Grandpa's Pistol(s)
This is a media project. We are building two Lyman "Plains Pistols" from kits purchased from The Possibles Shop.
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The present status of the pistols is that they are both basically built and operational as of 05/05/04. They were both test fired Wednesday and operate flawlessly. We put 27 rounds through each pistol. My final five shots all went into the 10 ring at 15 yards shooting offhand. They are good guns.
The pistols are being built in the dueling style. That is to say that they are nominally very accurate and ready for "business". They are .50 caliber pistols firing a, .490 patched ball. One pistol likes 30 grains of Goex FFFg and the other is presently using Hogdon's 777 synthetic powder. Both used CCI caps.
The pictures here were taken at the range during initial testing, while firing through an Oehler 35P chronograph. My pistol most shown seems to like the Goex FFFg at 30 grains which produced a nominal 800+ feet per second (FPS) with a Hornady swaged ball of 176 grains weight.
The "dueling style" dictates that the top three flats of the octigon barrel are rough and bead blasted to insure that no glare may interfere with an important aim. The other flats are mirror polished, having been sanded with #1500 wet/dry sandpaper and WD-40...and thence to jewelers rouge. They presently sparkle and remain in-the-white. The brass trigger guards were filed and sanded to #600 wet/dry and then buffed with rouge.
The stocks from the factory provided an exceptionally fine inletting job on mediocre wood. The inletting was so good in fact, we could have assembled and fired the guns straight from the box. The stocks were sanded and metal fit. We used stain controller and Minwax stain. Next came the 0000 steel wool and a single coat of sanding sealer followed by coats of hand rubbed oil.
My pistol which I shall call #1 is about to be disassembled. The stock will be sent to Ms. Sherry Abraham in Oregon for checkering and the metal will go to Mr. Charles Lee, formerly of Jas. Purdey & Sons, London for engraving. This page is the random chronicle of the production process. The pistols are due to be exhibited at the California State Fair
5/12/04 I spoke with Sherry Ahraham this morning to alert her to the wood's arrival. As with all artisans, she's got "artistic license and will determine the appropriate mode and style of checkering.
As an aside, I hope to have my pistol and all it's parts back together in Mid-June. I will take it out an re chronograph it and make the "proof" firing (ballisticdata) a part of the package. My speculation is that such data will lend interest and credability to the overall exhibit and package. The simple fact is, the public knows little or nothing about such "antique" weapons.
5/13/04 Update: Charles Lee phoned today to ask if I wouldn't mind if he added a bit of 24 karet gold to embellish the work. Not being too big a dummy, I reminded him that I had relinquished a measure of artistic license. He said the engraving was going "rather well" and that he expects to be finished in a day or two. Sherry Abraham recieved the stock today and asked for photos before she begins checkering. Knowing her, she's going to make an attempt to artistically match or somehow compliment the engraving!
I always wondered how the gold was applied so that it wouldn't fall out in the field. Charles explained that all of the areas of gold inlay are back cut in dovetail fashion and then 24k gold is set into place. Needless to say, this is VERY fine jewelery type work.
The above is the engraving or the barrel flats and muzzle. There is much, much more but I haven't (yet) figured out how to take a picture of it since the pistol is still "in-the-white"
Scroll down a little...
These picture were just sent to me by Sherry Abraham. This is the checkering job she did on the pistol at 22 Lines per inch. Note if you will the bottom of the butt stock. You can see it best (maybe) on the right image. Note the tiny crescent at the bottom. This is VERY fine, very custom work indeed.
Finished but still "in-the-white" 6-6-04
Well, here are the two pistols blued. The project is nearly done. Now I just have to build a wooden case. I already have the green leather suede lining, a German silver powder flask and an engraved powder measure.
The picture at the top of this page is the cased pair as displayed at the California State Fair in 2004. They were awarded a ribbon that is not yet in hand. Without doubt, the is the finest brace of dueling pistols built in the past 100 years.