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Short Barrelled Single Shot Pistols

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Ok guys i have change in my project coming. I recently acquired a 6 3\8 blank 45 cal barrel. It has no provisions for flint or cap .I have decided to do a 6" flintlock pistol. Same as i described only in flint. Pictures to follow at a later date. Now does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed?
 
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Ok guys i have change in my project coming. I recently acquired a 6 3\8 blank 45 cal barrel. It has no provisions for flint or cap .I have decided to do a 6" flintlock pistol. Same as i described only in flint. Pictures to follow at a later date. Now does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed?
Look back at the message I sent you. Seems one of them is almost exactly what you picked up for a barrel to work from.
Mike
 
Make a basic pattern from another piece of wood to help get a comfortable grip pattern and length of trigger pull. Then you can figure out where to put the lock and barrel in proper configuration.

Will send you a couple links in PM for good sources of inspiration also.

Mike
 
Here is a lock I am going to be building a pistol around. Is a very early style.
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Howdy Lee,
I wish ye luck on your "shortie" project. My favorite belt pistol is one I traded for at a rendezvous up on Ashley's Creek in the Uintahs, back when the world was young. I calls her "Ol' Ugly." She's one of the homeliest handguns I've ever seen, cobbled together out of mostly scrap parts and a sawed-off piece of .54 rifle barrel about 6 inches long. The lock is one of Dixie's. The stock is a piece of plain Maple. The trigger and trigger guard are purchased parts, but the rest of the furniture is home made, including a belt hook on the off-side that was filed out of an old silver tablespoon. The builder apparently tried to purty up the stock by burning it with a torch to simulate grain pattern. Didn't work. She has some strong points --- She's a good sparker, and she shoots plumb center at 20 yards with 25 grains of 3Fg and a patched .530 round ball. She'll clover-leaf rounds with that load until your arm gets tired from loading. Also, if some would-be thief wanders off with her, she'll be easy to pick out of any assortment of flintlock pistols. I hope your new project works as well and maybe looks purtier -- leastways, a little bit.

Tanglefoot
 
Occurs to me that nobody addressed the question ye asked, Lee --- or at least, I didn't. I suggest ye fit the breechplug to the barrel and drill the touch hole first, then inlet the barrel and breechplug. That'll help pick a position for the lock, so as to line up the pan with the touch hole and when that's done you can see where the inletting needs to be for the lock parts and the thru hole for the sideplate/lock screw(s).
Then ye can locate the trigger plate so's the trigger will engage the sear, and then the trigger guard. Could be there are folks on this forum who have forgotten more'n I know about making a flint pistol, and they'll probably tell ye if they think different than what I said. Get as many ideas as ye can.
 
I absolutely love that pistol Tanglefoot. The stock color is beautiful. Mine will also be cobbled together pieces, but thats how i like it. Thanks. Mind if i download your picture for my library?
DL
 
Lee,
Nope. I don't mind a bit. I hope yr inletting is a mite better than this. It's sturdy enough and the parts don't wobble, but it do look like the inletting was done with a tomahawk. O'course, my inletting looks worse so it didn't bother me as much as it would some folks. One of my buddies used to call it my "mud fence pistol" -- He said it was uglier than an adobe fence without the whitewash.
 
Tanglefoot
Well your in-letting looks pretty good to me. I am no expert .I look for funtionability above looks . How did you get that tiger stripe look to the stock? Mine shall be more of a red tint to it. I got the barrel in yesterday. Gonna need some work but should do fine .Bore is excellent. Now do i use an insert or just a plain hole in the barrel? May get another stock. Already had mine fixed for the Kentucky barrel. I like your trigger guard. What model did it come from or did you make it?
DL
 
DL,
I would try painting on the stripes like Leman did on some of the trade guns. Using aqua fortis or a good dye/stain. I have been told about it, but am of no use from experience on how to actually accomplish it well.
Mike
 
For the touch hole, start with just a 1/16” hole. You can add a liner later it needed. I have an old Jukar flint pistol with just the hole and it works fine. A liner might make it a little faster but I like the primitive aspect.
 
Lee,
Well, I'm just tickled ye like the looks of "Ol' Ugly." I had nothing to do with `em, having done nothing to the piece but shoot it, clean it, and lug it around. When it came to live with me the rear sight was a notched protrusion on the breech plug - not dovetailed or otherwise attached but cast as part of the plug itself. Hard to adjust that. A buddy who was handier than I am filed it off and cut a dovetail in the top flat of the plug base, fitted a new rear sight and added a new silver blade front. Couple of trips to the range resulted in finding a charge that she likes and filing a set of sights that register plumb center at 20 paces. The stock striping (I call it blotching) was done by the feller who built the gun with a propane torch. He scorched the surface of the maple. Then he put a clear oil finish over the whole chivaree and called it done. The trigger and trigger guard were purchased parts. I don't have any idea where they were purchased or who made `em. The rest of the furniture was home made by the builder. The ramrod pipes are cut and filed from sheet silver.
Jake's right about the touch hole. Drill it when you're ready. You can put in a liner later if you want. Can't do it the other way around, though.
Hanshi, you're right too. We do know stuff,and most of us have the scuff marks to show how we learned it.
Tanglefoot
 
Tanglefoot,

I like the looks of your pistol, robust and meaning business.

Trigger gaurd kinda resembles one of the hawken pistol style gaurds. Would think you could make one from good pictures, some scavenging, and a bit of silver braze or good silver solder.

Today is rainy and miserable. Might have to clean the bench and solder some stuff up now.

Mike
 
Short barrel pistols can be a lot of fun to play with. You limit your sight radius and stuff like that, but they are a fun toy. I had this one built for me by a friend that does this sort of stuff. It has a 6 1/2 inch Getz barrel and is in .40 caliber.
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