My Lockdown project

[MrChipShoulder]

Not sure if anybody is interested here (probably not), but here is my 2020 lockdown project.

It's almost finished, just waiting on the new leather sling I commissioned and my wrist plate to come back from being engraved.

I did think about buying in some of the parts, but didn't know where to buy them in the Uk, so made them all by hand from brass bar and sheet. Never done this type of metal working before, but enjoyed the challenge! I even taught myself to silver solder, so making my lockdown educational and productive.

I did find a few places in the US to buy castings and brass sheet items such as patch boxes etc, but the cost would have mounted up very fast, not forgetting shipping and import! The only place I found in the UK didn't have the range I was looking for plus they never got back to me when I sent them an email, so making by hand seemed the cheapest and best option for me.

If I am correct, this fowler (16g shotgun) is a 1950's trade gun, and is/was fairly worthless, I certainly didn't pay too much for it. My original objective was to simply buy it so I could have a play with flintlock at a very low outlay. But with the lockdown forcing me to live in my workshop, turning this turd into something fully sorted and worth owning seemed like a good idea to me. The project got started about 4 weeks ago once the barrel got back from the Birmingham Proof house. I felt having a fresh UK proof on this old barrel was a good idea as I only have one pair of hands and one face!

I have had a custom ball mould made exactly for this barrel, I cast up a full bag of balls and they fit very nicely with 0.015" patch. Time will tell though as to what GP load and patch thickness will work the best. The mould is 0.656" and the balls come out at 0.652" being cast from soft lead.


As she came to me 6 moths ago

https://ibb.co/BKxGVVd
https://ibb.co/G045v5q
https://ibb.co/s2V9f9J
https://ibb.co/1vmWGpH

The reworking starts here.

https://ibb.co/5FsMx3b
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https://ibb.co/3BjRfck
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Stock gets finish coat

https://ibb.co/3cHLTJR
https://ibb.co/NZdfbJH
https://ibb.co/JCDCY7K
https://ibb.co/Thpy643
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Almost there

https://ibb.co/nn0HJJ4
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https://ibb.co/MnzjbKq
https://ibb.co/tL8qL0H
https://ibb.co/GRmCGc2

[martini1215]

Very nice workmanship, you have done some great work there it looks a picture.

[MrChipShoulder]

Project Swivels !!
What a load of work for such a small item !!
The sling was made for me by 'Shedtime Handcrafted Leatherwork'.
I can highly recommend Shedtime Leather, great quality and fast turn around time.

https://ibb.co/vBwMzzf
https://ibb.co/9VRBhpN
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[tacfoley]

Very nice work indeed. You should be proud of your hard work.

[MrChipShoulder]

Patchbox lined with velvet and my new 'Possibles Bag' (aka Shotgun shell bag )
Just the wrist plate to go back in now.
I'm also making the range rod and fittings for this Fowler (I always make my own).

https://ibb.co/jDT9bbs
https://ibb.co/4V58VS1

[enfield2band]

You appear to have a very well equipped workshop that is better than the average hobbyist or model engineer.

Did you make the sling swivels on a former or did you do them in a die on a fly-press? I know from experience that bending something like that by hand is very difficult to get even on both legs/sides.

The barrel appears to have Belgian proof marks and the bore at 18.8mm. Why was it necessary to have it reproofed?