pouring pewter nosecap

Could someone please direct me on how to pour a pewter nose cap?

I've watched a friend pour several for single bbl shotguns.

He drills holes (4 i think)in the forend, 2 he puts dowel rods in.

He made a mold from a coke can, sealed everything with modeling clay, heated the pewter, poured it in, let it harden, started shaping.

Im sure I left out some important stuff, mebbe someone else will chime in.

What kind of nosecap are you wanting to pour? If you buy pewter ingots from Track of the Wolf they use to come with instructions for a simple nosecap for a half stock.
If you want to pour one like this it's a little more difficult.

The best way to learn is to watch it done. In the video "Building the kentucky rifle", Hershel house casts a pewter nosecap much like this one. It's much to involved for me to try and type good instructions.
http://www.americanpioneervideo.com/info.html

I use card stock as a form and molders clay. The paper card stock wont burn. It is a game of trial and error. I have had to repour more than one. Dont forget to put a piece of wood in the ram rod hole to keep it clear.

As stated, drill some holes in the stock to help lock it on and/or put some screws in the wood that will be below the final pewter finish to help lock it to the stock.

It is not overly hard

Fleener

i used file folder cardboard and masking tape. lots of videos on youtube

Thanks gentlemen, I just tried my hand using some modeling clay, ramrod , matchsticks and duct tape. Unfortunately a small hole allowed some liquid to escape down the stock, resulting in a less than full pour; the hole sealed itself, so I continued with the pour, but it separated in a cold joint. I have now taken the entire pour off, and am considering a second pour or making a sheet metal end cap. Quite a frustrating experience, but that's how we learn. Geo.

Try this tutorial. http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=4669.0

Dave

2 real critical elements to a pour;
Having a really good dam to keep the stuff where it's supposed to go. (ever her the expression--a tinker's dam?)
When you start your pour, having it remain continuous, or else you get the cold joint form as you found out.

The other thing to do is to heat up the barrel you are pouring against so that it doesn't cool the metal too quickly during the pour. Better to leave your dam too big and be able to file the cap down than to go the other way. You can puddle in little bits of solder with a soldering gun if you have a smallish void later on, but it's easy to make a mess of things that way, so be careful. I've only done one of them, but I wound up having to do it 3 times before I learned.

If it worked perfect for you the first time we would all be jealous.

Fleener

I poured a pewter cap on my T/C Hawken using paper cut from a brown grocery sack, the largest kind, which seem to have heavier paper than smaller brown bags as the container for the pour. I cut a strip of the right width in my estimation to start with. With the brass cap removed of course, I centered the strip on the barrel channel and installed the barrel. Next I wrapped the paper around the wood until it came to the barrel wherei I cut the paper so it would be a tight fit against the barrel on either side. I don't remember exactly what I did next but some how I clamped the loose ends of the paper in place so the pewter wouldn't escape.

Poured the pewter without any problems everything worked as planned.

Pewter melts at a lower temp than paper burns so it makes a fireproof dam when pouring low temp alloys.

If you are pouring a nose cap on a full stocked gun it's a good idea to plug up the bore. If on a half stock then plug up the RR channel.

Thanks guys, I wanted to pour again today, Monday, but the last week and a half of nearly incessant rain has been a bear to beat mowing grass here. I was told by Home Management ( my Bride of 34 years) that the grass on the west side of the domicile would be mowed today since the monsoon season took a break. Since I only have a push mower and too much yard, I spent today leveling the rain forest growth. Perhaps tomorrow will provide a chance to try again on the nose cap. Geo.