View Single Post
Old December 12, 2005, 02:27 AM   #47
Wayner
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 8, 2005
Posts: 116
shooting my 58's

Well Old Dragoon, I noticed up there where I hadn't read before that your gun barrel didn't have a dovetail cut for the loading lever latch initially but the original press fit type. Well, ifin you don't want to shape the dovetail you are gonna use now you can get one from someplace that sells the parts for building muzzleloader rifles. I've built a few rifles(used to have a muzzleloading rifle shop)and know of sources for those things. You probably do too I imagine. Doesn't everyone know about Dixie Gun Works?? ha ha ha Anywhooo a dovetail piece from a steel sight for a rifle can work good. I was reading where you are going to get some files to work the dovetail. Brownells sells 60degree dovetail files that are real handy because they have a smooth side to one side of the triangle and that makes cutting in a nice dovetail easier. Well, you mentioned to someone that you are gonna make a sight? Do you know that the "Shooters" Model Pietta Remington has a dovetailed front sight from the factory and that they(the sight) can be bought cheap? VTI GunParts. The loading lever latch on the Shooters Model Pietta Remington is a dovetailed part from the factory also and can probably be had from VTI GunParts too. Save ya some work there Bud. I was wondering what process you are going to use to shorten the loading lever on your gun since the latch is going to be moved to the rear more? Whatever method you use it may be wise to hold off on the dovetailing for the latch until you shorten the loading lever. Doing the loading lever shortening first can save some headache since it may be easier to locate the exact spot for the dovetailed latch once you have the lever sized to length. Don't want to get the cart before the horse. ha ha ha ha Ifin you aren't interested in shooting percussion with that gun you could get the "spring quick clip" from River Junction that is a "no-gunsmithing" way to hold the arbor(cylinder pin) in the gun and the loading lever can just be thrown into the spare parts bin. Save the other gun for the percussion stuff and just use the spare percussion cylinder for it. Save ya a lot of work. Save your energy to make a cool sight like The Remington Kid did with a coin or something. Anywhooooo, I was wondering if you have a good drill press without a lot of side slap to the spindle? If you do have one and a machinists vise or a good drill press vise you can use an end mill to cut the initial straight cut(get a perfectly straight ,flush ,parallel to the cut) and then use a 60 degree dovetail cutter(end mill) to hit the corners and make a dovetail that will be near perfect and no need to peen any metal to tighten the piece in the dovetail if ya take yer time and eye-ball her good. Measure with your calipers too. ha ha Ifin you didn't want to spend money on the 60 degree dovetail cutter you could cut the first cut(parallel sided) with a bottoming end mill and then use the 60 degree dovetail file from Brownells to cut the angles into the cut to make it a "dovetail". You'd need that machinists vise though with the little handles to turn the part into the endmill. Does this help any Bud? See ya on top the hill. Watch yer top knot and keep yer eyes on the skyline. You'll do well Old Dragoon. You'll do well.
Wayner is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.03160 seconds with 8 queries