Building the BP trade rifle from a TOTW kit

[Claven2]

Well, I'm going to build a TOTW Lehman Trade rifle in left handed flint and figure it will be fun to document the build. For those looking to try one of these, these builds are not quite as easy as the TOTW ad copy makes them out to be if you want it to look as nice as the finished rifles displayed on their page.

Hopefully this will be an instructive thread that helps people decide if this project is within your abilities and if so, as a guide so as not to make any of the mistakes I sometimes make - LOL.

So as for what to expect when ordering... well, for starters, your kit will not ship with a lock n all likelihood. Track does not usually keep many locks in stock, so it will be backordered and arrive later - you will get dinged with shipping costs twice as a result, so get ready for that.

Depending on the stock grade you order, the price of the rifle can be vastly different than the initial pricing you see. In the case of this kit, all-in price (August 2010) was about $750 with a fancy grade maple stock (semi-inlet - more on that later).

Now for state of parts. You will get raw sand or wax castings. What does this mean? Well, the photos will help, but it means no surfaces on anything will be finished. few, if any, holes will be located or drilled. no mating surfaces will mate without tool work, and not all possible parts (like some small screws or springs) will be included. This is NOT like a Lyman or Pedersoli kit where are you do is sand and finish the stock then install everything. Do not expect that.

The stock will have the barrel channel roughly inlet, but not the tang or even the rear of the barrel itself. The ramrod hole will be drilled. There will be no lock inletting done. The buttplate are will be rough from the carving machine.

These rifes can be made with iron or brass trim. I prefer iron so this build will reflect that. If you aren't great at metal working, consider the brass set - its easier to work with and more forgiving.

Now if you're not scared away yet... here's some pics of the things I already started before deciding to begin this thread.

This is how the patch box arrives to you. No casting sprues are removed apart from a rough grind. No casting burrs are removed. The finish is as-cast.



Here I started shaping the door hinge. Not the sprue is filed off and I started rounding the bottom rear edge. This will be to accommodate a latch spring which isn't included with the kit that I will have to make and install later.


Next I use soft-jaws in the milling vise to start setting up for the drilling operation that locates the hinge pin. I used a 3 axis milling machine, but a good job can be done with a drill press if you are careful. Start with an oversize drill or centre-drill to divot the surface before you actually the pilot hole. This will prevent bit wandering - you need this hole to be precisely aligned Drill the hinge plate and door together, clamped as shown. If you don't have soft jaws, use leather to prevent your vise from bending or chewing up the parts.

Work up through several drill sizes until the pin will fit in. I drill mine a thou or two oversize and when I do final install on the stock, I will peen either end of the hinge plate to prevent the pin form coming out.

Pinned:

Now once it's pinned you will not the doow and the hinge plate will not be flat to one another at the hinge. Use a mill file to correct this.

Finally (for now) select the wood screws you want to use - track provided some that will work - and select a counter-sink that matches the screw head pitch. Before fitting, de-bur the screws - mine were pretty crude. The hinge plate had rough as-cast holes already there for the screws. I drilled mine smooth to match the screw shanks and used the counter-sink until my screw heads were 90% inlet. The rest will be blended after installation in the stock. Don't forget to file a little recess into the hinge plate for your fingernail so that you can open the door once the patchbox is inletted into the stock.


Now the trigger guard. It comes ROUGH. Sand-cast rough. Use a hacksaw and then a file to remove the sprue and then a file to shape the pin tangs. File off the casting seams and then wrap a small half-round file with 120 grit wet/dry paper and start into it. I don't go past 120 until I have the guard semi-inlet later, then I'll go 180 and finally 400 grit.

Have patience - the sanding is the longest part BY FAR - but how good a job you do here will dictate how it looks later after install. You want it to look custom-built, not machine made like a Lyman Great Plains rifle off the rack.

Sanded to 120:


More to follow.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.