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A little shop time this weekend aka visitation rights with the lathe and mill.
I've been wanting an inexpensive flintlock pistol to shoot. I have two Jukar Colonial Caplock Pistol kits set back for a rainy day, then came across a 3rd set of incomplete parts for a very fair price. It was missing the caplock as a whole, sights and some screws, but the stock and barrel were there and that was all it took to get started. The flintlock was a previous purchase in a random beer flat of blackpowder stuff from the local auction house.
The drum for the caplock ignition system was already buggered up with a broken nipple and a failed attempt at removing it from the barrel. No fire wrench needed, the drum removed fairly easy but to my surprise is was some ridiculous contraption that reminded me more of a bleeder for a brake caliper than a drum for a muzzleloader. Being a Spanish made kit Jukar/CVA it happened to be inconvenient threads too 10mmx1.25, lucky me the local farm store had one in stock.
I chucked the bolt up in the lathe, cut the head off, turned it around and proceeded to cut the brake bleeder style taper on the end of the bolt. Time to check it, I called the local parts store about some Prussian Blue and they acted like I was crazy, ok saved me a trip to town. I'm all about improvising, so some borrowed lipstick from the wife, it wasn't used so she must not like it was my theory. I applied a little to the recently tapered end of the bolt and checked the fit inside the barrel, looked like 100% contact, good to go! Put a mark on the bolt facing the bore for later cutting operations. Removed the makeshift bolt/drum and put back into the lathe to drill the 1/16 flashole. Slowly drilled with lots of lube as not to break the drill bit. Then to the drill press to use a ball mill bit to open up the 90 degree portion so the drum could act like a patent breech and direct the spark to the main charge of blackpowder (see picture). Installed the makeshift bolt/drum in the barrel using a fair amount of anti-seize and cut most of the excess off with the power band saw. Installed the barrel assembly in the milling machine vise and cut the bolt/drum down to a length so it could be filed by hand. Placed the barrel in a padded vise and filed the bolt/drum flush with the flats of the barrel.
Assembled the pistol for test firing. Completed a couple of dry fires to test the flintlock for spark. It sparked well enough. It was awfully windy out, so much so that I was afraid the lead balls would blow away, so the live fire was delayed until a friendly spring day could be found.
Project was fun, but the machine time would likely surpass the value to the pistol. Non the less, it should be fun to shoot and I cannot wait to see if I can hit the broad side of a barn with it.
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