This is the beginning of a new Project. I am starting the reproduction of a matched pair of 10 Bore Purdey Style Caplock Double Rifles.

I thought you guys might like to follow along
.
I spent most of the week turning the barrels down and getting started on the breeches.

Links to videos:
http://stolzergunsmithing.word...ls-and-breech-plugs/

http://stolzergunsmithing.wordpress.com/

Enjoy,

Colin

Time to bust out the popcorn!
I figured you would take a vacation after the 2 bore double
I hope you take that two bore to some gun shows to let people dream big and promote your brand.
So this is a non breaking double matched pair. Is this to have one in hand and one in the gun bearers hands because reloading is a $&@# when staring at a charging buff?
I bet it's much cheaper than a breaking double right?

Actually the matched pair is for two guys who were from the same gun club. They contacted me wanting the matched set with consecutive numbers.

Muzzleloading double rifles are quite a bit cheaper to build since there is no action to machine or fit. The breeches are pretty much the bulk of the machine and fitting work on these.

Colin

Colin, did a gentleman named Samuel Baker place this order?

Quite excited to have another one of your projects to follow along with. Really enjoyed the 2 bore project.

That was an extremely enjoyable 19 Min's and 14 sec's my friend!
I hope to watch all the videos made for this project.

This week's update.

http://stolzergunsmithing.word...aping-and-soldering/

http://stolzergunsmithing.wordpress.com/

Enjoy,

Colin

Look forward to seeing your work. Keep it coming.

BTT for you CS

This week's update.

http://stolzergunsmithing.word...ch-and-tang-shaping/

http://stolzergunsmithing.wordpress.com/

Enjoy,

Colin

Thanks, I love this stuff

quote:

Originally posted by J_Zola:
Thanks, I love this stuff

I am SO right there...

If I want a SxS rifle from you Colin, regarding caliber, black powder/muzzle loader,
what is the SMALLEST one that I could morally use to hunt the biggest Alaskan brown
bear?
I doubt that the consensus would be 4 bore, but maybe it's 13 bore, or 8 bore or .58
caliber... I just don't know. If it was a black powder CARTRIDGE firing rifle would that
change things?

quote:

Originally posted by D R Hunter:
If I want a SxS rifle from you Colin, regarding caliber, black powder/muzzle loader,
what is the SMALLEST one that I could morally use to hunt the biggest Alaskan brown
bear?
I doubt that the consensus would be 4 bore, but maybe it's 13 bore, or 8 bore or .58
caliber... I just don't know. If it was a black powder CARTRIDGE firing rifle would that
change things?

D R Hunter,

I've never hunted bear with anything but modern cartridge rifles BUT I've had several customers who took bear with Muzzleloaders. I've known 2 guys that have taken bear with .62 caliber in Wyoming.

Caliber would really depend on if you wanted a ball gun or a bullet gun...if you were interested in patched round ball I would probably recommend going 12 Bore or bigger. 8 Bores are nice and they have been proven effective all over the world, they are a nice combination of big ball with a lot of energy yet the rifle itself stays light enough to be carried and used efficiently. In a bullet gun I would probably go with a .62 caliber. NEI makes a couple different .62 caliber 900gr molds.

In a black powder cartridge rifle it again depends on if you are talking about a roundball gun or a bullet gun. Same basic rules apply Mass and Velocity are what determine Energy.

Colin

Thanks Colin. I'd want a BULLET, unless there's a big
reason to go ball in muzzle loader and cartridge rifle
Your comment?

D R Hunter,

There are Pros and Cons to both Roundballs and bullets in Muzzleloaders.

Roundballs,

Pro:
Easy to cast
Simple loading procedures
Patched Roundball is tight enough in the bore to prevent the offside ball from moving forward from recoil of shooting the first barrel.

Con:
To get more energy you either have to go to a bigger powder charge(more velocity) or you have to go to a bigger ball(more mass) or BOTH.
Roundballs have a lower SD and BC compared to bullets of equal weight.
Bigger Bore means more recoil

Bullet Muzzleloaders...I suppose I should start by giving a brief overview of the options in loading bullets in muzzleloaders.

Sabots - using a plastic sleeve over a smaller diameter bullet to get a good rifling engagement. This of course has it's limitations on the sizes of sabots and bullet combinations that can be used, they are limited to commercial made products/availability or you have to have custom made components.

Paper Patched Bullet - wrapping an undersized bullet in paper to get proper rifling engagement. This works very well. If the proper bullet diameter can't be bought or cast then you can always run bullets through a sizing die and then wrap them. The downside is the time consuming pain the butt of making the paper patches and wrapping them.

Modern Version of a Whitworth bullet - This is a variation of the original Whitworth idea that the bullets are cast to match the twist and rifling of the barrel...instead of casting the bullets to match the barrel, you start by buying the barrel a couple of inches longer than finished length. Then I turn it down and thread it to fit a reloading press(7/8 - 14tpi). Cast or buy bullets that are groove diameter then lube them and run them through the barrel section in the reloading press, this gives you a pre-rifled bullet that is matched to the barrels. These tend to be very accurate rifles and can be set up to use jacketed or solid DG Bullets. The downside is in a double rifle the bullets don't take a hard seat, so recoil from firing the first barrel can actually move the bullet forward off the powder. Air gaps between powder and bullet can cause bad things to happen, I've seen plenty of bulged and ruptured barrels form short seating. This works great in single shot rifles and smaller bore doubles, it's not so great in heavy recoiling big bore doubles.

So the pros and cons of bullet muzzleloaders:

Pro:
Heavier bullet for smaller caliber
better ballistics
less recoil

Cons:
More complicated reloading procedure
Faster twist than a ball gun means fouling is worse and requires better cleaning.

That's my quick off the top of my head two bits on muzzleloadin ball vs bullet guns.

As for Ball vs Bullet in a Black Powder Cartridge rifle...all the normal pros and cons of normal black powder cartridge shooting apply.

Colin

What about a 12 gauge DR smooth bore muzzle loader with screw in paradox "chokes" for round ball or slugs or any kind of projectile pretty much buckshot to sabots. Stuff then screw in the twist paradox choke at the end. Reloading is a PITA so the extra step of chokes would not be horrible right? That avatar I have is of a gorgeous Holland and Holland royal 12 gauge paradox in my hands shooting lighter slugs.

Dumping loose powder over open threads and then having to clean it all up later wouldn't be the ideal way to go but I suppose it would be doable.

Colin

These are absolutely incredible. You are truly a gifted craftsman and I look forward to the next video. Thank you.

The fix for what Boom Stick suggests is to use two different choke tubes. Several years ago I built an English style flint single fowler to use as a turkey gun. I used a recessed choke and was unhappy with the patterns so I had a friend cut the muzzle for Remington choke tubes.

For hunting, I load the gun in camp with a cyl tube installed and then switch to a Turkey choke tube. In practice it works great. It's a pain to load, but in reality a second shot with a single flint isn't going to happen.

This was a workable solution to extend the range of my flint fowler but I certainly wouldn't consider this system for a DR for big bears!

Last year I built a muzzle loading double rifle by using a nice English double shotgun as a starting place. The original barrels were there, but had been destroyed by someone trying to ream the barrels. We used new slow twist .62 cal barrels with the original breech plugs and the same technique that Cowboy is using to join and regulate the barrels. It shoots great with .610 round balls. I would use a big, tightly patched round ball if I wanted a DG rifle. I'm afraid of recoil moving a bullet in the off barrel.

That being said, people successfully use the Pedersoli ML double rifles with bullets. There have been several articles in DG Journal about people using them in Africa.

quote:

Originally posted by CowboyCS:
Dumping loose powder over open threads and then having to clean it all up later wouldn't be the ideal way to go but I suppose it would be doable.

Colin

I was thinking some screw in barrel piece with external threads and thread cap for not in use times but inner threads can work too. A funnel would prevent and thread/powder issues.
With so many options for the 12 gauge it seems like the best option unless being different is the goal.
Maybe one rifled barrel and one smooth?

External threads on a double gun might be a tad difficult.

After my last post I recalled another DGJ article by Ross Seifred (?) about someone in this country making paradox barrel blanks for sale. Don't know if they are actually in production or not. I would think they'd be made on a custom basis.

That could work.

I appreciate Colin's detailed answer as well as all posts that followed his.

DR
I was looking thru some old back issues of DGJ for some small bore rifle info and happened to see one of the articles on the Pedersoli Double muzzle loaders.

The rifle was a .58 caliber and the load was a 555 grain T/C Maxi ball over a greased wad and 140 grains of FFG black powder. He used musket caps for ignition. The hunter used soft bullets for thin skinned game and recommended hardened bullets for DG.

MACD,

Good lookin' out!

This week's update.

http://stolzergunsmithing.word...4-shaping-the-tangs/

http://stolzergunsmithing.wordpress.com/

Enjoy,

Colin

Just goy my crack fix, thanks.
Nitro

BTT so you can find it Cowboy

Thanks for the bump J-Zola but I've got it in my favorites so it is easy to find or is this your subtle way of reminding me to post every weekend?

This week's progress.

http://stolzergunsmithing.word...tion-wedge-and-ribs/

http://stolzergunsmithing.wordpress.com/

Enjoy,

Colin

facinating

Look forward to this every week. Learn a lot with each viewing.

Colin

Where is Part 6 ?
You know how I get without my "Fix"

LOL
Nitro

Patience Grasshopper. I'm uploading it to youtube this morning.

Short work week but I still managed to make some progress.

http://stolzergunsmithing.word...s-and-trigger-plate/

http://stolzergunsmithing.wordpress.com/

Enjoy,

Colin

Cool, Thanks

Nitro

SOLD
Due to some special circumstances with one of my customers on this project, I am going to make a special offer for one of the two 10 Bore Purdey Style Rifles I am currently building.

ONLY ONE OF THE TWO RIFLES IS AVAILABLE.

There will be a couple of option of how I want to proceed;

Option A:
I will sell this as a kit that will need to be finished by the purchaser. The kit will include the Barrels(breeched, joined, ribbed top and bottom with ramrod pipes attached, refer to videos and picture), modified lock plates and all lock internal(one Left and one Right side), Forearm entry pipe, triggers and triggerplate, triggerguard, buttplate, NECG multi-leaf rear express sight, Silver caterpillar with flip-up night sight(pearl) Front sight, Rear sling button, Ramrod w/ brass tip, Jeff Tanner Ball Mould, Tang and the Walnut Stock Blank(nice grain structure with a little bit of figure in the butt). Basically a complete kit with most of the difficult work of breeching, joining and ribbing the barrel finished…the kit would have to be completed(inletting of all parts) and then load work and regulation and all finish work completed. I will include a full size drawing with this option and would be available via phone or email to help talk you the buyer through finishing the project.
The cost of this option will be $2,535.00USD plus insured shipping.


Option B:
You can assume the place of my customer, by this I mean that I am currently 3 years backlogged but if you took over the current contract on this build you would get to be first in line as I finish this project with the matching rifle. It would not have to be a match, I can custom build this from this point forward to your specification regarding stock fit and finish(including upgrading the walnut blank if you want), metal finish(color case hardening, blue or browning), engraving can be upgraded and Checkering can be upgraded. It would still include the Jeff Tanner ball Mould and would be a finished regulated 10 bore double rifle when completed.
This option would cost a Deposit of $2,535.00USD and then depending on if you wanted any upgrades we would negotiate the remainder of the balance(the original as spec’d was to have a finished price of $3,900.00 plus shipping), I am also flexible on payment options for the remainder of the balance and would be willing to work with anyone interested in having this rifle.

Option C:
If someone wanted to buy-out just the original deposit on this project, I would then move this gun to the bottom of my build roster(3 year backlog) and give them the time to decide how they wanted to proceed with the build, including negotiating a finished price with any upgrades to wood, finish, engraving, metal finish, checkering, etc…and would work out a payment arrangement that would work within their budget. This option is a slightly lower buy in and has the ability to save up for the balance over the next few years. The cost of this option would be $1,850.00USD with the rest to be negotiated depending on your specifications.

If you are interested in any of the options please contact me via email or by phone. My contact information is at stolzergunsmithing.com . This offer will only be good for a limited time(as I work on the other one of the matched pair over the next couple weeks) and then I will proceed with the build as spec’d by the original customer and try to sell it as a finished rifle.

With regard to changes:
Basically anything that has to do with the barrels(Caliber, length, ribs, tang, rear sight) can’t be changed at this point but any changes to the stock can be made at this point. I believe I have enough material in the blank to change it to a Rigby style pistol grip if that is desired and can include a gripcap in the changes if that interests anyone.
SOLD
Thank you,

Colin

P.S. I will continue to document the build of the other rifle with regular updates.

Great opportunity. I hope someone takes you up on the offer. I love watching these videos.

Damn! If at any other time over the past 2 yrs this had come up I would have bought this project, upgraded, and have a left hand stock fitted. Such goes the lot of the self employed.

Someone had better snap this up!

This week I finished up the rough metal work and started the beginning of the stock work.

http://stolzergunsmithing.word...s-and-stock-lay-out/

http://stolzergunsmithing.wordpress.com/

Enjoy,

Colin