peening pin heads

[Billy Boy]

You’re not supposed to peen lug pins, you’d want to counter the pin head to the surface.. a peened pin would create burrs which will or could damage the stock

By peening, Camoloc has made them directional, his hope being that the pinheads out there will know which way to move them.

 

[FlinterNick]

By peening, Camoloc has made them directional, his hope being that the pinheads out there will know which way to move them.

Not what I would do.

You can make pins cross directional, so they can be tapped out on both sides, while the traditional method is lockside out side plate in, that can be modified so both sides can be tapped out.

You use a slightly thicker lug, counter sink both sides of the hole or use a slotted lug and chamfer both ends of the pin. Make sure the pin head is ‘chamfered’ to fit the countersink.

The key is to make sure the pin has no burrs and all file marks are polished out, you can lubricate the pins with a small coat of wax or mineral oil.

I think what Camelot is trying to in reality is make a barrel key for the underlug and pipe lug, if you want to make a key with a pull tab that’s what I would do.

However i don’t understand why you’d do it to the ramrod pipe, ramrod pipes are almost always a permanent fixture on a musket or pistol, there really is no reason to remove them unless your refinishing the gun or replacing a broken part which is not an often enough occurrence to make them readily removable.

 

[rich pierce]

well gang im new to the forums.

recently bought a MH sea service flintlock pistol.

overall things we're good.

I could not stand the lack of attention paid to the pins.......so I took some of my straight razor restoration skills and applied them.

custom made new to fit pins for thimble and barrel. peened heads much larger to be more obvious.........and polished with mothers to a high shiny sheen.

at least after I'm pushing daisies some ..., EDITED ..., will have an idea which ways the pins should be removed.

be well.

View attachment 172512

camo

I know some pin heads I’d like to peen!

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have a wonderful rifle given to me by a dying friend, I decided to disassemble it to fix a few problems like a trigger guard that was too proud of the wood. I found to my dismay the person who built it used finishing nails for pins, he left the heads on the nails and sunk them under the stock wood. I removed two pins, each chipped out a large divot out of the stock so I abandoned the disassembly project.

 

[kid_couteau]

Cant speak for guns but I usually peen the pins when I do knife handles
Of course I guess at that point they are rivets as they are not to be removed.
KC

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I've had a lot of old KY rifles apart in the past 42 years. None of them have peened heads on them.

 

[Pete G]

Muzzle loaders traditionally have the pins inserted like the lock screws, left to right, modern guns go the other direction. When the change occurred I don’t know. Incidentally the pins go below the surface and the holes are filled with a dark wax.

 

[Travler]

I Like this tread. I have a rifle i assembled with pins... And I am afraid to take them out lest I break out the wood! Nope not peened, but I could easily believe that in the field an original piece could have peened pins on one end if through repeated service cleaning they became loose.

 

[S.Kenton]

When my buddy and I built my first full stock SMR, he was very careful to taper and round the pins on each end. As he was doing so he explained that we were countersinking those pins and if we didn’t round and taper the pins then when I disassembled the rifle I would be taking a chance of taking small chunks out of the wood. He went on to say that by tapering and round both ends I would never have to worry about which end was correct. He even showed me several originals that he had.. and those pins were almost exactly the same as what we were doing. The OP of this threads pistol makes me think of peened pins on my buck 110 folder

 

[deerstalkert]

the course of this thread reminds me of the saying "you can lead a horse to water.................."

 

[French Colonial]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think

 

[oldwood]

One traditional , and for sure cure , for loose pins , is a handy cake of bee's wax. Push the pin out a little , rub the wax cake over the hole , push the pin from the other side , and repeat . This old time fix , works for me , and doesn't damage the stock finish. As a regular part of cleaning your gun , last thing might be done is a coat of Minwax Special Dark furniture wax. That'l help keep your pins in place as well , w/out peening , or bending the pin. .....oldwood

 

[Flintandsteel]

If a pin is properly rounded on both ends, it really doesn’t matter which way they go into, or out of the stock.
Dont understand the necessity!?!

 

[FlinterNick]

If a pin is properly rounded on both ends, it really doesn’t matter which way they go into, or out of the stock.
Dont understand the necessity!?!

I asked the same question about this awhile ago to a gunsmith / stock maker.

You can make pins cross directional, however there is a risk that it will need to be eventually corrected because the stock over time swells and shrinks, and the barrel lugs move with the recoil of the gun when its fired. Its possible that after the gun has been in the stock for a long period of time without removal that the pins may not want to drift in one direction jam up etc.

I did have this problem with an older used Dixie Gun works Mountain rifle i purchased, the pins would not drift. After a few steam baths and drops of mineral oil into the pin hole, the pin did move from lockside out and took out a very small chip around the pin hole which was correctable with a refinish. The lug was rusty and the pin had seized up becoming jagged (cleaned the gun without removing the barrel).

While it can work, but it really depends on how well the gun is cared for.

The pin heads were also varnished over which is never a good thing.

 

[French Colonial]

I asked the same question about this awhile ago to a gunsmith / stock maker.

You can make pins cross directional, however there is a risk that it will need to be eventually corrected because the stock over time swells and shrinks, and the barrel lugs move with the recoil of the gun when its fired. Its possible that after the gun has been in the stock for a long period of time without removal that the pins may not want to drift in one direction jam up etc.

I did have this problem with an older used Dixie Gun works Mountain rifle i purchased, the pins would not drift. After a few steam baths and drops of mineral oil into the pin hole, the pin did move from lockside out and took out a very small chip around the pin hole which was correctable with a refinish. The lug was rusty and the pin had seized up becoming jagged (cleaned the gun without removing the barrel).

While it can work, but it really depends on how well the gun is cared for.

The pin heads were also varnished over which is never a good thing.

If the pin is rusty, jagged etc. how would you know which way to move it without doing harm without nudging in either direction?

Sounds like making sure it was bidirectional is good insurance down through the years maybe.

 

[FlinterNick]

If the pin is rusty, jagged etc. how would you know which way to move it without doing harm without nudging in either direction?

Sounds like making sure it was bidirectional is good insurance down through the years maybe.

I didn’t know, i followed kit ravensheer’s booklet and did it gently after steaming the stock area and lubricating with mineral oil.

It eventually came out and needed to be replaced, the lug too.

Its not so much the pin that was rust, it was the lug. The gun was cleaned with the barrel on, so water and moisture probably got beneath the channel area.

 

[Flintandsteel]

Again, if set up properly, rounded ends on the pins, slotted under lugs, the pins will not stick.
Just look at all the original 200+ year old guns on this site, that have been disassembled, reassembled without damage.
For the barrel pins, I use 5/64” pins, because they will most likely be removed semi-regularly, and 1/16” pins for pipes, trigger guards, etc. as these likely won’t be removed.

 

[Snake Pleskin]

I know some pin heads I’d like to peen!

LOL, that's a good one!! : )

 

[2 shots]

flint and steel has hit the 'pin' on the head....slotted lugs, stock and or barrel can move some...good advice

 

[Snake Pleskin]

Again, if set up properly, rounded ends on the pins, slotted under lugs, the pins will not stick.
Just look at all the original 200+ year old guns on this site, that have been disassembled, reassembled without damage.
For the barrel pins, I use 5/64” pins, because they will most likely be removed semi-regularly, and 1/16” pins for pipes, trigger guards, etc. as these likely won’t be removed.

If I had the skills and could do it all over, all my rifles would have "keys" and a hooked breech. I can see no reason not to have them. Life is sooooo much easier with those items. IMHO