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R.Dorsett

32 Cal.
Joined
Dec 3, 2003
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Im building a Leman half stock rifle and I need advice on installing the barrel pin...does the pin go all the way through the stock? The book I have just covers wedge pins.I would appreciate any advice.
 
Looking at my brown bess, (that uses pins instead of wedges) I can see the pin on both sides of the forearm.

The pins were cut flush with the stock on both sides, then removed (one at a time) and smoothed to a fine finish before reinstalling.

Or, they were cut to length and smoothed before installing.

Either way, it showed the pins on both sides of the stock.
 
all the rifles I've owned with pinned barrels showed the pins on both sides of the stock....just reaffirms what musketman said.
 
The pins should be cut to length & aprox. 1/64" less than flush on each side. The pins in the rifle are not to catch you eye as you admire the rifle from muzzle to butt, but rather all features & components of the rifle should flow together.
Both sides side of the pins should be slightly rounded. The pins go in from right to left & are removed just the opposite, thus the pin going in made the opening OK and will come back out OK. If the edges are flat there is a good possibility of the pin catching wood & ripping out a sliver. If this should happen, take the pin on out, get some glue & imediately glue it back in before it gets lost.
On removing a pin from a gun that is finished, I always take an exacto knife & carefully trim the hole ever so slightly as to keep the pin from catching coming out.

Also I will mention, the pin holes in the tennons should be slotted parallel to the barrel in the rifle, not just round holes. The pins should go into the stock & thru the barrel wasily, as it is just holeing the wood to the barrel & no stress should be on them.

When the rifle is completely finished & the finish is dry, I usually take some brown or neutral paste wax & put just a tad of it on each pin & work it into the pin hole edges. & seal the pin in.


Custom Muzzleloaders & Custom Knives
 
I have a small piece of styrofoam glued to the wall above my bench so I can stick the pins in it in order that I remove them so they will go in the same hole they came out of...kinda important with swamped of tapered barrels. I got an "in the white" project from a "builder" a couple of years ago that had an inovative method of barrel pinning, the holes did not line up on two of the pins so after pushing the pins far enough through to splinter the wood the pins were removed and cut short and put in "one side."
 
As BirdDog6 kind of alluded to: If the pins don't go all the way through you'll never be able to remove them. You have to be able to push them out with a drift punch.

And tg - that's grounds for you to clobber the 'builder' over the head with his gun, or at least shoot him with it once.
 
I had "words" with the builder, this was the third gun I had received having sent two back already, I made a gun out of it a basic plain Jane sort so the sloppy work done before I got it kind of played into the them I was going for but still the quality of workmanship was not acceptable from any kind of reasonable standard. I ordered an "in the white" as I did not want to/cannot do a lot of rasp and file work anymore due to a bumb wing, it was a lesson in doing your homework that I already knew but let slide and got stung but it all is in the past now and the gun made an intersting piece when finished.
 
As for rasp and file work several companies make grinders, electric and air, of the sort used by auto body repairmen. With 36 grit paper on them they make short work of changing the dimensions of a stock. Moving to progressively finer grits then finishing with a razor sharp spoke shave and a smoothing plane most of the labor can be taken out of carving and finishing a stock. Learning to put a "shaving edged" on a plane and a draw knife will reduce the effort put into shaping a stock. Another helpful tool is a forstener bit, which can be used in inletting a lock and trigger.
 
TG, Don't know if it was the same builder but I got one in the white, a few yrs. back, that one pin went in on an angle so when it went thru the
underlug it hit wood instead of the hole. He just cut off a short piece of rod and stuck it in from the other side so there was metal showing from both sides. It was a gripe getting it out.
Deadeye
 
Sounds like the work of the same hand...(the one with several thumbs). I have tried power tools on guns and various craft works, (pipe stone and antler carving) and cannot get with the program that way for some reason,my main concern is when a spasm hits that the project may suffer considerably, so I am content to delegate what I am not comfortable with to a friend, I have never had the passion for building guns but do like the final finish of wood and metal to be of my own.
 
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