Yeller Tomcat Forge Tour

Ah... A fellow Freemason, I had no idea you were a Mason Bookie. I was raised at the Wayfarers Lodge in Swampscott, MA. Good to see a brother amongst all the sharks.
 
I normally use tiger stripe maple in red or sugar varieties. A cubic foot of hard maple weighs in at 38 pound. Hard carves better, but red can sometimes show off more of the stripes. Black walnut is the other main wood. Cherry a far, far third choice. I prefer wood grown in the upper US. The farther south one travels, the warmer it gets. That extra warmth allows trees to grow with a more open grain. Muzzleloaders are different than modern guns. The barrel is the main object on a muzzle loader and everything hangs off it. In contradistinction, the stock is the main object for modern guns. The more points of contact that touche the barrel, the more opportunity for your shot to be off when the barrel heats up. That's why you see micro-bedded stocks and such. Modern guns for me start at 1879....and they haven't been invented yet.;)
 
that is a very cool amount of information that one could not attain so succintly by google(as I was trying to look it up after I asked and found nothing as clean as what you just said lol): thank you sir.

have you ever made one of those super long barrel muskets? kentucky long rifle i think its called but its almost like a turkish jezzail
 
Stocking a muzzle loader is an art form in itself. It has to be perfect as there usually is minimal wood, that's why most muzzle loaders look so slim and lean even in larger calibers. The wood is not very thick hanging off that waterpipe barrel.

The wrist and butt are generally minimalist as well so the grain pattern and density are critical or it'll break.

Birch while not near as pretty as walnut is actually stronger. I prefer walnut myself cause I like nice grain and of course tiger stripe brings me to my knees like stag and damascus. Beautiful stuff. Never played with it much.
 
I really like muskets but have never been able to afford collecting them :D---@bawanna its all so cool! stocks barrels knives
 
Going to try to post a video. Turn up your sound.
[video]http://vid10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/sbooko/ForgingButtPlate1.mp4[/video]
Newton Lodge #59.
 
I know that free floating centerfire and some rimfire rifles will increase accuracy ten fold. Not only due to the barrel heating up but also due to harmonic vibrations. Think "tuning fork"... after a shot is fired a "free floating" barrel will vibrate back to true. I free float all of my rifles except my Ruger 10/22. I find the a floating receiver and glass bedded barrel are the best bet on that rig, which is weird because you usually float the barrel and glass bed the action. I have had extremely good results free floating Mosin Nagants, Remington 700, Savage Model 110 and 10, Winchester pre 64 actions, Mauser's, 03's, heck I even free floated a Finnish M39 with brass shims in a full length stock.

FYI Truglass is easy to use for glass bedding a receiver. I have a ton of accuracy tricks if anyone is interested. I use to regularly shoot 600 yard long range every weekend for years. Pillar bedding is also very useful and easy to do. Hit me up if anyone needs some help.
 
Bookie said:
Going to try to post a video. Turn up your sound.
[video]http://vid10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/sbooko/ForgingButtPlate1.mp4[/video]
Newton Lodge #59.
Click to expand...

Yeah right, you aimed that at me right? Turn up the sound he says. Let me go find a cow horn I can use as a megaphone.

eh?
 
Ok, I watched. Nice to see ya in action. I didn't hear a thing but hammer pounding and what sounded like Corn Patch cussing.

Imagine it's like beating the race for glue to set, gotta hammer while it's hot or back the forge. Hustle, hustle, hustle...........
 
Nag. Nag. Nag. Give a feller a kuk and he'll shoot himself with it, fer sure. Just think, Bawanna. If I was to come for a visit, we could stand around and yell at each other, not know what each other was saying, and could watch the looks on people's faces 'cause they thought we was getting ready to wale into each other. Whew! That sure was enough each others, doncha think? Think I'll wander over to Gehazi's for a cold root beer, or three.
 
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Welcome to my world you old buzzard. My kids won't even hang out with me in the department stores (I hate going there) so I try to keep it fun. Strike up a conversation including argument with the mannequins, hang out in the ladies undergarment section. Yeah we'd have a time alright, yell something nice to me.

That was my biggest downfall visiting Auntie too, I want so much to hear every word she say and soak up all her knowledge but she's soft spoken. I did fairly well and had my hearing ear dog wife with me to help fill in the gaps.
She's no longer slow to tell the world I'm deaf and dumb just ignore him.

Crank up the volume in the TV/Stereo section and put my ear up to the speakers to see if it's turned on.

Gehazi has cold root beer? I love root beer. I don't want to be the third wheel though ya know?
 
Bookie, your wings are kind of familiar, but aren't they supposed to be over the pocket? :eek I have an NCO friend who's a VN Vet who went up and down and up and down in rank so often he had his SSgt stripes tatoo about the same place as your wings, he always asked the Major if he wanted ALL of the rank insigs when he was busted LOL. Says the funny part was 80% of the time or better that he was over there his uniform never had sleeves so when newbs would be assigned to his unit they would see his collar with nothing on it, and his bare arms with the stripes and rocker and get confused.

As for the No Male Personel sign. I lived in the FBOQ when I was single And some moron had nailed one of those signs up right outside the door. But the nails came straight through the wall and about an inch or so sticking out just as you entered my quarters. I used the backs of the nails to hang a board with hooks on it for my different uniform covers. Worked out great and when I was leaving and they did the outprocess inspection I don't think the clerk ever did figure out how the board was held up since there were no nails visible.
 
Gurk, Where do you shoot at? I am a ELR shooter, but having a hard time finding places to shoot. I go to Az occasionally but there is nothing here in W Wa and even E Wa is about dead for shooting 1 mile+. I should harrass you about my newest project, getting 1.0moa from a 5.56 at 1 mile. Should be a lot of fun with that weight a bullet. It is going to take every trick I know and then some luck (and good weather/wind) to be consistent for that range with that caliber. Any suggestions? I am thinking I will probably single load a 80 SMK since I don't think any of the magzine length bullets will give me enough weight to get there.
 
1 MOA at 1 Mile huh.... Good luck with that project girl! Are you using a bench rest "vise" gun or are you going the Palma route? I would suggest a 77gr Sierra Matchking unless you are using a big heavy fixed bolt gun... then I would use the largest bullet possible, just about were it hits the lands and grooves.

I have a 1moa semi auto out to about 400 yards, past that the wind takes over and I am using a 1:9 twist which requires lighter bullets. The 62 grain bullet is the heaviest I use. I use to shoot the heavy ones out of my H&K SLR8 with a 1:7 twist but I sold it years ago and kick myself in the arss everyday lol. Good luck on you experiment, I would love some updates Shavru...
 
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Just so ya know for future reference Shavru is a she. I've already asked her to be my cyber bride and was rejected. My very first rejection, still a little painful so I can't lay claim or nothing.
I don't know the find details but I'm near positive there's no bench rest vise involved, cept for good anchor points on her anatomy.

It is a wishful project, I'm with ya on that.
 
Basically when I was chronoing the 77smks drop charts it appears they transition about 700yards. Smks seem to stay stable when they transition instead of tumbling so I think if I stick with them but use the 80s that extra 3g gets me almost to 1K prior to transition if I use varget. Hubby has a Savage with a 26" krieger 7twist that I plan to use as the starting point, I will probably do a bit of modification beyond just a Manners MCS-F class stock. Like I said the only problem with the 80s is they are a touch too long to magazine load but you can single them and they rest in the lands just a tiny bit. I can't do the palma requirements at that range my eyes are too bad for just metallic sights, I will probably pull my Mark 4 LR/T M1 off my regular long range rifle as I am addicted to the BORS and I think I can get the computer software to work up the rounds. As far as a bench rest. Well at my age my figure does kind of resemble a sand bag, but no I an going with a bipod and shoulder that is why the MCS-F stock instead of their heavy bench class. I hate lead sleds and kind of think of them as the sled is doing the shooting not me. I also want this thing to be reasonably portable. I like the idea of taking it with me to Az and watching the big kids I shoot with try it out. I fully expect to be completely unable to "backup" any particular set of shots with my expectations being less than 65% reliability. In other words should I ever shoot 8of10 I fully expect my next 10 to be perhaps 3 of LOL. That is the fun of this. Not to be perfect. But to take something that shouldn't be done and see just what the best you can do with it is.
 
Did Bookie make it out of New Orleans alive and survive his platoon reunion. I hear the root beer flowed like water............
Please check in.
 
Sorry for the late response Shavru but I just read post to my response...

I live and shoot on the North shore of Massachusetts and I do some competitive shooting in New Hampshire and Maine from time to time. My real passion is IPSC style plate shooting. I love running and gunning, but it kind of sucks because of my geographic location. I live in a very "liberal" state, shooting isn't as popular as it is down south. I have to drive long distances to get to most shoots. Luckily there is an indoor pistol range only 20 minutes away. Sunday nights are steel plate nights and its my favorite night of all because we compete for raw cash. You put ten bucks in the jar and 1st 2nd and 3rd walk away with money. I usually can place in the top 2 so I have found it useful to win "pocket money" for the week. Monday nights are NRA small bore @ 50 feet. I use an old High Standards Victor Model 22lr that shoots just as good as the day it was made. Wednesday nights are NRA large bore @ 25yards. I use my baby... my custom built S&W 1911TA "E" series. I have done TONS of work on it and it is an extension of my arm at this point. Ive been shooting paper plates with it free hand @ 100 yards and can hit the plates on demand.

In my younger days I use to do a lot of benchrest shooting. Mainly 100-600 yard benchrest style. I also used a Savage Model FP10, the same brand your husband uses. I find Savage is the best bang for the buck. Their rifles are sooo accurate for such little money mainly due to the pillar bedding or full length bedding and the recoil lug. The addition of their new accu trigger just enhanced and already unbelievable package. Oh and about the Mark 4 Leupold... They are great scopes but a little over priced. I would give Vortex at try, their HD line far surpassed the Mark 4 at a fraction of the price. God I love talking guns and kukris :)
 
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