My interest and much of my work for the last 10 years has been in single shot rifles.  Currently, I several  projects in the works....one a Sharps, another  Trapdoor Sporter, an English style sporting rifle and most recently an Alexander Henry.

 A Marlin Ballard Long Range rifle

Engraving by Roger Sampson

    Horn butt plate detail

A Winchester Mod 1885 with case by Marvin Huey. Engraving by Roger Sampson recently completed.

Springfield Trap Door Sporters

These rifles were inspired by period work of Carlos Gove, they have a bit more British influence than Gove's work and have become my favorite rifle to build.

Engraving by Roger Sampson

the other one......

Interesting note......the stock appears at first glance to be Maple but it is actually a piece of stained English walnut sapwood

A handmade percussion lock for an English style sporting rifle

This is a lock that I made for an upcoming project.  The rifle will be a large bore English sporting rifle.  The hammer remains unfinished because I must fit it to the lock after the lock itself has been fitted in the rifle stock.  The lock bolt shown is similar to one I saw years ago on a Match Rifle.  As you can see the head of the screw is hinged so no screwdriver is required to remove the lock.  The small detent is engaged by the spring which remains at the surface of the stock.

Another new project.  The Alexander Henry action below was made by the late Bill Roberts in the middle 80's.  It is a wonderful example of Bill's craftsmanship and ingenuity.  I recall discussing this project with him back then and his observation that "it will be good enough only if Alex Henry would have put his name on it".  

Initial  work remaining on the action includes fitting the barrel,  extractor, firing pin and preliminary shaping of the action.  I will make the stepped lock as well.  When all the metal work is completed, the gun will be stocked.

Below are a few more recent pictures of continuing work on the   Alex Henry

Above left shows the extractor cut, I had this done on an EDM machine.  The cut tapers in front with the bottom corner closer to the front of the action.  The portion of the cut just below the breech threads also tapers to the angle of the extractor blank shown at right.  Examination of the original cut suggests that it was done using a broach and finished with a chisel. 

Below is a picture of the breech block/extractor relationship.

Look closely at the bottom horizontal portion of the extractor.  Notice that it tapers slightly toward the end adjacent to the extension of the breech block.  The amount of taper here actually acts to time the movement of the extractor as the block comes down.  This will be fitted when the extractor is in the action.

Above are a few bits that I made up along the way so far. A trigger blank and its return spring/screw, firing pin and its retainer, extractor screw, screw for the lock tail mortise, and a trigger bow. Below is the lock plate, it was also cut out on an EDM machine, cleaned up with files and initially polished on the inside.

A bit of trivia that may be of interest to gunstockers.  The flat portion of the lockplate that fits up to the action has the conventional edge relief angle and the very tail of the lock also has this angle. However, the portion of the plate that will be shaped with the wrist has no relief...the edge here is at 90 degrees.  If there was relief in this area, as one removed material from the surface of the plate while shaping the wrist, (original plate is slightly convex here) the vertical height of the plate would diminish as one went deeper into the taper.  The result would be a corresponding change to the visual shape of the lockplate at the wrist. Notice the stepped mainspring adjacent to the original plate.

Currently, I am making a few changes to the trigger plate, which involves changing the trigger boss shown above.

Below is the beginning of the bridal.  Hole pattern is determined using the original bridal clamped on top of the material.  I had already made the tumber blank so the thickness of it plus the relief bosses determines the height of the bridal feet.  One must be very careful here because for the lock to function properly, tolerances must be about +/-.002".  I make the feet a bit high and grind to proper height on the surface grinder.  Also, I try to do as much work as possible on the initial blank before it is cut off the parent material....just lots easier to hold.  The two little tools shown are for shaping the bridal feet and the counter-bore for the lock screw heads. A jewelers saw will take of the bulk of the excess material.

Below the bridal is taking shape.  The hardened file bushing shown takes little time to make and allows a very accurate means to filing out the bridal feet.  Just screw it on and file away everything protruding.  One foot is shaped and the other is ready to be shaped. Notice that the bridal is not yet removed from the larger piece of stock.

Below the bridal is almost completed, I did not have the correct file to finish the detail at the rear foot.  Next will be the tumbler.

Bridal, sear and tumbler blank are now fitted and on the lockplate. The sear is suspended by the ears between the lockplate and the bridal.  The radis cuts on the front of the tumber are stops which limit travel of the tumbler.  When finally fitted, the top forward stop will come in contact with the corresponding bridal foot just as the hammer hits the firing pin.  This stop also controls the upward extension of the mainspring movement.  The lower radius stops the rearward movement of the tumbler....it contacts the bridal foot just after the lock comes to full cock.  Still considerable work on the tumbler to be done.  I have to cut the half and full cock notches, install the fly,  and cut the slot for the swivel link which connects to the mainspring.  The two smaller pictures below show the back side of the tumbler, sear and bridal relationship.  The two little filing guides allow accurate shaping of the radius on the top of the sear.

The lock approaches completion, sear spring and link are now fitted. I made the sear spring out of one piece of stock and filed it to shape rather than try to bend the limb over with heat.  It is small in mass which would have made keeping a uniform heat to bend it difficult. I suspect the old timers had a fixture(s) used to hold the material, make the correct fold and arch the lower limb all while in the spring blank was in a heat source.  Remaining parts to make are the main-spring, hammer, fly and stalking safety pieces.

A slightly over size hammer blank cut on an EDM wire cut machine and the original hammer are shown below.  Lots of material to remove in the process of shaping the hammer.

Slot for the trigger has been cut, the trigger and its return spring fitted.

Below, the mainspring has been installed.  It was made from annealed 1095 spring stock. 

Breech block has been shaped, the firing pin and its bushing installed.  Shown also is the fixture used to drill the compound angle hole.  The original block was used to make the mold and the new block placed in the "nest" to drill the hole.

Now that most of the metal work is finished (short of final polish) it is time to proceed with the butt stock.  Below it is band sawn to shape.

A few pictures of the action going on the wood.

With the action and trigger plate in place, now the lockplate. I had never stocked an Alex Henry with the stepped lock so it was literally fitted one chip and scrape at a time.  Concerns were positioning vertically, tail of the lock must be at correct depth when the front of the plate is flush with the action. In all, the most tedious part of the job so far.

Above, the lock plate is about halfway in and below it is completely in place.

Now the lock internals.  Critical here is the mainspring mortise as the bottom of it is only about .040" from the adjoining mortise for the top tang.  Careful measuring and luckily correct placement allowed finishing the spring mortise without going thru into the adjoining tang mortise. Still remaining to do are the small inlets for the stalking safety parts

Now some more shaping of the butt.

Notice below that there turned out to be a void or some kind of inclusion in the center bottom part of the upper heel plate, it will require some cosmetic welding and filing to fix.  Also a small twig or bark inclusion turned up on the right side of the stock about midway down just ahead of the butt. 

Now, the cheekpiece needs to be roughed in and the butt stock can set aside while I proceed with the barrel and forend.  I also need to fit the hammer....more on that next time.

Updates will be posted from time to time.

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