LePage Rifle

Our thanks go to one of our readers who tracked down this fine example of underhammer gunmaking and to our good friends at Track of the Wolf, Inc. for their kind permission to share it with you.


This .50 calibre rifle was built by Bruce LePage and displays an interesting combination of features not usually seen in contemporary underhammer circles. Fancy maple was the wood of choice for the forearm and buttstock which wears a smooth shotgun butt that I’m sure slips right up to the shoulder as smooth as silk.

I have always admired those underhammer designs that incorporate the trigger guard to perform double duty by also motivating the hammer. LePage delivers with a very graceful trigger guard which is pinned to the hammer and a super slender trigger which adds a touch of refinement that pleases the eye.

LePage’s 28-inch barrel is part octagon with the balance round and tapered to the muzzle, which provides for good balance. While not unique in and of itself, LePage takes the execution of the transition of the octagon to round lengths of the barrel to another level with the slight rotation of the last inch of the octagon portion. This is a clever twist (no pun intended) which when combined with his rope treatment of the traditional wedding band provides more tasteful eye candy.

A conservative pewter cap provides a classy finish to the forearm which is secured by pin and escutcheon treatment. LePage chose to expose the hickory ramrod on the bottom of the forearm but captivates it within a ramrod tube at the rear of the forearm.

At 6 ½ pounds the LePage rifle is nicely done and is probably a sweetheart of a rifle to shoot.

Again, thanks to our friends at Track of the Wolf for sharing this rifle with us. More photos of the LePage rifle can be seen at www.trackofthewolf.com.

Yes, another underhammer flint-pistol maker!

Well, it seems that there are now at least two underhammer builders who were intrigued enough by the concept of an underhammer flintlock to build one. Our friend Scott Coy has now joined the ranks of that elite little group who have successfully made an underhammer flintlock.

Here's Scott's story .

Remember to click on the photos for a closer look, then click your Back arrow to return to the text.

My First Underhammer Flintlock

by Scott Coy

It all started as a joke!

A shooting buddy of mine stopped into my shop one afternoon to see what I had been up to. Having just finished an underhammer percussion rifle I handed it to him and asked him what he thought of it. Knowing that I am an avid flintlock shooter he said “why didn’t you make it a flintlock?” We laughed about it but after he left I was wondering if it could be done? I searched the net trying to find any information on underhammer flintlocks and found very little. Now it became a challenge.

I had been working on this underhammer rifle for nearly a month so I understood the concept pretty well. With close examination I realized that I could modify the percussion hammer to hold a flint and build a pan to hold the frizzen and I would have an underhammer flintlock. It sounded logical to me but I don’t think that it would have looked very good. A flintlock has to have a graceful S-shaped cock. To me looks are almost as important as function!

I started to draw out some ideas on paper but things didn’t progress. A couple weeks went by until one day while working on a large Siler flintlock the light went ON in my head!. I took the Siler apart and arranged the parts upside-down and at that moment I knew that I could make this thing work.

Having built several conventional flintlocks in the past I decided to use existing parts where I could. The H&A type mainspring-trigger guard was the logical choice for the main spring. I added a piece to the cut-out side of a large Siler cock, adapting it to utilize the H&A spring. This piece also has the half and full cock notches cut into it.

It’s a tricky process to get those in the correct place! I used a sear to engage the half and full cock notches and I made the trigger from scratch.

Getting everything in the proper position and working correctly took a lot of time. It was all trial and error. Mistakes were made and some parts were turned into junk, but that’s what happens when you are trying to create something new. Making something simple is a lot harder than one might think!

With my hand-made or modified parts assembled into the action I still was not sure that this thing would actually work. The main spring seemed to have plenty of power. The half and full cock notches seemed to hold, but would this thing really work? I put a piece of wood in the jaws of the cock then pulled the cock to the full-cock position. Touched the trigger and it actually worked - the first time! With the wood replaced with a new flint I brought the gun to full-cock and touched the trigger again. The frizzen gave off a beautiful shower of sparks right into the pan. I thought I had this thing whipped.

At the shooting range things didn’t go that good. It seemed that I had overlooked one minor obstacle - GRAVITY. With a conventional flinter you try to get the flint to strike about 1/3 the height of the frizzen from the top. With the underhammer design, the powder was igniting too far below the vent and ignition was very slow. I also had several flash-in-the-pans without the barrel firing. To remedy this situation I adjusted the flint to strike the frizzen at about the half-way point. I also opened the vent a bit larger than I normally would. Doing this and a few other small "tweaks" got it to fire pretty fast and eliminated those flash-in-the-pan misfires. However, I still haven’t got it to fire as fast as a well tuned conventional flintlock!

For those of you contemplating a project like this I will tell you that this is a very complicated build. The placement of parts is very critical and there isn’t much room for error. Study the parts placement and geometry of a conventional flintlock. They have been around for hundreds of years and are about as close to perfect as they can get.



For me, designing this gun and getting it to shoot while keeping it as simple as possible was the challenge. I know there are a lot of you who can do a much better job on something like this than I did and I would like to see examples of your work.


Thanks, again Scott for sharing your story.
Anyone else up to the challenge?

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Hunting with an African. Zephyr, that is.

There have been more than a few inquiries, both private e-mails and requests through this blog, about the African Zephyr™ and whether or not I offer it in Faeton dress. While we’re waiting for more stories and other input from our readers, I’ll touch on this subject of the 8-bore African.

Clicking on any of the photos will enlarge them for a closer look. Clicking the "Back" arrow will return you to the text.

It seems that there has always been a certain mystique and fascination associated with the monstrous 8-bore rifle that still captivates the imagination and intrigues the minds of even those who have no intent of ever having one built and hunting Africa. Most who have an African Zephyr simply wanted it for the rather exclusive experience of owning and shooting a piece of modern firearms history.

Some have questioned how such a graceful and slender rifle can hold together under the heavy strain that the 8-bore generates - especially in view of the very bulky rifles of the same bore diameter that were made during the mid to late 1800s for the exploration (interpret as “exploitation”) of Africa by the powers of Europe.

Some doubt that it is possible to burn 300 grains of blackpowder in only 26 inches of barrel length as quoted as a working load. While others consider the Dual-Cap Ignition™ and the unique Wide-Body Barrel™ to be nothing more than marketing hype.

So, what is the real story behind the African Zephyr? Is it really all that unique in firearms history or are its features nothing more than mere hype?

Having cut my teeth on the writings of Elmer Keith, I have always been fascinated by big-bore rifles. I’ve had the opportunity, too, of proving and witnessing the truth behind many of Elmer’s claims, especially of the almost miraculous ability of a big-bore bullet for taking down large and tough game with a single shot. If you’ve never hunted with a really big-bore round-ball rifle, you can’t even imagine how effective they are.

For me this truth was later echoed in the 1863 writings of English Army ballistician, Lieutenant James Forsyth M.A., in his wonderful book, THE SPORTING RIFLE AND ITS PROJECTILES. That book was highly recommended by my mentor, the late Hall Sharon, founder of Sharon Rifle Barrel Company of Kalispell, Montana. Hall was one of the modern pioneers in re-introducing Forsyth rifling and was proving Forsyth's principles way back in the 1960s before most others ever discovered the all but forgotten book.

Hall, too, was fascinated by big-bore guns and convinced me that Pacific Rifle Company should offer rifles of at least .58 caliber as the market was already saturated with .45, .50 and 54-caliber muzzleloaders. I wondered whether there really could be a market for a high-quality, big-bore rifle as Hall had suggested – especially an underhammer. It seemed that if there was such a market, everyone would already be pursuing it - right?

I have always been grateful to Hall for encouraging me to take that road less-traveled, as the market for high-quality, big-bore underhammer rifles really does exist. True, it isn’t a huge market, but it is sufficient to keep several good gunmakers busy.

Having already successfully produced the Zephyr in 20, 16, (although not cataloged a few 16s were made) and 12 bores, making the 8-bore seemed like a logical progression. But the pursuit of it would prove to be far more challenging than any other Zephyr I had designed and built up to that time, as I prefer to build a rifle that handles like a fine Italian shotgun - as I detest rifles that handle like a fence post.

Monster-bore rifles require considerable weight in order to be manageable under recoil. Usually the bulk of the weight comes from the barrel. In order to add more weight, the barrel must be longer, or larger in diameter, or both. Weight can also be added in the form of lead plugs in the buttstock, which when done properly, can lend a better balance to the rifle.

After studying prior art in the form of the big-bore rifles made by English makers of the mid-1800s, I decided that I didn't like the rather morphed forms that those arms had taken in order to use a larger diameter barrel which helped provide the necessary weight and longer length to burn the full charge of powder they consumed.

The proportions of the barrel in relation to the lockplate, the trigger, and the generously-proportioned stock that held them all together, made those rifles look rather awkward and clubby to my eye. And after hefting a few of them, I was left disappointed and wondered if there could be another way to produce a big-bore rifle that remained slender, yet have sufficient weight and strength to deal with its inevitable recoil.

Many assume that the barrels on those behemoth rifles were larger in diameter to hold all that pressure that one might assume would be developed by the rather large charges of blackpowder needed to launch 750+grains of round ball with sufficient force to stop a T-Rex in its tracks. The fact is that those big-bore rifles actually produce less pressure than many more common smaller-bored muzzleloading rifles.

They didn’t need huge, thick-walled barrels for containing the pressure; they needed the extra metal for extra weight to manage the recoil. Because it is traditional form to use a symmetrically-shaped barrel, the only way to add more weight is to add more girth – or length. Consequently the barrels are either too fat and/or too long – to my sense of design, anyway.

While handling a nice Alex Henry .500 double rifle, the idea hit me to make the barrel wider at the rear than it is tall, similar to the configuration of the double rifle. Why not? If we don’t need all that metal for strength, why not re-arrange it in such a way that would provide sufficient wall thickness for the sake of strength, yet in a manner that would shift the weight for better balance and a slender profile that matched the existing Zephyr receiver?

After a bit of prototyping in wood, the present Wide-Body Barrel™ emerged as the best form to provide perfect balance by shifting the bulk of the barrel weight closer to the receiver. By making the barrel wider than tall, a very slender profile results that matches the Zephyr receiver perfectly. The wider breech-end of the barrel is also very reminiscent of the double rifles that I admire so much and is not at all unpleasant to the eye.

Even so designed, a typical 30-inch barrel is too long and unwieldy for a dangerous game rifle. In my opinion, such rifles should be rather short and handy and come to the shoulder quick and easy like a sawed-off shotgun. But, traditional design dictates that we need a sufficiently long barrel to burn the large powder charges that stoke this breed of rifles. Or, do we?

As anyone who has ever tuned their own car engine knows – and, yes, I realize that there are now two generations that probably haven’t a clue of what I’m about to state – you know that good, hot, fresh spark plugs can make a big difference in achieving the best performance from your car’s engine. In fact, there are some pretty exotic sparkplugs that are designed to put more fire into the cylinder for more complete combustion of the fuel for better performance.

In a muzzleloader the percussion cap is, quite literally, the sparkplug in your rifle. If the nipple is clogged with fouling residue, or if you’re using some caps that have been exposed to the weather for a time, or perhaps the air is rather humid, you know that ignition of the powder charge can be affected to the point where its discharge can be “iffy.”

The new breed of muzzleloaders who shoot in-line, modern versions of our classic smokepoles came to realize a long time ago that those wimpy #11 caps just can’t do the job when it comes to igniting imitation blackpowder and getting it to release its energy within a rather short barrel length as found on most of that ilk of front-loaders.

Their solution was to switch to #209 shotshell primers for a hot flash that virtually guarantees ignition of those hard-to-start semi-smokeless powders and the release of most of that latent energy during a rather quick trip down a short barrel.

Although I have not personally hunted anything more dangerous than amorous bull elk in rut, I have talked with muzzleloading hunters who have faced seriously dangerous game in Africa. One hunter told me that his greatest fear was that he would shoulder his rifle, find the game in his sights - just as the game was sighting in on him - and pull the trigger only to hear a gut- wrenching loud SNAP! that informed him that his percussion cap had decided to take the afternoon off. Seems it would be nice to have an instant backup right about then…

I have never had much use for #11 caps except for priming cap-and-ball revolvers, where their frangible crimped-foil construction actually serves its intended purpose – that is to blast apart and (hopefully) fall free of the revolving cylinder when it’s rotated to the next chamber.

The military learned early on that if you really want a rifle to fire under the most adverse conditions you use musket caps. They have sufficient priming charge to blast through the accumulation of several shots-worth of fouling in the nipple, snail or bolster and ignite even a slightly humid powder charge. They also display better manners than #11 caps by not spitting cap fragments at the shooter. The fact of their efficacy was so well established that it really wasn’t necessary to re-invent the wheel. It seemed pretty simple to me. If you really want the gun to fire, use musket caps. Yup - got it!

So, if one is good, two must be better…

Interestingly, the lowly underhammer action is the only type of muzzleloading system that can be easily adapted to fire two percussion caps into one barrel simultaneously. In my research on the subject, however, I could find no prior art – no reference of any kind – to anyone ever having made an underhammer that would fire two caps into the same powder charge at the same time. In that regard, the African is a first in firearms history.

If faced with a charging 2000+ pound Cape Buffalo, or an 8-foot lion intent on you being the main course at supper, or a charging 7-foot Alaskan bull moose for that matter, the thought of having a percussion rifle with dual caps, and a better-than-average chance of going off when the need be greatest, is rather comforting.

Aside from the greater assurance of ignition, dual caps also put a super-charged ignition impulse into the powder charge, much the same as dual sparkplugs do in a Chrysler hemi engine. (No, I’m not a Mopar man, but the idea does work.)

The African’s breech consists of a sub-chamber which holds about 1/6 of the 300-grain top-end load. The sub-chamber is based upon a modification of Nock’s Patent Breech in which the charge in the sub-chamber, ignited by two musket caps, produces relatively high pressure in the sub-chamber which ignites the main charge. Tremendous heat is generated which blasts into the main charge and gets it lit and burning fiercely - much quicker than a single #11 cap ever could in its wildest dreams. (Yes, I know that they make "magnum" #11 caps; but they still fragment and are not as hot as a musket cap.) Amazingly, such an arrangement, combined with a big round ball and Forsyth rifling, results in relatively low-pressure within the barrel itself.

Getting the most performance out of the available powder charge is actually a race against time. In the case of the African, we have a scant 26 inches of barrel length, which, when you consider the length of the breech plug, plus the length of the powder column and the patched ball, you have about 24 inches of potential combustion chamber. So time is of the essence. The quicker we can get all that powder involved in combustion, the greater the chance of burning it all before the ball exits the muzzle – hence, the best return in foot pounds of energy.

Still don’t believe that it's really possible to burn that amount of powder in such a short barrel? It really does pencil out scientifically and logically. Consider that the .62 Zephyr, or Faeton, will burn 200 grains of ffg blackpowder in its 30-inch barrel. BTW, that IS a safe charge in my Forsyth-rifled .62 barrels. In this example the 200 grains of powder represents 62.5% of the weight of the ball that it’s pushing.

Now let’s consider the 8-bore African with a top load of 300 grains of ffg. In this case the 300-grain powder charge represents only 37.5% of the weight of that huge round ball and the resulting powder column is really quite short in that voluminous bore. So it’s not too much of a stretch of credibility to see that we’re actually burning relatively less powder in the 8-bore -even in its shorter barrel. The African can and does digest the whole charge in just two feet of barrel. (But to be sure, we shot the African over a bed sheet and at 300 grains there was no unburned powder left on the sheet!)


And that, boys and girls, is what Dual-Cap Ignition is all about. It will assure that 300 grains of blackpowder will be consumed in less than 26 inches of barrel and its energy translated into a huge round ball having a Taylor Knock Out value of 151.7 at the muzzle. For comparison sake, the justly-famous .460 Weatherby Magnum, shooting the 500-grain bullet, has a Taylor value of 88.3. That’s just a shade under our 12-bore African which averages 93.5.

Some wonder how the trim and slim African can possibly hold up to the strain of such powerful loads. The secret is in the union of the barrel, receiver and buttstock.

Unlike ordinary underhammer designs that may use a tapered pin or set screws to anchor the barrel into the receiver or standing breech, the African’s barrel and breechplug is screwed into the receiver and the two components are then torqued together just like a center-fire rifle. This creates a very tight union with absolutely no play or slack between the barrel and receiver that can cause a rifle to shoot loose and self-destruct under recoil.

The union between the buttstock and the receiver is also extremely solid and tight. After perfect fitting of the dense English walnut buttstock to the receiver, they are secured into union by a large, heat-treated draw bolt.

Most firearms that utilize a draw bolt that passes through the buttstock into the receiver traditionally use one that is a mere ¼-inch in diameter - some even less. For most guns that might suffice. However, in order to hold up to a lifetime of hard use, the African’s buttstock is secured by a ½-inch grade-8 bolt (the toughest kind) that is 6½ inches long and which is torqued into the receiver like the head bolts on a truck engine.

The result is a stiffness of the rifle that assures that under recoil it will move as one solid unit and not as a group of dubiously-jointed components that under recoil move in a series of collisions between the barrel and receiver, or standing breech, and then the receiver/standing breech into the buttstock. The result of such flimsy construction is a rifle that shoots loose, cracks the stock, and develops inaccuracy.

Some consider this over-engineering of the Zephyr to be part of the marketing hype, but I don’t settle for good enough when outstanding is possible.

Many believe that shooting the African must be just plain brutal. But just the opposite is the case. Housed within the African’s stock is an internal recoil reduction system that absorbs the punch and converts it to a more comfortable, longer-wave “shove.” That, coupled with the African’s weight of 13 pounds and a generous shotgun buttplate measuring 2" wide by almost 6" long, makes its shove quite manageable by even the average shooter. And, of course, one doesn’t have to stoke it to the limit just to have fun. A charge of only 70 - 100 grains of ffg, touched off with only a single cap, will provide all manner of shooting satisfaction and is sure to Wow! any bystanders. With just a few more grains of powder, it is also quite sufficient to cleanly dispatch monster moose or elk, and certainly stop dead the charge of a rogue grizzly or giant brownie with one well-placed shot.

Seen here is gunwriter, Phil Peterson, test-firing the prototype 8-bore African Zephyr. I borrowed the pics from his feature about the 8-bore that was published in the Summer of 2000 issue of the excellent, but sadly now defunct, BLACKPOWDER HUNTING. Interesting story if you can round up a copy of the magazine. You can plainly see that the rifle’s shove is quite manageable by anyone familiar with big-bore rifles. BTW, he claimed three-shot offhand groups of 2-inches despite the shove. Remember to click on this rare photo for a closer look!

The claims about the superior reliability and performance of the African are all true. As a classy, big-bore percussion rifle that handles as quick and smoothly as a sawed-off shotgun, with knockdown power to spare for any game on planet Earth, the African has no equal. It’s as rugged, reliable, and tough as a Mack truck but disguised within the sleek gracefulness of a Ferrari.

While I do offer the Faeton in African garb, Pacific Rifle Company still provides the African Zephyr in its original form, and as I am quite booked, it would be best to contact them about their current delivery schedule if you are indeed in the market for a unique piece of firearms history – the African Zephyr, or Faeton, if you really insist.

African Zephyr™, Genuine Forsyth Rifling™, Dual-Cap Ignition™, and Wide-Body Barrel™, are all trademarks of Pacific Rifle Company who reserves all rights thereto. They may be contacted at: pacificriflecompany@gmail.com or pay them a visit at their new site: www.pacificriflecompany.blogspot.com.

Hope that's helpful.

Cheers!


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The Underhammer Rifle - a book for builders.

So many of us muzzleloaders are certainly DIYers and we tend to make a lot of our own shooting gear such as buckskins, knives, powder horns, hawks, tents, tepees, and many of us are casting our own bullets, too. We tend to really get involved with our sport to the point where it is more a lifestyle than a mere pastime. Sometimes this condition can carry over into the rest of our life, perhaps, to the chagrin of our family. Like the guy who showed up at work in his buckskins on casual Friday…

I guess it is a basic sense of self-sufficiency and independence that motivates us to want to do such things for ourselves exactly as we want them done. It's either that or the shrink may have been right about us having “control issues.” Either way, we are what we are, and for the most part we are doers – perhaps, better stated as "highly-motivated."

I like that. Certainly sounds better than having control issues.

For many, being self-sufficient also means that we would like to make our own guns - if possible. At least one, anyway. And I believe that is a good endeavor to pursue, as the novice gunmaker will be left with a sense of appreciation for the work of those who do this for a living. Perhaps they will even come to understand why good quality underhammer rifles command as much money as good quality sidelock guns.

While there are quite a number of good kits and individual parts available for those wishing to replicate some form of sidelock gun, slim pickings are available for those who wish to build themselves an underhammer rifle, pistol, or shotgun.

Although generally considered to be ridiculously simple, little is actually known of the mechanics of underhammers because few shooters have had the opportunity to take one apart and study the design, geometry, and function of even the simple and common types of underhammer mechanisms.

Thanks to the work of Jeff Baron, we now have a better sense of underhammer lock design. Jeff put together 30 pages of drawings and construction tips in his book, The Underhammer Rifle, techniques and illustrations for the construction of Underhammer Locks.

As a teaser, the sample page below depicts the quality and extent of detail in his drawings. You can click the pic for a closer view, then click the Back button to return to the text.

For a mere $8 this little book is jam-packed with detailed drawings for seven underhammer actions, including the designs of Cooper, Wood, Cook, Hilliard, Carleton and Chase. They span the range from super simple, such as the Wood, to rather involved, such as the Carleton.

The instructions and diagrams are such that most any good craftsman could build an underhammer action with basic shop tools and Jeff’s book. However, one should have an understanding of basic lockwork geometry in order to build an underhammer mechanism that provides the level of safety that its original designer had intended. Simply having a drawing and some basic dimensions does not guarantee that you will be creating a lock with safe and efficient sear angles, pivot points, and spring tensions.

Before charging off to the workshop with book in hand, it would be a good idea to study the design you wish to replicate. Analytically consider mechanical principles that govern the captivation of the hammer, the trigger/sear arc, sear depth, pivot pin tolerances, and other mechanical aspects, as you study the drawing. With a bit of careful observation, you may even see the improvements that each of the designs offer which you could then incorporate into your project.

If you are new to the gunmaking craft, once you’ve completed your action, it would be a good idea to have a qualified gunsmith or gunmaker inspect your work to be sure that you have a safe and sturdy mechanism before investing a lot of time and expense in building the rest of your rifle.

While this book is a great resource and inspiration for budding underhammer makers, I do have one major concern with it. All of the actions depicted do not incorporate a half-cock, or safety notch, as some call it. And while true, the author is depicting old designs, in my opinion that is no excuse for building what is considered by modern standards to be an unsafe firearm.

If one wishes to build for one’s own use that certainly is one's choice. But beware if and when you may tire of it and sell or trade such an item to another, as the liability you are assuming as its maker is horrendous indeed.

Luckily, there is a solution for providing an extra measure of safety and peace of mind while shooting those older-design underhammers. You can read all about it in the previous post below.

The Underhammer Rifle, techniques and illustrations for the construction of Underhammer Locks is listed by Dixie Gun Works as Item: BO1982 and may be purchased from their site at: www.dixiegunworks.com. You can also snoop around the Dixie site while you're there for some of the other parts you'll need to build and finish your new underhammer.

Go forth and build, enjoy, and please, be safe!

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Underhammer safety. Low-tech to the rescue.

As unique, diverse, and innovative as underhammer firearms are, there is one feature that is common to most otherwise great designs that is a glaring flaw. It's a design defect by modern standards that would provide a field day for product liability attorneys and result in the rejection of the firearm design by product liability insurers. That is the lack of a half-cock or safety notch in the hammer.

It would seem that a solution to this very unsafe condition might be rather complicated, perhaps involving modification of the hammer, trigger, or both. Certainly alterations that would negatively impact the value of a shootable collectible.

For the target shooter this is not too much of a problem as his normal regimen is to simply cock the hammer, cap the nipple and immediately fire the shot.

However, if one is carrying such an underhammer arm in the field there are few options for safely carrying. One could carry the arm with the hammer cocked and the nipple left uncapped. At the sight of target or game, the nipple could then be capped and the shot taken. Not really practical as one should be focusing on the game, but instead is fishing for a relatively tiny cap – perhaps doing so with cold, stiff, and maybe even wet fingers – and then attempting to carefully and accurately seat it firmly on the nipple. Then find the game - again - and take the shot. Yes, you could use a capper to speed things up a bit, but still a considerable delay and distraction is involved.

Been there, done that; it’s slow and not really practical in most instances.

One could also cap the nipple and gently lower the hammer onto the cap and pray that the hammer is not inadvertently struck by dropping the gun or by bumping into some object along the trail, perhaps as the result of tripping and falling, thereby firing the gun. Have done that one, too. Convinced myself that it would be okay 'cause I'm a rather careful kind of guy. Thankfully there was no falling, nor any accidental discharge. But I was walking on eggshells the whole time the hammer was resting on the cap. I think Murphy had that weekend off and I was very lucky.

Hard on the nerves, unsafe; so not really practical, either.

It was a totally unrelated incident on the game trail that inspired the solution to the dilemma of carrying an underhammer in an unsafe mode. I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that it was a broken twig that rendered my rifle inoperative that flipped on the light for me.

The solution is so cheap and easy that there is now no excuse for carrying your underhammer in an unsafe condition if it was not designed with a safety notch.

Simply purchase a half-inch diameter wooden dowel (or if you’re really cheap whittle a twig) and cut it into 5/8” to ¾” lengths. Then cut or whittle a shallow notch on one side of each piece as shown in the sketch.

After you’ve loaded and capped the gun, the idea is to use the dowel as a hammer block. That will allow you to cap the nipple and carry the gun with the hammer resting upon the dowel and not on the capped nipple. The hammer rests in the notch in the dowel while pushing it up against the bottom flat of the barrel, thus keeping the hammer off the cap.

When the big moment arrives, you simply cock the hammer and the dowel will usually fall free and away from the gun as you bring it to aim.

BTW, there is no need to pick up your used dowels as they are, after all, “green” and will naturally decompose into the environment. (Who says shooters aren’t green conscious?) Carry a few of them in your pocket and you're good for the day.

You may have to adjust the notch or even the diameter of the dowel to get the proper “fit” between the hammer and the bottom of the barrel on your particular style of underhammer to achieve that all important clearance between hammer and cap.

In case you haven’t figured it out, the notch just keeps the dowel snugly in place. In making yours, one thing to be aware of is the shallow nature of the notch. If it’s too deep and narrow, the hammer could become wedged in the notch and the dowel will not fall free of the hammer when it is drawn to cock. On the other hand, if the notch is too shallow, the dowel may be coaxed out of position by Murphy’s Law leaving you in a rather dangerous condition. Experiment a bit and you’ll figure it out.

So, there you have it - cheap and easy. Once again, Low-Tech reigns triumphant.

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A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the blog...

Recently I received a wonderful book containing over 100 pages of well-researched, tested, and detailed information and illustrations regarding one of history's best kept secrets. While not specifically 'underhammer' in nature, I believe the information contained within it to be of such significance to all of us muzzleloaders that it's being featured here.

Truly this book provides a tremendous wealth of information that will be of value to anyone interested in firearms as the information represents the very genesis of our sport and was the springboard for the whole industrial revolution. On a scale of importance to the development of civilization, the information it provides is akin to the discovery of fire.

I wrote a review of the book with the intention of sharing the information with our readers. However, when I clicked the button on the blog composer to actually publish the review to the web, Google's computer system IMMEDIATELY recognized the subject matter and refused to publish the review. It posted an orange Error Message that stated that my post was refused for (inappropriate) content.

Thinking that this was just a minor snafu - a problem with incorrect punctuation marks, perhaps, which can sometimes confuse the html editor - I edited and resubmitted the text. Again, the Error message INSTANTLY appeared. For over two hours I edited and re-edited the script and title into every conceivable form so as not to offend the Google computer's sense of appropriateness and every time it flashed the same message as if to say, NO, WE WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO SHARE THAT KIND OF INFORMATION! It actually remembered the syntax and the subject matter and refused to accept ANY revision of the original material.

Perhaps now you understand why this "review" is so ambiguous. That computer is damn smart and recognizes not only words, but THOUGHTS. At first I figured there was some geeky kid at Google who was reviewing my material and sat in judgment only to give it a thumbs down verdict. But, no, after further consideration I realized that the review was too lengthy for anyone to INSTANTLY recognize and respond to the post. Only a computer could read and think that fast.

Frustrated with the situation, and dog tired (it was 1:30 am), I decided to call it a day and try again in the morning, although I didn't quite know what I might try.

During my wake-up coffee I received an inspiration to try another approach. I scanned the cover of the book and converted it to a j-peg image which I then uploaded into the blog composer as a picture instead of readable text from the night before.

Bingo! It worked. Luckily the mind of Google apparently cannot read the text compiled within a j-peg graphic as it did not refuse to publish the photo of the book's cover - which pretty much tells the story.

Checkmate, HAL.

I sincerely believe that the authors of the book (sorry, the computer remembers their names, and I'm not taking any chances of having this post censored, too) have contributed tremendously to our understanding of a subject that has remained shrouded in mystery for nearly a thousand years. Apparently there are still those who would prefer that it remain that way as they obviously don't want you to have this book.

At $39.97 I believe it to be a bargain considering the wealth of information contained within. To place an order and learn of other interesting books offered by L&R Publishing Company, please visit www.blackpowdernet.com for more details. For those who would like to read my review, please contact me at: underhammers@safe-mail.net and I'll be happy to e-mail the full review to you.

The story you have just read is true. The names have been withheld to protect the innocent - but mostly to put one over on Google's computer.

Follow up: Thinking that perhaps because I tried publishing late that night (now four days ago) while Google may have been performing some kind of internal maintenance, and that perhaps their system was down and just couldn't respond to my input, I again tried to publish the most tame revision of the review and it was immediately refused - again. So, it seems pretty obvious now that they really don't want me to share this information with you.

Perhaps some validation to any conspiracy theorists among you.

.

Gurtek goes low-tech.

Many believe that it is an appreciation of a simple, efficient, yet low-tech approach to certain aspects of life that keeps us playing with muzzleloaders at a time when most everyone else seeks quicker, easier and cheaper ways of getting through life. For the most part we’re not looking for the high-tech, easy, time-saving manner of burning powder and sending lead down range. We are those who choose the road less traveled. We prefer the slower, low-tech, certainly old-tech, road where we may shoot less but we enjoy it more. When it comes to technology, for many of us the saying that “less is more” certainly applies. More times than not we prefer low-tech and that’s one reason why we admire underhammer guns – simple, efficient and low-tech.

Brent Gurtek is also such a man and we thank him for sharing some photos of his first underhammer project. In a phone interview with this full time gunmaker, he said his usual work consists of Kentucky rifles and similar side-locked firearms of the 1750-1850-period. However, he always harbored a love for underhammer sporting arms. Recently he decided to finally take the plunge into the pool of underhammer makers. He brought his experience with longrifles to the bench to create this unique underhammer which exudes the innovative design and flavor of an original piece of the early 19^th century.



Brent said that his rifle wears a 36-inch octagonal, straight-tapered (1" - 7/8") .50-caliber round-ball barrel by Ed Rayl. The tapered barrel lends a wonderful sense of balance to the finished rifle, both in handling characteristics as well as aesthetics, and unbeknownst to many, it also provides superior accuracy.

The case-hardened action is made by Charles Bowers and features the simple logic of the time-honored triggerguard/mainspring construction. The Bowers action uses Allen screws (unfortunately) to secure the barrel/receiver connection for ease of take-down and barrel swapping for those who are inclined to shoot two or more calibers (or bird shot) from the same platform.






Brent chose curly English walnut for the stock and its mountings are brass. He claims that his patchbox design is loosely based on others from eastern Pennsylvania and reflects his longrifle background. It certainly seems to “date” the piece as an early transitional type of percussion rifle just emerging from the Golden Age. Brent then tastefully antiqued the whole rifle to give it the flavor of a well-maintained original.

Brent’s manner of fixing the ramrod pipes to the barrel provides a rigid and durable arrangement. The “pipes” are made of brass sheet having a flange that is soldered to the barrel and decorated in appropriate manner. All in all a very nice treatment and one which displays the ingenuity of frontier gunmakers who had little in the way of machinery to provide the methods of construction employed by the factories and even some of the more established gunmakers in the more settled areas of the East.

Brent fabricated the ramrod thimbles from brass sheet which he
soldered to the barrel for a wonderful frontier gunmaker's look.

“I make most of the bits & pieces for my guns, preferring to use ’catalog’ parts as little as possible." says Brent. "The sights and butt plate shown here are both of my own manufacture.” he adds. It is that fabrication of his own “bits and pieces” that lend that certain individuality to his work. He also stated that he’s been diligently working on an underhammer design of his own which we hope to see in the near future. Brent sums it all up by saying, “Underhammers are inadequately appreciated by modern muzzle loading shooters and THAT MUST CHANGE!!” To help remedy that situation he is presently involved with three other underhammer projects and plans to continue to build underhammer rifles, too.



Since the original posting, we received this pic of the nice doe that Brent harvested with the rifle displayed above. Way to go, Brent!

Just a reminder that clicking on the images will enlarge them. Clicking the "Back" arrow will return you to the text.

All photos copyrighted by Brent Gurtek