Jacob Dickert Build Progress

[4-Liberty]

Sorry for the delay gents. I am veery slowly working on my rifle (mostly metal work), but it has been a very busy summer with my other hobbies of gardening, landscaping, brewing beer & wine, and just spending time in the woods . I plan on diving back in around late august. Thank you for your patience! I will see this through to the end.
Cheers!

[melsdad]

I know exactly what you mean. Once spring and summer get here my shop time gets cut down to about a third of what I get when the snow is flying.

[petew]

I am just beginning my first longrifle build, and this thread is fantastic. It is like someone else is typing my questions for me . , and I am sure it will save Captchee from having to answer the same questions over and over again.

Thanks to both of you for this very detailed question and answer thread. It is helping me as I go thru the same problems 4 liberty had  and the ones I am yet to have. I am bookmarking this thread for reference as I go.
 I know this thread is going to be a huge help for me and others that are attempting their first builds.
 Thanks guys
 Pete

[4-Liberty]

I'm glad my questions are able to help you through! We're pretty lucky to have such experienced builders here to share their expertise. It's currently in the 50s here in Wisconsin. A change of seasons is in the air, that means it's almost that time to get out of the garden and head back to the basement and start back up. I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions to come!
Cheers!

[4-Liberty]

Well, the seasons have changed and my outdoor projects of landscaping and gardening are all but finished. That can only mean one thing! Time to head back to the basement and dust off my longrifle project?   :lol: It's sandcasted and it seems very thick even with a few hours of filing and sanding.
So my question is, how thick were the origionals? I'm having a hard time finding good photos that show thickness. Also, if any of you have any tricks or techniques that help you move along faster with the triggerguard, I'm certainly open to suggestions.

[gunmaker]

Those rubber sanding drums that you put in drill press will thin the inside of bow nicely, the oldies were mostly very thin--brass was a controlled substance before the fight over that tea boat.  ...Tom

[Captchee]

I would agree with gunmaker .
 But  one should also keep in mind that  its not always the case
  Some TG were often made from sheet brass  others  castings . So if your working on a rifle that has a  a TG made from casting  and of a late period , you often will find them to be thicker then those made of sheet/ rolled brass
 Here is a link to an original  Kuntz rifle that  in the Met . While rather shy on photos ,  they do have some acceptable photos  showing the rifle from the lock panels back to the butt plate . Thus they may help you  judge the thickness of the TG as its much the same as yours

http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/24681?=&imgNo=4&tabName=gallery-label

[4-Liberty]

That Met TG is looks fairly thick! I don't think I'll need to take off much more brass to get it just right. Thanks for sharing!

Now on to the butt plate. What is the best way to inlet it? Down then in?  In then down?  Cutting the top comb flat?  I'll be using a push-button patchbox release, if that makes any difference.

[Captchee]

myself , i cut the top flat and alittle short . that way i can move it in. having apush button shouldnt make a diffrence as it will be guided by the  thickness of the come or toe plate

[4-Liberty]

Well, I've been working on the butt plate for the last few days, and boy, is it ever a slow process.

Here, I'm cutting a flat area for the top comb of the butt plate.


Pressing on the transfer color.



As you can see, I didn't do the best job of cutting in the curve of the butt plate into the stock. Looks like I'll have to inlet it in just a little bit deeper.


Removing the high spots.



Still a lot more to come!!

[4-Liberty]

SUCCESS!! After about 10 hours of work, I have the butt plate completely inletted into the stock! I probably could have been done sooner had I made a better initial cut that outlined the shape of the BP.

Finished inletting.




Drilling top BP screw hole.


Marking drill location and drilling top screw hole into stock. Counter-sunk and screwed.




Drilling bottom screw.


All finished!


Next, I'll be moving onto reducing the ramrod grove depth and then inletting the muzzle-cap.
 

[snake eyes]

Look'in good. Can't wait till we shoot er.
snake-eyes

[4-Liberty]

All finished with the nose-cap! It wasn't as difficult as I though it was going to be. It just took a lot of measuring of the cap to make sure I got the correct dimentions transferred onto the stock. I didn't fasten it the traditional way of using a copper rivet. The wood is awfully thin under that cap, and I was afraid I would snap the cap right off while I was peening in the rivet. Instead, I used a two-part epoxy and c-clamped it in place. I still may go back some day and pound a rivet in there, just for the heck of it, but not at the skill level I'm at.

[Captchee]

looking real good

[4-Liberty]

Just a quick question about inletting the ramrod thimbles. Do you inlet it down to where the inside of the thimble is flush with the bottom round of the ramrod grove?