appear. Live with the curse. It can not be cured.

Oh man, I had been wanting the .54 Cal GPR Flint kit for weeks but it was out of stock everywhere I looked. One site had it for around $500 but it was listed out-of-stock for a couple weeks with no backorder option. Then another site had a backorder option but it was $650 and wouldn't be in for another month. I was resigned to purchase a lesser kit, either a Traditions Woodsman or Mountain Rifle. Just by chance I was showing my friend at work the GPR at the site that had it for $500 and for the first time it showed in stock! Thankfully I don't have a wife at home or I would have had to explain to her why I overdrafted our bank account to buy a muzzleloader rifle 2 days before payday! I wasn't taking any chances, for all I knew it was the last one they had and I wasn't gonna miss out on it!

I can't wait to drill and tap the barrel to mount a 3MOA red dot sight on it. I'm gonna be a terror in the deer woods this muzzleloading season! Haha, just kidding, I would never do that. I am interested in fabricating my own front sight out of bone and pinning it to a metal dovetail that I can drift into place. I read that bone does an excellent job of gathering light in dim conditions and I was looking at a video by Rock Island Auctions of Seth Kinman's rifle, Old Cotton Bail, and I could have sworn it had a bone front sight on it.
 

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