Eutectic
Active Member
On Ian's new lathe thread I had quite a story about an ol' Sharps rifle my Dad had. I was quite involved in the fitting of a new barrel of which I ground tooling to cut the Sharps threads on a lathe that was something else! I wonder if that is where the name (term) "engine lathe" came from??
I cut my long thread short leaving Ian with a 'filing story' that just isn't done anymore. I teased Ian I would tell him this 'filing' continuation when I got my Dad's ol' Sharps out of lock up. Lock up so good it would take a crook two days to get in!!! Trouble was that's what it took me and the old rifle is mine!
I got a lump in my throat first thing when I unwrapped the paper. My Dad had glaucoma in his 80's and I remember him on a greasing campaign greasing all his stuff he kept in a damp old garage. He knew his sight was so bad he would never shoot his stuff again. The Sharps was coated with RIG grease.... I mean EVERYWHERE! Wood, sights, So deep in the barrel you could barely see the deep rifling. Even inside the front Lyman 17 sight!! You could tell the person doing it could barely see.......
It needs a take apart cleaning! Dried RIG almost like cosmolene was wiped and wiped but solvent is needed. But I wanted some pictures for our buddy Ian........
Ian had come back with this: "What did he do, file a tapered barrel?" I was quiet.... not answering.... He was to close! I thought I knew but wasn't sure..... I had to look before I answered you Ian!
What I didn't remember first. He made new wood from walnut timbers as was his M.O.! I didn't know this! He made a vernier rear sight from scratch! Couple of welds... maybe some Wes Rego machine work (It looks like) And me! I forgot he gave me the elevation rail to mill a welded corner smooth he couldn't get a file in! (He had tried) I'm thinking he must of re-casehardened the lock plate as I don't remember any color. I HAD FORGOT HE FILED A NEW HAMMER FROM PLATE!
But Ian...... My Dad filed that 1 1/4" round barrel blank OCTAGON!!! Not only octagon.... BUT A TAPERED OCTAGON!" I thought he had but wanted to be sure before I dropped it on Ian! The barrel is 1 1/8" across the flats at the scalloped start (done with a round file) and is 1" across the flats at the muzzle. You can see faint mill file cuts where he squared the muzzle. I tried to photo it but the flash over-exposed it. I remember the barrel laid out with blue years ago and scribe lines full length for the eight flats.... It took him eight months to do it!
Ian....... that's filin'!
Pete
I cut my long thread short leaving Ian with a 'filing story' that just isn't done anymore. I teased Ian I would tell him this 'filing' continuation when I got my Dad's ol' Sharps out of lock up. Lock up so good it would take a crook two days to get in!!! Trouble was that's what it took me and the old rifle is mine!
I got a lump in my throat first thing when I unwrapped the paper. My Dad had glaucoma in his 80's and I remember him on a greasing campaign greasing all his stuff he kept in a damp old garage. He knew his sight was so bad he would never shoot his stuff again. The Sharps was coated with RIG grease.... I mean EVERYWHERE! Wood, sights, So deep in the barrel you could barely see the deep rifling. Even inside the front Lyman 17 sight!! You could tell the person doing it could barely see.......
It needs a take apart cleaning! Dried RIG almost like cosmolene was wiped and wiped but solvent is needed. But I wanted some pictures for our buddy Ian........
Ian had come back with this: "What did he do, file a tapered barrel?" I was quiet.... not answering.... He was to close! I thought I knew but wasn't sure..... I had to look before I answered you Ian!
What I didn't remember first. He made new wood from walnut timbers as was his M.O.! I didn't know this! He made a vernier rear sight from scratch! Couple of welds... maybe some Wes Rego machine work (It looks like) And me! I forgot he gave me the elevation rail to mill a welded corner smooth he couldn't get a file in! (He had tried) I'm thinking he must of re-casehardened the lock plate as I don't remember any color. I HAD FORGOT HE FILED A NEW HAMMER FROM PLATE!
But Ian...... My Dad filed that 1 1/4" round barrel blank OCTAGON!!! Not only octagon.... BUT A TAPERED OCTAGON!" I thought he had but wanted to be sure before I dropped it on Ian! The barrel is 1 1/8" across the flats at the scalloped start (done with a round file) and is 1" across the flats at the muzzle. You can see faint mill file cuts where he squared the muzzle. I tried to photo it but the flash over-exposed it. I remember the barrel laid out with blue years ago and scribe lines full length for the eight flats.... It took him eight months to do it!
Ian....... that's filin'!
Pete