Bench Rest 54

A Bench Rest .54 caliber "Rifle"

Range Report for Aug/28/2015 at bottom.

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Here is the start of a bench rest shooter.  Action is from a well known website purchased second-hand.  The hammer has been remade as the distance from the plug end to nipple was too much for the original hammer.  I needed another 3/16 inch longer hammer.  Hammer head is unfinished until the nipple is installed.   Barrel is 1 + 1/8 inches across the flats and 35 inches long being .54 caliber with a 1:70 twist.  The barrel maker is Sharon Rifle Barrel Co.  Barrel plug is 3/4 inch x 16 threads/inch and the stub end is turned down to 5/8 inch to fit into the action block.  Action block has three set screws (1/4 inch x 28 threads/inch) previously installed.  Block also has a bushing installed to reduce the original quite large hole to 5/8 inch diameter.

After using this rifle several times not liking the current amount of drop, I will probably change the drop on the stock to much less.  This means another stock and some more time in the "shop".

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The tape and line drawn show the end of the plug.
The nipple will be just ahead of the drawn line.

Full size barrel.

Simulated stock in tracing paper.

Tracing paper stock and date. 

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July/06/2015
Cap Popped.
The background noise is my very large swamp cooler because it's 105F outside.
Cap Popping MP4



Cherry Stock from Timber Hardwoods, Mesa, AZ.

Through bolt installed (tang to trigger plate) a temporary one.

Now for front & rear sights and a whole bunch of wood trimming.

July/09/2015
Took her to the range today.
Got about 8 shots off then broke the rear sight away from the mount.  Now repaired.
Standing up.

Laying Down.

What is left of a 1982 Peso.  A bit ugly,  for that rear sight to work this front sight needed the heighth.

Range Report: 25 yards, 55gr of Goex FFFg, 0,012 inch patch, .530 RB.
First shots high and up to the left.  Remaining trying to sight her in.
One flyer near the bottom center???

May have to try .535 RB's or a thicker patch or both.  Rifling is quite deep.

Me at 70 years old.

Lumpy bag to hold those .530 lead marbles.
I used glass marbles to stretch it out hence the lumps.

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July/21/2015
Range time cut short by sharp edges on the muzzle crown.

So re-crowned and removed all sharp edges at the muzzle.
Will be using Denim and a choice of .530 or .535 Hornady RB's.

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July/26/2015
Range Report on thick patches, reduced diameter Round Balls.10 patches are 0.030 thick, see next picture.
3 patches are 0.025 thick
2 patches are 0.015 thick.

I think the two upper left patches are a bit thinner, maybe 0.025 while the rest are 0.030 inches thick.

0.535 RB's pushed through a ~0.52 ID diameter pipe.  These work, looks like I need 0.520 RB's for sure.

40 gr of 777 FFg,  25 yds
Red dots previous days shooting, burnt patches, 0.530 RB's.
Holes today July/26, two flyers are the burnt patches, center grouping 6 or 7 shots (?) not burnt patches.

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July/29/2015
Today's Range Report and some other stuff.
I ran out of 0.530 and 0.535 RB's, bummer.

Lands, yes I know this is not the way to measure this stuff, but it gets me in the ballpark.
Looks like approximately 0.547 or so.

Grooves, looks like 0.572 approximately.

Two upper left patches my wife calls "Twill", around 0.022 inches.  Rest are 0.030 denim.
Upper left patch was used to launch a .50 cal 385gr lubed Hornady hollowbase bullet.

Having fun with those funny shaped (belted or simulated 0.520) RB's.
I lost count.  Yes, I tried to hit those four corner bulls.
25 yds, 60gr of 777 FFg.

All POI's were dead center.
I guess that it wasn't my day for 50 yds and everything just fell apart.
Hit just to the right of center is that Hornady 385gr bullet.
50yds, 60gr 777 FFg.

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Aug/07/2015  Range Report.

Thicknesses or diameters all in inches.
50yds, 0.022 Bull Denim Patch, 55gr of 777-FFg, 0.530 RB's from my new 0.530 Lee mold.
All patches really soaked with lube.
Bull Denim is natural colored, not blue.  It tends to ravel a lot.

Paper target on the right for starters

Mixture of 0.022 Bull Denim and 0.030 Blue Denim shots.

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Aug/28/2015
Range Report
All Targets:
50 yards, .54 cal, .530 RB self-cast, 52gr of 777-FFg, Bull Denim Patches approx 0.021 inches thick, Hoppes 9 Plus lube.


Fuzzy pix.

First target with 11 shots.


















Second Target.
Four+shots with two flyers.
I lost count of how many went through the clover-leaf hole, at least four.
Fuzzy pix.

Third Target.
8 shots for a 72.  One patched back-hump shot is previous day.  First two head shots were the wild ones.  Then I settled down and aimed above the front leg.  Rifle still shoots a bit to the left, probably just me.  Rear sight is a bit too close to me and becomes fuzzy.  I should move the rear sight down the barrel away from me.

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Range Report: Sept/13/2015
Just one target.  First time using (borrowed) X-Sticks and sitting on the ground.  First time to shoot this rifle at 100yds.  Five shots, four hit, first one 10 ring, the rest - well I got tired. Fifth, who knows?

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Mar/10/2016
Working on adding a buttplate.  It looks like Nickel-Silver and it's not magnetic.  Found at a swap meet, $10-US.  Brass screws show the contrast in color.

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Getting ready for a sight tube.

The early mockup sitting on a metal box.
Tube is probably too long until the mounts arrive.

Stock has been cut at the narrowest area and glued/screwed back together.
This raises the butt about 1 inch.

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IdeZilla

Comments Welcomed.

The Frontier Pistol

This pistol is wifely named "The Frontier".
.50 cal Knight DISC barrel front piece with 6x.75mm nipple underhammer style.  I am not sure if this barrel piece is stainless or not.
Older lock (finally!).
Cherry stock.
The front of the stock will have a brass band like rifles do, I like it that way.

I am hoping that this pistol will be target quality, I'll determine that after a time at the range.

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Bench top layout.  Barrel is .50 cal with a 5/8-16 3-line bolt plug.  Old lock that will finally be put to service.










The inlet, part of it anyways.  I use a Swiss half round gouge for this part, really sharp!  Red sharpie for the inletting.  Really messy stuff, need to wear gloves doing this part.

Lock sitting in the stock, not secured yet.
Securing the lock could be with brass pins.
Brass band will be forward of the green zip ties.
My really old wood rasp here, it wouldn't work, so it was layed down on the belt sander and slightly flattened the points to become a collection of tiny chisels.  It works better this way.

Tang is screwed to the plug (8-32).  I will try to get my neighbor to weld it together so that the forward tang screws will disappear.  Rear sight can be on the tang (already D/T for that) and the front sight will be right about where the green zippies are.

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Apr/25/2015
Action Mounted with 3/32 inch diameter pins.
Ready for cap popping.

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Apr/26/2015
Popped a cap.  Now for range time???

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IdeZilla

Comments Welcomed.

Number Two of Four Pieces

This pistol is one of four muzzleloaders all cut from the same block of curly Maple, this pistol is the one in the middle.  The deringer (not shown here) was cut from the triangular piece (left overs) above the rifle butt











Many pictures of the wood grain, nice stuff.






Full cock.  Stock notch gives access for percussion capping.









Barrel pinned with 1/8 inch diameter brass pin. Front sight soldered, not moveable.

 Five Lock Pictures added: APR/19/2015

Small brass rod (in view) stops the sear and trigger

Various sizes of wire springs mounted on the top of the lock frame hold the sear and the trigger into position










Rear sight insert is removable for different apertures and has windage.  Loosening the rear sight screw (on top) allows the rear sight base to pivot horizontally.  Two screws in the stock hold the lock in place.  Elevation is set by bending the rear portion of the sight base, not too workable, needs a screw or elevator











Shooters view.  Tang screw will be replaced with slotted type.

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No range report, yet

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IdeZilla

Comments Welcomed.

Edited:
Apr/19/2015
Added Lock Pictures and corrected text description about lock function.

Old Underhammer Pistol Revitalized

Black Powder Muzzle Loading Under Hammer Pistol.

Here is one that was built during www.garagegunsmithing.com's life time, that site is now MIA.

The grip was way too large and the inside surface was too close to the hammer spring.  It would bang my knuckles upon, firing, but not now.

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Jan/28/2017:  Reworking this one to be a target pistol.

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.50 cal smooth bore, hammer at half-cock.  Walnut grip reshaped to be usable where it was not before today.  Action is another prototype that works very smoothly.  Single black screw in upper right holds the action cover down in that corner.

Right Side View, P05222012 is the serial number and date.  The two 10-32 bolts (through the barrel plug) hold the barrel in place. Grip rails riveted to this side plate (right side). Yes it's rough but it works.

My wife suggested to reshape the barrel to cut down on front heavy weight.

Action somewhat visible here.  Sear hangs down from center pin and trigger holds it in place.  Pulling back on the trigger moves the trigger tip away from the sear, lets the sear move backward, releasing the hammer.

 Top View.  Roughly sighted in for about 40 feet.

Front View. Half-cock, just enough.

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Original Grip.
Not enough knuckle room, Hard to grip.

Inside look during construction.

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Jan/28/2017

Am currently upgrading this pistol.
New rifled barrel, .50 cal, 1:28 twist.
Reshaped hammer spring, stiffer too.
Reworked action, lighter and longer release.

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IdeZilla

Comments Welcomed

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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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