Just another .45 cal muzzle loading underhammer

Started this one yesterday with an unused lock.
First a new spring was needed in a different shape to clear my knuckles, that was reshaped yesterday. Then this project needed some wood for the stock, luckily there was a Walnut blank big enough for this project in the wood pile.

Here in this first picture, is seen a beginning mockup. There is room for the knuckles behind the hammer spring. The two holes in the stock are to mount the lock. Extra wood was left on the stock until the final shape is "figured out".

Nipple is in the pocket just above the hammer head.
Barrel is almost done for the inlet and is the last pistol sized piece in the .45 cal pile.
Next: Making the barrel tang out of 3/16 inch stock.

Blocks for Round Balls

I was wanting something to keep those round balls from moving all over the shooting bench.
Beginning with a small piece of Walnut, several holes at 3/8 inch (dimples) for .490 round balls. Shown in the first picture are five of those round balls in a larger block.  The smaller block shows five holes and seven holes. The larger block has staggered hole spacing for fingers to easily grasp those round balls and the holes are about 1 inch apart.

Next pictured are six .375 conicals in the smaller block. This block has on three of its sides different count of holes. 5, 6, and 7. As seen in the second picture, there are six holes on top and seven holes at the front side. These blocks have one coat of finish. The larger block is 1/2 inch thick by about 8.5 inches long and the smaller block size is 1 inch square by about 4.5 inches long.

Wood Lock - in progress

Starting with the book, "The Underhammer Rifle" by Jeff Baron.

I wanted to make a copy of one of the books images, a "Wood Lock".

I began by re-drawing it in CADSTD just to see if the geometry is correct. I could not seem to understand how that particular design would lock up, so I continued anyway. I cut out the hammer and trigger and pinned them to a piece of Maple scrap with brass pins.
Unfortunately the first trigger showed me that what I cut out would not lock up in full cock. The hammer just pushed the trigger out of the way. So, I cut out another trigger, this one pictured, and moved the trigger pin closer and higher up so that the trigger ledge is in front of the trigger pin. A slow pulling of the trigger shows that the hammer moves downward ever so slightly, this is good I presume.

Here is a close up of the lockup. It appears that the locking area is too deep, but the trigger swings out of the way very nicely.




I have formed the hammer spring out of an old hand saw blade. I annealed the top strap area, cut out a 1/2 inch wide piece about 6 inches long. Then annealed it again to make it nice and soft for the forming.

Here is that spring, partially formed. Since it's still really warmish here in Phoenix area, I may wait to temper the spring in the bar-be-que.





Update: 9/30/2013
After playing with this lock type, It will be relegated to the "tried this one" pile. Or in other words, it may get redone at a later date, just not now.
IdeZilla.