Craftsmanship > Gun Building and Repair

Wyosmith Building Tutorial

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Wyoming Mike:
I now measure the depth of the barrel channel to the bottom of the barrel flat, and the top of the pin hole, where it will be drilled.  I will have to come down 1/2 the diameter of the pin to make it center when I drill.



 
Now I transfer that measurement to the outside of the stock.

 
 

Now I come down 1/2 the diameter of the pin width, and drill the hole 1/2 way through the stock, so it's even with the bottom of the barrel flat on the inside, (as I did previously)

 
 

Here the barrel is clamped into the stock, and the pin holes drilled the rest of the way through.

Wyoming Mike:
When all the underlugs are installed and inlet into the stock, and all are pinned in, it's time to make the rod channel and the rod hole.
 
I now clamp a 3/8" piece of square stock to the bottom of the forestock.  I align the end of it with the hole I drilled in picture 24.  This insures the rod will be exactly at the 6:00 under the barrel where the dogleg of the stock is.  (where the entry pipe will be inlet later)  The square stock is clamped again at the muzzle end of the forstock so it's exactly centered under the muzzle.






A line is scribed down both sides of the 3/8" square stock,  I filled them with pencil so you can see them better.



 
I have cut a square shoulder into the dogleg.  this will give me a place to drill into later.  I will then cut the channel to full depth, and as I do so, I will deepen this area too.  I use a straight edge to make sure everything is level and parallel to the bore of the barrel.  The under lugs in the front is your "depth gauge" and the hole is the rear depth gauge.  You will have to make a measurement to know how deep to sand your rod channel on a swamped barrel, as the lug in the middle of the barrel will not be the same depth as the ones at either end.  On a straight barrel, you'll be able to use the 1st and 2nd lugs as depth gauges.

 


I now take a 2" chisel and a gouge to "hog out"  the channel.  I get to within about 90% of full depth this way.






Here you see the work progressing.




I now take a dowel and wrap it in 60 grit sand paper to take the channel to it's final depth.  If You are making a rifle with a 5/16 rod, use a 1/4" dowel.  If you are using a 3/8" rod, use a 5/16" dowel.  For a 7/16" rod use a 3/8" dowel.  The wrap of the paper will bring them up to correct diameter as you sand.




Here is the finished channel.



 
Now lay your rod drill into the channel and drill to full depth.  I use grease to lube the drill, and clear the chips out about every 3/8" of drilling.  If you don't clear the chips the drill will drift off line, and you'll have REAL problems later.



 
Here is the rod, slipped into the stock.   Make sure you are deep enough so you don't wend up with a rod that's too short.  I like to have them about 1/2" longer than the bore of the barrel.  When everything is perfect, cut the ramrod to length.

Wyoming Mike:
You see the butt plate inlet.  Note how I left a little bit of wood oversized at the toe when I bandsawed the stock out.  This is where it's helpful.  As I inlet the butt plate, the toe of the stock is not fragile here because of that.  I will plane the toeline down later when i am shaping the stock.



 
Here you have  another view of the butt plate installed.  I will then file and plane the excess wood down around the butt so everything fits nicely.


 

Next I install the muzzlecap, and shape the wood around it.  I sand it down to it's final finish, about 400 grit, for about 3/4 inch back.  I will also polish the brass to it's final stage here, and then I have no work to do later on it.



 
At this stage of the build I inlet my lock plate.  I plane, file and sand the outmost flat to it's finished surface and make it the right thickness so the bottom of the lock bevel is even all the way around the plate with the top of the wood.  I then shape the lock area all around.  When it's done, I copy it to the "off side" of the stock, so I have an identical panel on the other side, also taken down to it's final height, and sanded to 400 grit.




Here you take your side plate, and bend and/or file it so it fits within the inside boundaries of the lock plate.  You know the side plate will fit if you do this now, because you know the lock plate fits your panels, and the side plate is within it's outside boundaries.  This one is hand made as it's a left hand Lehigh style, and no one makes such a part, so I made it myself.




I now locate the point where I want my lock bolt to intersect with my lock plate and I drill through the stock and the breach plug bolster with the ROOT drill.  I am using a 10X32 bolt here, so I am drilling with a #22 drill.




I have C-Clamped the lock plate into the stock, and with the same #22 drill, I go back through from the off side to make the root hole in the lock plate.



 
Here I take a #8 Clearance drill, and I drill through wood and the bolster of the breach plug, but i stop as soon as it touches the lock plate.



 
Here I tap the hole with a 10X32 tap. Doing this in this fashion as outlined in these last four steps will give you absolutely perfect alignment of your bolt and holes   It's important to keep your barrel clamped down through all this too, so the hole through the breach plug is also in perfect alignment.

Wyoming Mike:
The lock bolt now is passed through the side plate, and snugged up in the lock plate.  You align the side plate as you want it to be at this point, and draw a line with a pencil around it.  



 
I now take a 60 degree V tool and cut around the inside of the pencil line.  Get about 1/32" away from it, but don't cut into the line.



 
Now hog out the wood inside the V cut.



 
Paint inletting black (or blue) on your side plate and screw it down again.  Tap around it's edge with a tool handle and it will make a sharp print like this.  You then take small SHARP tools and trim away the black until you get a good level fit.............



 
Like this!
At this point of the project, you will inlet all your "lock guts"  



 
Now I plane down the toeline as I want it, and rough shape the buttstock to it's final form.

mike rumping:
Dad-Gummit Wyosmith, you got me droolin' now!!!
My wife just walked in, saw what I was lookin' at,
and said, "No way can we afford it now!!!"  Oh well.

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