Hello Roaddog and thank you all,
Last August a friend of mine gifted me the instructional book Building a Swivel Breech by Dave Waters. Since that time I've tooled up my machine shop; Precision Machinery and have built 5 swivel breech actions and two rifles. I'm on the third rifle now but am delayed as I try to shift from the L&R Manton lock parts to the Jim Chambers Siler lock. I'm a bit fussy when it comes to making a high quality consistent rifle and I feel the Siler parts ie. frizzen, pan cock and tumbler are a better choice.
The rifle pictured (#2) is 10.1 lbs, barrels are 38" long, .45 cal by Rice, overall length is 54.5" long, 3" drop at the butt, 1 7/8" drop at the comb, 14.5" length of pull and 1/4" cast off. The sight radius is 29.5" and the sight height from the centerline of the barrel has been adjusted during building to allow for easy sighting in at 25 yards as the patched ball rises and 100 yards as the ball is descending in it's arc towards the ground. This accuracy is predicated on proper patch thickness, lube, ball diameter and powder combination.
Unlike other swivel breech builders, I do not weld or solder the barrels together. I consider this very dangerous and it seriously impacts accuracy.
My barrels are free floating and due to the brass muzzle cap design, float individualy as they expand and contract due to the differential heat from firing. During firing, one barrel is always hotter than the other. If the barrels are welded there are serious stresses in the barrel metal and can easily fracture under the pressures from firing unless properly normalized, however the barrels will still bend like a banana longitudinally impacting accuracy.
Thanks again for the input,
Tony
Topic: Swivel Breech Flintlock (Read 2634 times)