Weekend Flintlock Build/Birth of the Bicycle Gun

There have been patterns around for building locks from scratch without any power machinery too if you want to spend a bit of time getting to know a file really well. And underhammer actions are very simple designs.

Even the barrel can be sourced from the right grade of hydraulic pipe if you want a really cheap smoothbore.
 
$300?? But I can buy a Savage for that!! :p:p:p

All razzing aside, I'm keen to see how this turns out. Building your own rifle to go hunting just adds a certain something to the whole experience and like you said, the magic of a custom fit rifle is something to behold.
 
I've shot some quite nice and functional rifles with homemade locks and with pipe barrels. I would agree that these aren't where I would first look for savings myself but then I wouldn't go with a plywood stock myself either seeing as decent wood can had for a lot less than a stock blank. I fail to see how the blank you have made from plywood is much different or less work than one band sawed from a 2" hardwood plank if you have a router to rough out the barrel channel.

One was a matchclock which did look kind of clunky with the pipe barrel but the lock was homemade because it couldn't be sourced anywhere. Another rifle that I shot quite a bit at one time had a very nice handmade percussion lock (and all other metalwork except the barrel) that worked as well as any. I will certainly admit that both these designs are much easier to build than a reliable flint lock.

My hat is off to you for what you are doing here and I look forward to seeing how it comes together. I just thought that I would throw out a few of the other creative projects that I have seen over the years for the consideration of others who might be considering such a project. Its all about the trade-offs that you want to make and the desired final result. Cost vs labour vs visual appeal vs function.
 
If you are laminating up a blank, the laminations can be profiled so a lot of the barrel inletting can be done during the glue up.
 
Yeah, seriously. The title sounded really appealing. Even if you decided you weren't doing the best approach, I would have been interested to read what you tried!
 
This thread kind of kicked something off in my head. For some reason I was stuck thinking that I could only make kits or make flinters to be historically accurate repros.... but that really doesn't make sense. Muzzle loaders are simple enough and there is far enough in the way of available options in barrels, locks, parts etc, that there's really no reason not to try making a bunch of "home" flinters using stuff found around the house. I actually think it would be a fun challenge, making an elegant functional gun with whatever you have on hand. Plus it might be easier for those of us with little/no experience making muzzle loaders if it doesn't "have" to look like something else in the end :p I know this isn't a huge revelation for anyone else out there, but I'm glad the OP posted because it snapped me out of my tunnel vision!
 
H Wally said:
This thread kind of kicked something off in my head. For some reason I was stuck thinking that I could only make kits or make flinters to be historically accurate repros.... but that really doesn't make sense. Muzzle loaders are simple enough and there is far enough in the way of available options in barrels, locks, parts etc, that there's really no reason not to try making a bunch of "home" flinters using stuff found around the house. I actually think it would be a fun challenge, making an elegant functional gun with whatever you have on hand. Plus it might be easier for those of us with little/no experience making muzzle loaders if it doesn't "have" to look like something else in the end :p I know this isn't a huge revelation for anyone else out there, but I'm glad the OP posted because it snapped me out of my tunnel vision!
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I have a worn out 12 gauge that I keeping eying while I think "home built fowler/trade gun".....The breech plug is the tricky part when you don't have a lathe.
 
A breechplug can be made by welding a tang onto a bolt, and shaping with hacksaw and files as needed.
 
H Wally said:
I actually think it would be a fun challenge, making an elegant functional gun with whatever you have on hand. Plus it might be easier for those of us with little/no experience making muzzle loaders if it doesn't "have" to look like something else in the end
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I think it pays to start with a quality kit first because it gives you something to refer to when you start from scratch. With an example to look at and in front of you, it is not a lot more work to make a moderately good looking gun compared to a plank with a piece of pipe taped to it. I do think that it very much pays to either buy a complete lock or to make it from a quality kit if you are going the flint route. There are a lot of small details in a flint lock that are not obvious --- you think that you see one thing when in fact it is really slightly different and those slight differences can make a big difference in function. I have made a couple of flint locks completely from scratch and still have a lot to learn. The locks I made work but not nearly as well as the good commercially made ones.

cheers mooncoon
 
I think it pays to start with a quality kit first
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It pays the guy who gets your 1000 bucks. If you want to be truly prudent financially use that 1000 to buy a second hand custom gun by a reputable builder. It will hold it's value whilst an amateur kit gun will be worth 400 on a good day.

you think that you see one thing when in fact it is really slightly different and those slight differences can make a big difference in function
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And hence the prudence of investing 15 dollars instead of 300. Make a mistake? big deal start again. Working on a 1000 dollar pile of parts sure takes the fun out of mistakes.


I removed my initial post as I realized we would likely end up with 7 pages of reasons why someone should not or should be wary of attempting to build a gun as our forefathers did (i.e with the resources, tools and parts available to them). I see that while there is interest there will also be a running commentary sufficient to scare the mildly curious away. A fate shared/suffered by the Historically correct ML sports. At a 1000 dollar and 1000 hour entry point recruitment to the hunting world is pretty slow. Add a PAL to the onerousness and you have a recipe for keeping 9/10ths of the potential BP hunters doing something else.

I have some web space and eventually I'll post a tutorial, photos, patterns etc there.

Remember: reduce, reuse ,recycle/ .......... Commercial stock kits are made from Carbon sinks, laminates are made from garbage that was gonna cause methane gas in the land fill....... LOL
 
I can't remember your original plans but I do think that buying a quality flintlock is a must; a good functioning lock is very difficult to built; not the work but the proportions which make them function well. I also think that buying a good barrel is also important. That means that you are looking at around $350 or so for minimum materials. The rest are less important if you screw up. Depending on location, you can buy a eastern maple plank to make the stock for I am guessing about $8 or $9 a running foot for say 2x8 plank. Probably be wise to buy around 8 feet so that you can get 2 stocks out of it --- that way if you want to improve on your first try, you have a second piece to work on for very little more. So now we are up to $420 total plus or minus

I do think your project is do able but I think there are steps that you can take to ease the learning curve.

cheers mooncoon
 
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