Gun builders or modelers?

[m-g willy]

Is anyone here that builds rifles make your own hardware for them ( butt plate , trigger guard, nose cap , ect..ect) ?
The reason I ask is I was wondering if most people build a copy of a known builder, or build a rifle that THEY would have built if they were building them back in the day.

 

[Zonie]

I've made a few simple parts but for the most part I buy parts from the various suppliers.

I usually try to use photos of an existing rifle as a guide but the available parts like butt plates, trigger guards etc are usually not correct.

When this happens I think of the offered parts as the "raw stock" for the part and look for a part that has enough material to allow it to be worked into the correct shape.
This usually takes a lot of filing and sometimes some bending but it can be done.

As for the final guns look I do not try to copy an existing gun exactly. It always has some of "me" in it.

 

[necchi]

Most try to follow a "school" of build.
If you start adding what ever, like IF you where there, is it a build from back then or one kinda like it from today?
Our culture is different today, we don't think like they did. We have influences that would affect the idea of the build differently.

So mixing the ideas and culture in a time travel type thing doesn't appeal to many that want to relive or emulate the history.
And Yes, there are plenty of builders that do it Lock, Stock and Barrel.

 

[Bill Hall]

I'm somehwere in the middle. I like to find a style, and then tweek the design to fit my own preferences, no matter how much hardware I fab up myself.

I did build one rifle for my daughter, however, that was a totally off-the-wall design. I was shooting for simplicity and lightness, as this was strictly a hunting rifle, and she's not very big and doesn't care for the traditional side of the sport. I did make it a round ball shooter though. The only parts I didn't make were the barrel, the breechplug, and the lock. Oh yeah, and also the rear sight. It was fun to throw away any limitations and see what I was capable of designing.

 

[paulvallandigham]

There are so many different styles of parts available today from dealers that its pretty hard to justify the time it takes to cast, and forge your own. The exception may be the Pipes for ramrods, which are so simple to make from flat stock, that Its your choice whether you buy them commercially or build your own. I think as people gain more experience working on guns, they tend to build more of the parts, rather than buy them.

There is a learning curve on all of this, and very few masters around to learn from as an " Apprentice", the way it was done 250 years ago. The more you know how to use hand tools, the better able you will be to make parts from blank stock. Then its just a matter of buying and having on hand a range of materials for that purpose. :hmm:

 

[rafterob]

Then there are those of us who follow the Motly Crew school. Just for practice, I built a flintlock on a late lancaster stock with assorted parts. Good enough for me. Might get chuckles from the serious builders. If I built another for myself I would not worry about replicating a particular school other than the precarve stock I would use. From there I would pick the parts I like and work the rifle around them.

 

[Mike Brooks]

I get many of my brass mounts sand cast locally. Some from my patterns, some off of original parts.

 

[hoochiepapa]

I'm somehwere in the middle. I like to find a style, and then tweek the design to fit my own preferences, no matter how much hardware I fab up myself.
That''s what I do, as you'll see as soon as this rifle is done. Besides, how many have the luxury of measuring an old gun so that you can produce an exact copy? :surrender:

 

[hoochiepapa]

Man, I can't even figure out how to do a quote!!! :cursing:

 

[MSW]

Well, I do try to stick to a 'school,' but that's about as far as I can get. Since I'm the one shooting it, the client is usually pretty happy with the work. (and if he complains, he usually gets told where to go and how to get there...)

 

[ol vern]

I like the southern iorn mounted style gun and I make my
own butt plates trigger guards nose caps rr pipes and patch
boxs.

 

[jerrywh]

I wax cast almost all my own parts and have for years. Before that I sand cast stuff. Sometimes I stick to traditional schools on longrifles like the york and lancaster styles.
On European stuff I design almaost all my own stuff and make my own patterns and molds.
It is a very expensinve way to go but enables me to make stuff that nobody else is likeley to make. It may sound crazy but my theory is cost doesn't matter. You must have the right wife to do this. http://jwh-flintlocks.net/17inspecting-castings.jpg http://jwh-flintlocks.net/13pouring-flask-undr-vacuum.jpg

 

[David W.]

I have cast a butt plate and the trigger guard before. But the ceramic patterns did not belong to me, I only poured metal, filed, sanded and drilled holes. To truely say I made my own trigger guard would not be right.

 

[Tinker2]

It is a very expensinve way to go but enables me to make stuff that nobody else is likeley to make. It may sound crazy but my theory is cost doesn't matter. You must have the right wife to do this.

“You must have the right wife to do this.”
:rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

Jerry

You are the man. :hatsoff:

Tinker2
William Alexander

 

[rabjr]

Man, I can't even figure out how to do a quote!!! :cursing:

When you click on the Quote option, your curser is within the quote. You just have to make sure you click on the outside of the end /quote] and type your reply beyond that. :v

 

[hoochiepapa]

Thanks for the help. :surrender:

 

[Bill Hall]

Actually Mike, even if I had an original rifle on the bench in front of me, I could never bring myself to try to copy it. I figure that's someone elses work, and I have a need to incorporate some of my own "style" in everything I make. Just my personality. There are some gunmakers who consider themselves "copyists", excellent craftsmen who fill the bigger market niche. Just not for me. If I copied another makers work, it wouldn't feel like mine when it was down.

The rifle I am currently working on is so close to a Hawken style, that some would easily call it a Hawken. However, I would never call it a Hawken, as that is someone else's name. Instead, I think of it as a Snowdragon Plains Rifle. If someone were to come up to me and explain how my Hawken has mistakes that depart from the originals, I suppose I would explain how this is MY design, MY style, and what I want, and then possibly bean them over the head with it. :surrender: Bill

 

[Bill Hall]

P.S. Looking forward to seeing that rifle when you finish it. :thumbsup: Bill

 

[Birddog6]

I have done both. Most of them I use castings & make them to what I want. Sometimes use them as they are cast & just clean them up, & sometimes modify them to other styles & sometimes engrave them. But don't cast my own.
On the Southern & Tenn rifles I have done both, made all the trim if the customer wants it all hand made, or buy it rough cast & finish it out if they want it cheaper. I charge more if I hand make all the trim as it is very time consuming. Sometimes have to make the molds & mandrels to make a part for a rifle & that takes time. Sometimes have more time in making the form than in making the part you need, then only use it one time. Sometimes make it 2-3-4-5 times til you get it Right......

Keith Lisle

 

[hoochiepapa]

Thanks, Bill. But I DO have a line on a Peter Gonter, and I have been given permission to photograph and measure it, it would be fun to make a copy just for the hey of it. I had a chance to talk to Jack Brooks and he said he tells his students to copy their first couple of guns. You probably know why I can't be one of his students, couldn't stand the pressure. :surrender:
I want to see your snowdragon plains rifle, too, when you get done.