New Here

[sking0369]

Hello, just a note to introduce myself.
I'm a 50 year old auto mechanic, working in a GM dealership. Married with 2 children both past the teen years. We live in north central Missouri. I love to work with my hands, as my hobbies and work attest. Main interests have been for years designing, building and flying my own RC aircraft.

Lately I have taken up building a black powder pistol of my own design, smooth bore. I did build a long bit to ream out the barrel as one tool needed for this project. I have been shooting it for a little now and as you can guess a smooth bore just isn't very accurate and I have been thinking quite a bit about building a rifling machine. Which by the way is what I was researching when I came across this forum.

Not sure what all is in this forum yet but home made tools sounded to be right down my alley.

Sean King

[Jon]

Hi Sean - welcome to HomemadeTools.net

Sounds like you'll be in good company here. Plenty of car guys, as well as pilots of the RC and non-RC variety, and gunsmiths who can lend a hand.

The rifling machine for the custom muzzle loader sounds very interesting. Do you have the muzzle loader hunting season in mind? Historical? Just tinkering?

[sking0369]

We do have a muzzle loader season here but I'm not into that, don't care for deer meat and don't like the idea of shooting something and not eating it. Just tinkering with my blackpowder that I made for my rocket project from a few years back.
Sean

[kbalch]

Hi Sean,

Welcome!

You've definitely come to the right place!

OK, you know that we're going to need to see pics of your blackpowder pistol. I've put quite a bit of FFF through my replica Colts ('51 Navy & '60 Army) and plan to do a flintlock kit at some point.

What's next on your build list?

Ken

[DIYer]

Welcome to the forums, Sean! Cool hobbies you got there. A rifling machine sounds like an awesome project!

[sking0369]

Ken here are a few pics of my BP pistol.
As far as my next projects I'm wanting to build a rifle. Also thinking about experimenting with finned sabots or bullets to shoot out of this smooth bore.



Hope this picture downloading worked ok

Sean

[kbalch]

Very cool, indeed!

Did you cast the frame and side plates yourself? Do I detect a little color case hardening, too? Impressive.

I think it would look great with fire blued screws…

What's the powder load? 35-40 gr. or a bit more?

Ken

[sking0369]

I spent 3-4 years building on my spare time. While building I was all over the board on how to finish. I really wanted to blue it, and nickle plate the side frame, then I thought of plating brass and milling it to a smooth finish. Once I came up with the moon surface finish a friend suggested that I brown the barrel. That's what I did here. The only part that I ended up milling was the trigger assy. The trigger guard and all frame work I welded up and ground and filed down. Lots of file use. The screws are stainless steel and I was not able to get them to color. So I painted them. Presently shooting 40-50 grains 3f BP. I did test 100 grains by securing it to a board and a string on the trigger and standing behind a tree. MAN was that loud, but it held up. I think 50 grains is all I care for.

[DIYer]

Thanks sking0369! We've added your Black Powder Pistol to our Firearm and Weaponry category, as well as to your builder page: sking0369's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Black Powder Pistol by sking0369

tags: gunsmithing

[PJs]

Beautiful work Sking0369! Curious to know how you created that amazing "Moon Surface"? An acid etch of some kind? 100 grains in a 44...Wow, great that it held up...says lots about your work on this beauty! Thanks for posting, look forward to more! ~PJ