Side lock with half cock locking

 Changed the barrel to .50 cal., 09/07/2017 (scroll down)

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This info is old, newer info is below.

1. Trigger and hammer sitting at full cock, trigger is held in that centered position with an internal centering spring.

2. Push trigger forward and hammer drops to half cock and hammer is absolutely locked into that position, cannot be fired.  Trigger cannot be moved to full cock and is in an awkward position for normal firing.

3. Pull hammer back to full and trigger centers itself to full cock, release hammer and it stays at full cock.

4. Pull trigger back normally and hammer fires.
 
After firing, pull hammer back, it resets to full cock,  push trigger forward and hammer drops to half cock.

 Full
Black tape temporarily holds pins in place.

 Half

Fired

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Newer Info:
Jun/22/2015
I am converting this lock to have a normal half-cock.
This makes the lock more safe and very stable.
Trigger piece is 1/8 inch thick.
Trigger floater is 3/16 inch thick.
Trigger has a fixed pin which fits into a slot in the trigger floater.
This allows the floater to move up or down.
From full-cock, the floater is forced away with the manual pulling of the trigger.

Fired position.
Hammer hook is holding trigger and floater down.
The trigger has a floating half (right side of trigger internally).

Half-cock position.
As the hammer is pulled out, it allows the trigger portion to pop up.
Trigger has moved forward and the full-cock floater is held down.

Full-cock position.
Floater has popped up to hold hammer completely out.
Pulling trigger pushes both of them down and bang!
Finger springs for each trigger piece always tries to push those two parts to full-cock.

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Apr/05/2016.

Old ugly iron barrel added, approximately 0.58 cal, 3 grooves as wide as the lands.
Olive wood grip, fits my hand.

Right side view.

Left side view.  Barrel+Frame looks bent, not so.

Half-cock, trigger moves forward.

Full-cock.  Trigger stays the same as half-cock.  No sights will be added.

I cannot pop a cap in this neighborhood, doing that may bring the local Sheriff around.

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Apr/10/2016

The two internal trigger parts.

Trigger (half-cock); Full-cock part; pin (axle) 1/8 inch diameter..

Parts as they sit inside of the frame.  Parts sitting at full-cock.  Pulling the trigger rearward, moves both parts out of the way of the hammer.

Parts sitting at half-cock.  Trigger forward, slotted piece sitting "level".

The two spring grooves.  Parts are held down at the rear with double legged safety-pin type springs.

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Apr/11/2016

Range time revealed the plug leaked.  A new plug was installed today.

I was shooting buck&ball (00 buck 3 each with a patched .530 round ball). It was loaded similar to a smoothbore using 20ga shotgun wads over the powder and to contain the shot.

Also a correct sized ramrod was needed.  One was made from 5/8 inch diameter (cheap) dowel, filed down to fit the bore.

Ready to go back to the range. (it's not 0.61 cal, my mistake)

Blued the barrel.

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Apr/12/2016

Blued: Hammer, Hammer Pin, Trigger, Spring Rear Holder.
Stamped a serial number on lower grip metal, "P04022015".

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Apr/15/2016

Showing how badly the "approximately 0.58 caliber" barrel is pitted but still shoots.
The muzzle half is the worst, further down the barrel it gets better but not much.

Barrel is 6.25 inches long and the internal useable length is 5.625 inches long.

 Here the 3 lands and 3 grooves are visible at the muzzle (only).  The black at the muzzle is a shadow from the flashlight.

 Land to the far left, Grooves, top and bottom.

Showing the 3 lands and the 3 grooves.

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Apr/22/2016

Range Report, 25yards.

First shot, to the right of the "dot".  .53 round-ball, 20gr of Goex FFg, 20ga wads to hold the powder in, leather wad to hold the cloth wrapped round-ball in.

Next three shots, 3 each 00-buckshot, 20gr of Goex FFg, same wads.

Not too bad for a really pitted .58 bore and no sights.

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#6 pellet holes are from that Muley 12ga. 40gr of Goex FFg, 1oz #6 shot, 12ga wads with 12ga overshot wads.

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 Changed the barrel to .50 cal., 09/07/2017

New stand, wood is Pine and crudely made but functional for several pistols besides this one.

Barrel is a rear piece of a DISC Knight barrel ground down to be somewhat octagonal.
This reduces the front-end weight.  Unfired as of today.  Some grip improvement on both sides as the Olive wood is very slick.

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IdeZilla

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An Ugly Resurrection

Here is another older pistol, dated "P11052011".  A  .50 cal DOM steel barrel, 1 inch OD, .50 inch ID, no seams, cost was $1US per inch.  The two slab side plates contain the action and an internal coil spring for the hammer.  The trigger rubs on the coil spring which pushes it into lock.  If you recognize the front sight, holler back. Walnut scraps for the grip. Today I added the hammer cup and tightened the hammer coil spring a bit.  Two large 10-32 screws go through the barrel plug and hold the barrel in place.

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Left side plate.  You must remember this was made back when I was just getting started, shown on a website called www.garagegunsmithing.com.  This pistol is not to pleasant to look at but it does get the job done.

Hammer down on a piece of fish tank tubing. The tubing is so that the TV baddies can be gotten rid of (dry firing allowed) thunk, there goes another one.  Grip has been stippled, a really rough attempt but it does really help in the gripping. The 3 screws at the rear hold the F-shaped grip into the frame.

Hammer full cock.  This grip shape points nicely.

Smooth Bore, .50 cal.  Rear sight is a block of steel soldered to barrel, tapped with 4 each 6-32 screws to mount a peep sight,  not moveable.  Front sight (the smaller brass piece) is threaded into the larger brass piece to adjust elevation.

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IdeZilla

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Older Lock fixed up for use.

Here is an older lock, dated "P12032011" for the serial number.
For a really long while it was not functioning correctly and today it is now fixed.
This lock is quite smooth in trigger movement with no scraping or roughness.
It cannot be guessed when it will release.

It is a crude copy of one that can be found online. Wade Ingrhams Info.
This lock is different in that it has a half-cock position while Wade's does not.

Trigger will be reshaped and curved, later.
Half cock position.

Half cock position, insides.
Left to right: Hammer with shim washers, sear that slides on that shelf below it, brass link, trigger and spring, hammer spring mounting block threaded 8-32 US.

Full cock position. Cover plate.

Fired position. Hammer pushes the sear out of the way during cocking.

Half cock position. Note the link.

Fired position. I am holding the trigger to the rear most position.

A rough guess as how the hammer spring may look. It would attach to the back of the lock with that 8-32 screw. Obviously the trigger is way too big.

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IdeZilla

Comments Welcomed.

12ga Upgraded

This one is a 12ga black powder muzzle loading slug shooter.  Barrel is a 12ga unchambered barrel.  A M20x2.5 plug was installed.  Then was shot several times that way only to break the grip at the top.  This one seems to be everyone's dream, a lot of folks who first saw it just wanted to hold it and point it.  Kinda like shooting the villains on TV.

Yes, it's big.

Lock innards.  Since this picture was taken, the trigger was reshaped (bent), rearward.  Safety pin shaped trigger+sear spring holds both together and forces the sear into the hammer notches.

How the barrel mounts. There are two 10-32 bolts through each plate and through the barrel plug.  So other barrels could be installed if desired.

Barrel mounted. Serial # is P plus the date (MO/DA/YR). P09032011.

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Mar/17/2015

Got bored and changed the stock to a Cherry stock.  It's not finished but this is the general shape.  Trigger reshaped, flash cup added to hammer.

Nipple is replaced.  Cheek piece outlined roughly.  Mounting hardware countersunk onto the wood.

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Mar/22/2015 Sunday

Got to shoot loads of old BB's.
Used 50gr of 777 FFg, plastic wad, over-wad card to hold BB's in.
I have no idea where they went, out there somewhere.

Began to shrink the wrist area.

Things to do:  Reshape the stock even more.

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IdeZilla

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Jonathan Browning Barreled Underhammer

This one was created a while back and in another state, July/13/2012.
I thought you'd get a kick out this design.
The .50 caliber barrel as purchased at an Oregon gun show (PDX) $80 OTD, no plug, no sights.
Trying to find all of the parts to recreate an original, made the decision to make it into an underhammer, was quite easy.

See, no plug (snail).  Two seal areas, three if you count the back flat.

Design the lock, the easy part.  Cutting all of the parts out of raw steel, the harder part.  Most all of the Harbor-Freight files have been replaced because of extreme usage.

The barrel as plugged and nipple installed.

Action mounted, with 8-32 button head screw just under the hammer.
 Rear mounting screw goes through the tang (hole not shown) into the top portion of the hammer spring tapped hole.  This arrangement puts the stock in a nice vise like grip.  Front of barrel is pinned to the stock.

Full cock.  This lock has a teeter-totter sear.  Since this was installed the sear was too soft.  Another sear was made today (Mar/4/2015) out of a portion of old slip-joint pliers.  Really tough stuff. It works much better now.  This picture shows the original hammer spring which did fail just behind the mounting screw.  Another spring has replaced this one and looks the same.

Front sight is a small tube on top of a blade, rear sight is made up of broken pieces soldered together with an adjustment screw for elevation.

On the other side (not shown) is a stock notch so that a percussion cap can be installed from the side.
A brass plate has been added to the flat on the front of the stock to hide the end grain.  No butt plate as yet.

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Mar/05/2015
Range Report, .490 RB, blue tick patch, 25 yds, 70 gr of Goex Clear Shot FFFg.  The Goex kept shooting low so I changed to 777 FFFg 70 gr and shot the high hit at the bottom right diamond, no other changes.  Quite a bit difference in powders. Lowered the rear sight and continued shooting the next three above that small diamond.

Then shot this small group on another target with 777 FFFg 70 gr.  I will try a .495 RB as the .490 RB's seem to go down the barrel very easy, can short start with thumb pressure.  Maybe then the groups will tighten up some.

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Mar/06/2015
A possible solution to needing .495 round balls.
Simulated golf balls in lead made from .490 round balls.
I had an old wood rasp that was sanded down to obtain flat teeth, I used that tool.
With the ball on a hard surface, rasp on top, letting the ball roll with the rasp multiple times and multiple directions.  I get these ugly puppies and they are nestled in a towel inside of a repurposed Altoids tin:

They do measure .495 to .498 depending on the position measured.  Since I only did 18 each (not wanting to go crazy and do 100 to find out that this does not work) they will have to be tried at the range.









Range Report, Mar/13/2015

25 yds, Goex Clear Shot FFFg 70 grs, Blue Tick Patch, Those fuzzy RB's above.  It did seem to tighten up the groups, YAY! Now for some real .495 RB's since I only made 18 of those fuzzy ones.



















Now What?

Fuzzy utube video

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May/24/2015
Shot this target with real Goex FFFg.
25 yds, 50gr of FFFg, .495 RB, 0.15 patch lubed with bore-butter.

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Today, Nov/16/2015
I was working on this rifle when the hammer spring broke just past it's mounting screw.  So, off to the "shop" to make another one.

The new spring, from a old handsaw blade.

Also tried some blueing on the partly browned barrel, it turned it black, looks nice.

Beginning to learn to carve Cherry, a bit soft.

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2/26/2017
Range Report
25 yds, Goex FFFg 40gr, .490RB, Bull Denim Patch (0.022"), 5 shots.

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IdeZilla

Comments Welcomed!