I've watched every episode of Iron and Fire and I agree there is very little about actually building a firearm. There were also a few things that made me cringe. Casey builds a flintlock for a customer and when he test fires it the frizzen flies forward when struck by the hammer but then bounces back to smack the flint a second time and comes to rest on it. That lock is far from being tuned. I really hope he didn't ship the gun to the customer like that or somebody is going to be wondering why the gun gets such short flint life. In another scene he dry fires a supposedly original percussion rifle. No snap cap. Bare nipple. Casey claims to have been taught by Herschel House. He should know better. Then there is the rifle that is brought to him still loaded. It appears to be a TC Hawken and has supposedly been sitting in a closet for years in that condition. After stating that removing the ball and charge from this gun is dangerous, he locks the rifle horizontal in a vise, runs a ball pulling jag down, screws it into the ball, and stands in front of the muzzle while tugging on the rod. Then he recruits one of his relatives to hold the rifle and pull one direction while he pulls in the other, still standing in front of the muzzle. They get the ball out. Then he tries to unbreach the rifle and can't turn the breech plug. He says it is welded in place by rust and is therefore dangerous to shoot. He stresses that the owner will be told to not fire it. Then he and his merry men take it out to "test fire" it. I'm okay with that but expected the gun to be secured in a restraining device and fired by a long cord attached to the trigger and led back to cover. When I see him holding the rifle to his shoulder and firing I had to shake my head. Then he let his relatives/friends shoot it. Dangerous? Don't do what we just did?
Anyway, I'll continue to watch the program. Hopefully, they will start to catch some of the errors and dangerous practices.
John
Topic: Fire and Iron (Read 1257 times)