Calamity of caliber choices

[smee78]

Why not go for something like a 32 caliber? Good luck on your build, keep us posted. I would be interested in seeing your progress.

[44 AMP]

Here's a thought, if you're going to built a revolver from steel stock (make it from scratch) why not make a version of the Webley-Fosberry???

Magnum calibers would be out, not friendly to a top break latch system, but in .45Colt, or .45ACP (with half moon clips) it would ROCK!!!

Ok, its like climbing MT Everest your first time out, but if you're going for the challenge of doing it, what could be more challenging and unique???

Good Luck, whatever you settle on...

[HighValleyRanch]

How about something simple at first like the H&R Single shot revolver?

[Driftwood Johnson]

I’ll make those once I decide on a cartage. I will design it around the cartage in AutoCAD.

The only dimensions that should change depending on caliber are the chamber, bore, and rifling details. Everything else is completely the same, regardless of caliber. Of course if you make one for 22 Rimfire you will need to position the firing pin for a 22 RF round, and the firing pin hole in the frame will have to be adjusted to match.

I used to draw parts on AutoCad for a living. Believe me, there is a lot more to building a SAA than creating CAD drawings.

At the very least, I suggest you buy this book. The most complete book about the Single Action Army on the market. Includes lots of specifications and measured drawings. Well worth the price.

http://www.gunbooks.com/colt_sa.html

Also available at Amazon.

[Chainsaw.]

Alot of nay-sayers "you need a mill" "an entire factory..." etc etc. All false. You need those things to make a revolver in a timely fasion, but if a man wants to make one...eventually well thats his choice to do so. And I applaud him for it.

Like the old saying goes, when all you have is a hammer every thing looks like a nail. When working with my rigger buddy he couldnt get his head away from using a crane even when one wasn't avalible. When chatting with my friend he couldnt thing outside of using "products" that a bank would sell (he sells debt). Just because one man cant envision it doesn't mean another man cant produce it. Darn tootin it wont happen quickly, but its only his place to decide if its worth while.

[kozak6]

How sure are you of your design, skills, and materials?

Catastrophic failure in .22 lr looks a bit different than catastrophic failure in 7.62x54r.

I'd say to start small and go with a .22 lr.

You'll learn a lot from building it. If you enjoy it building it, you can apply those lessons to the next one you make, but in centerfire.

[Driftwood Johnson]

By the way, good luck making the hammer cam, which needs to be properly placed in the hammer. And good luck making the bolt, which needs to be made from spring steel and tempered properly because one leg has to flex as it pops over the hammer cam for the action to function properly. Probably the two most critical components of the Single Action Army. If not tempered properly, one of the legs may break off.

Like this.




Sorry, I have no idea what the proper material is for the bolt, or what the proper temper is. But I would never try to make one. If you buy the book I suggested you will at least get an idea what they are supposed to look like.

[stinkeypete]

“She got a 38 Special, but I believe it’s most too light.
I got a 32-20, got to make the caps alright”
- Robert Johnson

Sir, they made Colt Peacemakers in the 1870s. People today forget what craftsmen could make over 150 years ago by hand. Your project isn’t crazy, but it is ambitious.

My opinion is to reproduce a classic revolver and chamber it in the most desirable caliber for a collector. When you succeed, no one will be able to afford your revolver- perhaps your great grandkids will donate it to a museum, but you will have made yourself in to a master gunsmith.

Colt. 45 Long Colt. 44-40 if you insist on being a weirdo.

If I could offer advice- It’s an ambitious project; start with something that you have full plans for and realize this could take many years.

[44 AMP]

Once you get your revolver done, I've got a suggestion for your next "impossible" project...

I've always wanted a Luger in .44AMP (Auto Mag Pistol)...

Though, as a (slightly) more practical matter, I'd gladly settle for one in .45 Win Mag.

No drawings for one of those, you'll have to figure out everything, on your own.

I might be able to lend you a Luger to measure and "scale up", if you get to that point and need one. (assuming I'm still around, and still have a Luger, )

Good Luck with your build!

[Bill DeShivs]

In the 1870s, Colt had a fully equipped FACTORY, with machinery.
In 1870, people were not sitting around in caves beating things
with rocks.

[gwpercle]

About a gazillion years ago I bought some "plans" to make a simple break open single shot 22 LR pistol you could make with hand tools , even cutting the chamber. Very simple design , had complete instructions . I never made one but wish I could find those plans , I remember the envelope had a 5 cent postage stamp on it ....I have more time now .

Anyway...if your going to make a revolver...make one in something exotic. Elmer Keith's book "Sixguns" shows a rather large custom single action in ...45-70 !
Now you don't see those every day .

Good luck ,
Gary

[DaleA]

I've always wanted a Luger in .44AMP (Auto Mag Pistol)... I'd gladly settle for one in .45 Win Mag.

Yowser!!!

(You're so picky I bet you'd want it to survive more than one round too!)

[44 AMP]

You're so picky I bet you'd want it to survive more than one round too!)

I am, and I would.

The toggle action is very efficient. The toggle system was used in the Maxim machine gun (the British Vickers and the German Spandau), and numerous other weapons.

A Luger, properly scaled and made of the right materials would take the pressure. The LAR Grizzly is a "properly scaled" to the .45 Win Mag 1911A1.

It could be done. It can't be affordably done, and would take a dedicated "mad machinist" to do it, but it could be done.

The frame would have to be made from scratch, not welded together from a couple of cut Luger frames the way some .45ACP Lugers were made.

Think about it, ok it will come out being close to the size of a Desert Eagle, but it would look soo freakin cool!!!

If you're going to the Moon, why not go to Mars?? (ok Mars is cold as hell, so..why go? but if you are going anyway why not go with a bit of real class?? )

[xandi]

I have a few chunks of mystery steel, a 40x110mm, 66x140 and a 37x190. I’m sure I can get a hold of some more.
Let’s say it’s mild steel, just how thick would the cylinder walls needs to be?
A 44 Auto mag Luger sounds like a Monster. I wonder if, to get it to work, it would look more like a old Borchardt pistol. Of course if the design was modified and boasted with a selection of titanium parts....

[Jim Watson]

Look at a first generation Colt SAA .45.
Of course they did have to reduce the load because cylinders were failing proof test.

[reddog81]

Originally Posted by xandi

Let’s say it’s mild steel, just how thick would the cylinder walls needs to be?

That would depend on the cartridge you choose. Big difference between .22 and a .357. Additionally no one is going to be able to answer that question with any degree of certainty. I'd start with a .22 just to prove that the concept will work and worst case scenario is that you have to build a 2nd cylinder with a stronger steel when the first one gives out.

[lamarw]

I am far from knowledgeable about metallurgy. I would think you are wasting time, energy and effort not to mention wearing out tools by working with unknown steel/metal that are not proper for the purpose. Why not spend a little money on a known material(s). As another poster has already stated, you will need different types of steel for the different parts.

As we have all read various manufacturers had a dickens of a time with early attempts at manufacturing stainless steel firearms. Their tooling was not adequate for the hardness of stainless. I think one would want to have the appropriate cutting, grinding and drilling tool heads, cutters, bits, or whatever for the application. It has to be time consuming even for auto cad applications in the setting and adjustments of tools for the various patterns for each part. I am sure my ignorance is showing.

One would suspect the material cost might be minor compared to the overall cost especially when you are talking in terms of a single handgun.

[Hal]

How about something simple at first like the H&R Single shot revolver?

I'm really sure anything I made would be a single shot...
no matter how many chambers it had in the cylinder!

[Chainsaw.]

This guy built a Lamborghini in his basement, from scratch. Sooo. Yeah, you can build a pistol if you decide to.

https://jalopnik.com/5954486/the-man...nts-to-sell-it

[rock185]

A 7.62X54R would be quite a revolver!

[kozak6]

Especially in unknown scrap mild steel.

[xandi]

7.62x54r should have a fireball(; just imagine the orthopedic damage.
10mm wall thickness should work if it was hardenable
I’m gonna do some testing on the scrap before machining(spark testing, and test if it Will harden)

[LOLBELL]

Man, am I glad Bill Ruger, Sam Colt, John Moses Browning, and a few others didn't have a lot of you guys around "encouraging" them. We would be in a heckuva bind now.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Let’s say it’s mild steel, just how thick would the cylinder walls needs to be?

You know, I could grab one of my Colts and measure the cylinder wall thickness, but I am not going to. This is such a bad idea, that I am not going to encourage it by writing down any technical information beyond buying a particular book.

Man, am I glad Bill Ruger, Sam Colt, John Moses Browning, and a few others didn't have a lot of you guys around "encouraging" them. We would be in a heckuva bind now.

Not 100% sure what you are trying to say, but if you are trying to compare Ruger, Colt, and, Browning with a guy who wants to try building a complicated firearm as his first effort, you are all wet. John Browning apprenticed for years with his father, who was also a gunsmith, before he started designing firearms on his own. And with all due respect, Browning was a genius, with dozens of patents to his name. He had forgotten more than most of us will ever know about designing guns. Bill Ruger was a talented mechanical engineer who knew how to use new concepts, such as Investment Castings, to produce firearms more economically than his competitors. Sam Colt was not a gun maker, he was an entrepreneur. He relied on others to iron out the details of how to put his ideas into production. Colt's most enduring contribution to firearms manufacturing was using ideas created by the industrial revolution to mass produce firearms.

[LOLBELL]

Originally Posted by Driftwood Johnson

You know, I could grab one of my Colts and measure the cylinder wall thickness, but I am not going to. This is such a bad idea, that I am not going to encourage it by writing down any technical information beyond buying a particular book.



Not 100% sure what you are trying to say, but if you are trying to compare Ruger, Colt, and, Browning with a guy who wants to try building a complicated firearm as his first effort, you are all wet. John Browning apprenticed for years with his father, who was also a gunsmith, before he started designing firearms on his own. And with all due respect, Browning was a genius, with dozens of patents to his name. He had forgotten more than most of us will ever know about designing guns. Bill Ruger was a talented mechanical engineer who knew how to use new concepts, such as Investment Castings, to produce firearms more economically than his competitors. Sam Colt was not a gun maker, he was an entrepreneur. He relied on others to iron out the details of how to put his ideas into production. Colt's most enduring contribution to firearms manufacturing was using ideas created by the industrial revolution to mass produce firearms.

Bill, Sam, and John all started somewhere with design and building, and by the way I'm not "all wet" I am completely dry. Do we know this guy? Do we know his background? He may be a genius. He may be the next JM Browning. He is being criticized because he is stepping out and trying something out of the norm. Just because some here thinks he can't do it doesn't mean he can't. Most geniuses were thought to be crazy when starting out with a new idea. He may be one of those.