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[Eric Krewson]

Here is my fancy drilling jig, a field point held firmly in my vise. Once you align the drill bit and the spike you can drill a hole and have it come out exactly where you want every time.

[Eric Krewson]

Like this;

[chamookman]

Great tip Eric  ! Thanks - Bob.

[sleek]

What are you counter sinking with? I'm always counter sinking fasteners at work and may be able to hook you up with a tool to do that job with no chatter.

[Eric Krewson]

I have used them all for the most part, one flute to six, done them by hand and drill press, put cardboard under the counter sink etc. Not all get chatter but most do.

[sleek]

 Have you tried one with a pilot? It's a little nub that's .002 ish smaller than the hole, and guides the cutter straight with the hole, stopping chatter. You could also drop your rpm and increase your downward pressure. That usually helps as well.

[Eric Krewson]

I have some of the ones you mention but they are short. On drilling a tang hole you have to drill a long hole to the trigger plate and countersink at exactly the same angle you went through the tang with your drill bit. I have a problem taking a long bit out and putting the short one in my drill press and not having my gun shift position. I can't clamp it in the drill press vise and drill ar the right angle, the stock gets in the way.

[sleek]

There are counter sinks out there that slide onto the shank of the drill bit and are set with a set screw. Everytime you drill to a certain depth, you countersink the exact same depth and angle of the drill bit every time.

I know it's a small thing, it gets covered up anyway, but just offering ideas on how to make that easier for you.

[Parnell]

I'm watching, Eric.  I've just begun to pull out my next project now that the humidity will begin to lessen down here.  A Lancaster rifle in fancy maple, so similar to this project, I suppose?. I've ordered the plans from Track...should be here soon.  It's a swamped Colerain A wt. .45 42" barrel.  I've just begun to start cleaning it up.  I'll post up soon.

[Eric Krewson]

I was able to jocky the short pilot hole countersink into the tang hole and it cut a perfect countersink, no chatter.

Today's project was to teach a guy about bows and bow making, he was a no show so I worked on my gun.

I installed the barrel underlugs, drilled and pinned the stock the barrel, it went well. This is a measure 5 times and drill once kinda thing.

This was a kit gun and the previous owner had Track cut the dovetails for the underlugs. The dovetails were cut a little crooked but the underlugs supplied with the kit tapped right in with no filing.



Making the lines to line up with once I get the barrel in the stock. I have the top of barrel clamped to a straight piece of aluminum and will lower my bit and adjust the aluminum stop to where the bit hits perfectly on the lug.




I have the barrel c clamped in the stock with tang bolt tightened. I have lined up all my lines and are ready to drill the stock and underlug together.



Success, all three lugs in and pinned, I do them one at a time and pull the barrel to make sure I hit each one just right before I go to the next one. I have to make a different measurement and reclamp for each lug. The barrel is swamped and they are all in a little different position.

[Deerhunter21]

huh. that guy missed out. hope he didnt just skip. heard horror stories about guys skipping and bows.

Im this build along is cool.

[Eric Krewson]

Here is the story on the kit; I saw an ad on the Stickbow classified for a flintlock kit, $650 shipped. I contacted the guy and asked him very specific questions about the parts in the kit and where he got it. He said a guy bought the kit, kept it a long time and realized he didn't have the skills to build it. He traded the kit to the guy I bought it from for several vintage bows.

The parts were all top notch, the best out there, I knew from the description the kit was an Issac Hanes Lancaster kit from Track of the Wolf. The guy I bought it from was a gun builder and said he had more barrels and parts than he would ever use and wanted to turn the kit over for some cash. The kit also came with every drill bit and thread tap needed to complete the build and had the buttplate installed and the dovetails for the underlugs and sights already cut by Track of the Wolf. This work alone would have cost several hundred dollars.

I ran just the parts through Tracks on line order form and came out with $1100. My check was in the mail the next day, two days later the kit was on my porch.

The kit was a .50 cal, I like .54 so I had the barrel rebored and riffled to .54 and began my build. Well, my silk purse turned out to be a sow's ear with such a horribly done precarve stock that I had to glue in a bunch of patches just to make things work. I will make a good gun out of it but I was planning a show piece but won't go to all that trouble with a patched stock. The stock, although hacked up by Pecatonica during the precarve is the finest figured maple I have ever had in my shop so I can't trash it and start over.

I had planned to finish the gun for deer season last year but when I saw how bad the stock was it took the wind out of my sails and I only work on the gun when the mood strikes me. I have been having  fun working on the gun lately so I guess I will finish it in the next couple of months.

Note to self, if you ever are tempted to buy a precarve again lock yourself in a closet until the urge has passed. I have bought two, both took me more time to straighten out the stock profilers goof-ups than I would have spent building from a plank.

[Eric Krewson]

An unexpected goof-up; I drilled a pilot hole through the bolster for the lock bolt where I always drill them and found the lock bolt would be partially in the back of the barrel and breechplug. Time to patch the bad hole.

Notice the toothpick glued in the first pilot hole, it will be covered up by the side plate.



I drilled out my pilot hole for a 6-32 screw and tapped the hole.



I countersunk the 6-32 hole.



I screwed in a screw and cut it off above the hole.

[Eric Krewson]

I peened the screw flat on the lockplate and into the countersink.



I filed and dressed the screw head, it almost disappears.



I drilled a new hole in the right place and drilled the breechplug lug. You want the lug hole to be much bigger than your lock bolt so the guns recoil won't put stress on the lock plate and possibly cause a crack at the tail of the lock mortise.



Tapping the lockplate for the lock bolt, I got a perfect fit on the lock bolt this time, it screws into the lock plate easily through the clearance hole.

[Eric Krewson]

The tedious part of gun building, all the brass parts are rough castings. It takes a lot of filing with needle files and sanding to get rid of the casting gates as well as bringing the part to a buffed finish. This is probably my least favorite part of building a gun. This is definitely a rainy day activity when I have nothing else to do.