Carolina Gun / Iron mounted

[Rob M.]

Gonna start building an Iron mounted , South Paw , Carolina Gun for a gentleman in Massachusetts soon . Cherry stock , 48" 20 ga. barrel , L&R lock . Here's the beginning pics

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Ooooohhhh … me thinks I’m watch this one!

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

Following this one hoping to learn a thing or two. I picked up a stock, barrel and lock from Pecatonica at nationals to teach my son on. They call it a Deep River North Carolina. Rob you gotta school me on the nuances of a Carolina gun so we can get er right!

 

[Rob M.]

Following this one hoping to learn a thing or two. I picked up a stock, barrel and lock from Pecatonica at nationals to teach my son on. They call it a Deep River North Carolina. Rob you gotta school me on the nuances of a Carolina gun so we can get er right!

I'll try bud . If you ever have any questions about a build just holler at me . ..I ain't a know it all but .I'll try and help ya if I can

 

[Juniata]

Rob,
Do you like those locks or is that what was requested?
I used one on my first trade gun. It sparked ok but holy cow was everything sloppy. You could wiggle the frizzen easily, overall fit of the lock was pretty crude. I used a chambers Virginia in my 2nd trade gun. I really like that lock.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Going to be another fun build to watch!
Just as an aside, I recently unearthed in the woods on my property a short length of small gauge railroad track like you have in the photo there. ( there was an old log cabin homestead on that spot) It’s going to be a nice anvil again

 

[Johnny Tremain]

I love my Sheetz Virginia iron rifle.
You just dont see a lot of them

 

[Rob M.]

Going to be another fun build to watch!
Just as an aside, I recently unearthed in the woods on my property a short length of small gauge railroad track like you have in the photo there. ( there was an old log cabin homestead on that spot) It’s going to be a nice anvil again

Very cool ! Glad ya found ya an anvil .Ive had so many anvils and forges over the years , always had to sell my good stuff when times got hard . There's a standing joke , and its true , with the fellas I drink coffee with in the mornings at the store . Some pretty lady will walk by and go in the store and Jim or Tracy will say " I bet you'd sell yer forge for her Rob ! " LOL ... If it were just me all those years I'd never sold a single gun , anvil , forge or antique but ...the tools all go then the woman goes ... True true ....Done with that $#it , LOL.... The railroad track makes a nice anvil , I need to put er on a stump though . All I forge are trigger guards anyway , and the off oddity every once in awhile so even though I'd love to have and anvil or two at the shop there really ain't no real need . Can't wait to get my new forge going . Its awfully nice . Funny to live in ex coal country and can't find any coal though ! LOL ....

 

[Rob M.]

Rob,
Do you like those locks or is that what was requested?
I used one on my first trade gun. It sparked ok but holy cow was everything sloppy. You could wiggle the frizzen easily, overall fit of the lock was pretty crude. I used a chambers Virginia in my 2nd trade gun. I really like that lock.

I wish I could give ya a simple answer .L&R locks ....I kinda look at them as easy kits . They need some tweeking before they are good to go . ...and no matter what they will always be able to build a better lock than I can .... Now , dont get me wrong , their springs and frizzens are excellent and their dimensions are great for a Carolina Gun , unlike the RE Davis used by some , its just a hair too big but good for NW guns . Now ...for this south paw version I'm naturally using the left handed Queen Anne and its actually a better lock than the right hand version , go figure . I like the Chambers lock in some ways but I'm far from a lover of that lock like my buddy Ken is . Dont get me wrong , the quality is obvious , springs great , frizzen great but I'm sure not crazy about the price and Im not crazy about the lock size and dimensions . The lock I'd too big for a Carolina gun , wrong for a NW gun and its set up to be used with a T.H. liner so the fence on the pan is all wrong and the T.H. has to be placed way too far from the face of the breech . Keep in mind , this is not gospel , just my opinion ...I know guys that are 10 times the builder I am that just love the Chambers lock , I'm speaking of the round face Colonial , the only one I have experience with ...

 

[Rob M.]

Tryin to stay busy while Fusil parts are browning ...The barrel for this Carolina Gun will be 1" at the breech , the size of trade gun barrels in colonial days , so I marked the stock where breech should be then half inch thick slab off top , take it to the Amish band saw and slab it off ....

 

[Rob M.]

Clean up the area at the breech . Mark and square your breech line first then take a gouge and clean it up following the line . Work from outside in , been th sides . This stock blank is might thick , over 2.5 " so plenty of room . Look at the wood and see if there is anything g in the wood you should be avoiding , sap wood , knots , cracks , damage , etc....nothing in this one so I'm gonna put the center line down the middle of the plank . Its good to have a d@mn long straight edge and some intermediate ones too , as shown . mark middle at muzzle end and at breech . Connect that line then do the same at butt going off line you j st made up front . There's your center line for the whole build but the barrel bedding first . If you plane one side of the blank like some guys do and make it perfectly square are you can take your measurement s off the planed / squared side through out the build .

 

[Rob M.]

Then start your initial channel with a gouge , keep the gouge centered , go full length ....

 

[PathfinderNC]

Right back at it there Rob! Is that stock Cherry?

 

[Rob M.]

Right back at it there Rob! Is that stock Cherry?

No rest for the weary ... Yes Sir , its cherry ..

 

[Rob M.]

Ok ...so I gouged in A preliminary barrel ummm .... trough ? and now at the breech end .... English barrels were 1" wide at the breech , I measured 1/2" each side of center and marked it , then elongated lined from trough to the breech , inside my barrel width lines , extend the trough to the breech and make the end at breech flat and90 degrees , flat chisel straight down ....just st stay inside your lines for now ....this just makes a good starting point for when we start bedding the barrel ...you bed the barrel from breech forward .... Start grinding barrel flats before we go any further though....

 

[Rob M.]

My high tech grinding apparatus . Designed by 14 NASA engineers in 18 months time . Time to start grinding .... meh

 

[PathfinderNC]

“Inlet breech end first” something learnt today

 

[Rob M.]

“Inlet breech end first” something learnt today

Its kinda weird to think that cause you'd think of t all goes down at same time but , nope ... Ya start at the breech , squaring it all up and sinkin it , while whole barrel is blackened and taking it all down , removing inlet black from the she length but working your way from the breech to the muzzle . That breech will hit your depth first and you slowly work your way toward the muzzle . I saw Hershel do it that way on his VDO and it works for me ...

 

[WALT53]

Its kinda weird to think that cause you'd think of t all goes down at same time but , nope ... Ya start at the breech , squaring it all up and sinkin it , while whole barrel is blackened and taking it all down , removing inlet black from the she length but working your way from the breech to the muzzle . That breech will hit your depth first and you slowly work your way toward the muzzle . I saw Hershel do it that way on his VDO and it works for me ...

Rob when you were building shorty I liked how you explained how you like to try and level the lock with Center of the barrel.Could you try to do the same with how you in let the trigger and how (deep you drill for the pin ) and the length of the pin, and ruffly the size hole for the sear.Just so I can rap my old head around it,thankyou .

 

[Rob M.]

Rob when you were building shorty I liked how you explained how you like to try and level the lock with Center of the barrel.Could you try to do the same with how you in let the trigger and how (deep you drill for the pin ) and the length of the pin, and ruffly the size hole for the sear.Just so I can rap my old head around it,thankyou .

Not sure if I'm followin ya bud . the lock has to revolve around the touch hole at the pan and then the front of the lock plate up and down till the front bolt position , web of wood between barrel and R.R. channel , will hit in the sweet spot on the lock ,just forward of the mainspring , but trying to make the lock level , but not always possible .. It may look a bit off if the lock is a bit cock eyed but it will function perfectly which is most important ...the trigger is
sunk in at the center line on the bottom of the gun and then fitted so the trigger rides the sear arm correctly , a bit to the rear but not on the edge, once that is achieved the trigger pin is drilled in the top forward corner of the trigger ... pin hole is drilled all the way through the stock .