Barrel Pins

[RoaringBull]

On my Pedersoi flintlock, there are a serious of pins that must be removed to remove the barrel.  The pins are a SERIOUS, SERIOUS pain in the rump to remove and reinstall.  So, what would all be involved in doing something different to secure the barrel?  I am assuming that the lugs under the barrel would have to be changed and some wood work would be involved.

[karwelis]

you know you could swith it to a staple kind of afair, they sell them a trak o the wolf and the punch and set tools but you dont need the tools and you kan make the staples out of nails. then its no big deal to carve out the slots and inset the escuchens for the wedge pins. if you want help pm me and ill give you my phome# and walk you thru.

karwelis

[mongrel]

One thing that would help in both removal and replacement of the pins is to slightly bevel or round the ends -- cuts down on the risk of them tearing or splintering the wood around them, and that way when you tap them back into the stock they start through the barrel lugs a lot more smoothly. Also buy a straight punch that's of slightly smaller diameter than the pins, to enable you to drive them all the way out the opposite side of the stock. Be careful you keep that punch ON the end of the pin or it becomes a nail that you're trying (unintentionally) to drive into the stock. Even a small amount of this treatment can cause the forestock to split in the center of the barrel channel.

Your only three other options are: one (the only one I'd even consider), replace the pins and the barrel lugs they slip through with small barrel keys similar to but smaller than those found on most halfstock rifles, and lugs made to fit them. Two, to find or make barrel bands that would fit properly around the wood and the barrel. Three, to replace the drilled-through barrel lugs with blank lugs, drill up through the inside of the ramrod channel, and drill and tap the blank lugs to allow you to simply screw the barrel to the stock. A number of the old Spanish-made fullstocks went with this method, and screwed the nosecap to both the stock and the end of the barrel to boot.

The replacement of the barrel lugs and pins with different lugs and small keys, or wedges, would entail enlarging the dovetails in the barrel and making actual slots of the pin holes in the stock. Decorative metal inlays with corresponding slots cut through their centers (sold through most muzzleloader builders' supply outfits) will reinforce the wood around the keys and also hide any "oops-es" like your slots through the wood going crooked on you.

Small keys and the lugs suitable for them are sold through the types of outfits mentioned above. The folks at TVM might be able to set you up; if not (I think they might sell only completed guns and kits, not small individual parts) Track Of The Wolf or Muzzleloader Builders' Supply will have what you want.

The web of wood between the barrel channel and the ramrod hole/channel, which the pins or keys either one pass through, would need to be thick enough that the rearmost barrel lug in particular doesn't protrude into the ramrod hole, or you will discover your ramrod no longer being able to slide all the way home.

The swapping of pins for wedges is simple in theory, and simple in fact, as well, for someone who knows what he's doing or who has the aptitude to see what needs doing and how to carry it out. Otherwise -- you're contemplating modification of a highly visible area of the stock, and if you have the least doubt about being able to do the job cleanly you ought to look into a gunsmith's services.

A-a-and, Karwelis got here before I did. I forgot about simply replacing the pin lugs with square staples. I'd take him up on his offer.

[RoaringBull]

Its gonna be a little while before I get time enough to set up and do something, but I may take ya up on that Karwelis.

[karwelis]

kool! anytime! just happy to have something to contribute.

karwelis