Old pistols just returned

[Phil Coggan]

Before I started engraving I messed about making pistols, actually I new very little about gunmaking and everything was done on trial

These pistols were made in the early 70's with basic tools, ie hacksaw, files etc. The quality leaves much to be desired as you will see...lot's of things wrong, but i'm not apologizing as I did my best with what I knew at the time

They were given to my brother many years ago but I now have them back...so here they are warts and all

Phil

 

[don hicks]

Phil;
Did you cast the lock mechanism and trigger guards as well? These guns may have a wart on them in your eyes but they look like collectors items to me, especially if they are signed by the maker. Those that make things are always there worst critics.
Cheers
Don

 

[mitch]

i love 'em! building a really deluxe flintlock pistol is my artistic 'bucket list'. i have Torsten Lenk's book on flintlocks and every time i see it on the shelf i keep telling myself "One of these days..."

 

[Phil Coggan]

No castings, everything was cut from solid with a hacksaw. Plans were made from side pictures in a book and scaled from there.

The lock mechanism's were worked out by cutting sears, tumblers etc and then pinning them to a board and then refining them so they would work/swivel right. The same for cock to frizzen movement.

Phil

 

[BKJ]

They are gorgeous! How do they shoot?

 

[don hicks]

No castings, everything was cut from solid with a hacksaw. Plans were made from side pictures in a book and scaled from there.

The lock mechanism's were worked out by cutting sears, tumblers etc and then pinning them to a board and then refining them so they would work/swivel right. The same for cock to frizzen movement.

Phil

That boggles my mind. I admire anyone that can make something out of nothing. That's what got me hooked on machine work. I'm afraid I am pretty reliant on the milling machine ,Lathe,Metal shaper,surface grinder and band saw,etc, not so good with a hacksaw and file. You must have had a lot of spare time back in the 70's.
Regards
Don

 

[Phil Coggan]

That boggles my mind. I admire anyone that can make something out of nothing. That's what got me hooked on machine work. I'm afraid I am pretty reliant on the milling machine ,Lathe,Metal shaper,surface grinder and band saw,etc, not so good with a hacksaw and file. You must have had a lot of spare time back in the 70's.
Regards
Don

At that time I worked in a colliery repairing hydraulic props for underground. whenever there was a break in the work, I got a gun out, stuck it in the vice and off to go, this also included two Brown Bess muskets!

Phil

 

[DKanger]

i love 'em! building a really deluxe flintlock pistol is my artistic 'bucket list'. i have Torsten Lenk's book on flintlocks and every time i see it on the shelf i keep telling myself "One of these days..."

No time like the present!! As an aside, I had an internet mail order muzzleloading business from 96 to 02, at which time I tired a storefront until 04. The overhead for the store didn't warrant keeping it so I built an 800 sq. ft. building at the house and moved everything there. I still have a ton of inventory which includes almost everything needed to built your own ML from scratch, mostly rifle components, but some pistol stuff. This includes 3 pair of premium old growth maple blanks. They have been drying for over 60 years and the zebra stripes are holographic with the figure changing as you view it from different angles. The blanks are matched, having been cut side-by-side from the same plank, waiting for the right persons wanting to build a matched set of dueling pistols.

Anyone interested in building their own gun can contact me offboard.

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

As an aside, I had an internet mail order muzzleloading business from 96 to 02

What was the name of it? I bet I had you linked to the Coon 'n Crockett Muzzleloaders website. Most everyone was. I even got emails from Mrs. Aldo Uberti.
But, the club went dormant and I killed off the website.

 

[Marrinan]

Phil, Those are beautiful. I have no idea what warts you are referring to but they are outstanding work. When I took beginning machine shop in school back in 64. We were given a piece of steel 1.25 inches more or less square and a new file from our required tool kit. We also had in out kit a 6 inch square, a steel six inch scale, dividers a micrometer and a few other things. We were told to make it one inch square with one corner removed 1/4 inch up each of the three sides from the point. Hand filing only on all the work. We had to make a perfectly round 1/2 inch disk with a hole in the center out of 5/8 sheet. it had to it one of the plastic circle drawing templates with sides square to the perfectly flat top and bottom. All hand filled work. And hand drilled hole with a camphored recess for the screw from the bottom into the little on the cube. Took half the school quarter to make the perfectly squared, round centered. We layed out and drilled by hand the dots of a die. That was a lot of serious filling and checking for accuracy. It sure cured my ambition to be an actioner. Fun to win the contest for best work. One all the materials to build a tote goat (mini bike with big tiers and a lawn mower engine to ride in mountains).

With all that behind me I can't see how you built these. What wonderful work. You are a true artist and craftsmen of the highest order!

I hope that these were not returned to you over a great personal loss. If so my deepest condolences Friend Phil. Fred

 

[DKanger]

I bet I had you linked to the Coon 'n Crockett Muzzleloaders website

Why of course it was called the Old Fox Trade Co. These days I use the domain to host a forum and a website for Tennessee Bullet Molds.

As for merchant listings, I had you pre-dated by a bit with my Sutler's Page and Virtual Trade Blanket Page. The price for a merchant listing was a copy of their catalog or brochure. This was right after Al Gore invented the WWW and no one had personal websites for their business yet.

I had several factory muzzleloaders left which I had been unable to sell and got tired of moving around. For the last two years, I donated 2 rifles to our NRA banquet for door prizes and I just finished giving 5 five rifles to the NMLRA for use in their Youth Program. Last year, I traded 2 rifles complete with accessories, bullets and powder for 1/2 payment to have my driveway blacktopped. That cleaned them out.

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

As for merchant listings, I had you pre-dated by a bit with my Sutler's Page and Virtual Trade Blanket Page. The price for a merchant listing was a copy of their catalog or brochure. This was right after Al Gore invented the WWW and no one had personal websites for their business yet.

Yep! I remember that name alright. A few of us early pioneers on the Internet got together (right after Al Gore invented it of course) and formed the Buckskinner IRC Chat. That was way before these newfangled web based forums existed. In fact, it was well before the WWW came along. It was crude, but, it was fun. I think buckskinning has seen it's Shinin' Times already. Maybe it'll be back again some day. It was better than iPads and smart phones for kids. Until I got all crippled up, I burnt a lot of black powder in my day. I got started in 1968 when I bought a .41 caliber pistol from Turner Kirkland. Davy Crockett (Fess Parker) was on the front of the Dixie Gunworks catalog.