by

Budd Davisson, exclusively for Airbum.com

Getting Started:
Tools and other stuff
This section will probably grow as I get the energy to get deeper into specialized tools, but I thought wed
get started with the basics.
In the first place you dont need anything exotic although there are a couple of things you cant do
without and there are a couple that ma!e life a little easier.
Cant Do Without This
The first time you pic! up a loc!, be it a flintloc! or a cap loc!, youll wor! the hammer bac! and forth
and immediately realize how it wor!s. Dont let them fool you, however. They can be pretty sophisticated
in their simplicity and there are "uantum leaps between the cheaper loc!s and the better ones and the
differences are in details you and I cant even see. D#$T B%& #$ '(I)*+ A cheap loc! is li!e doing a
heart transplant and getting the heart from the lowest bidder.
,ere using -iler loc!s here because they are the standard and because they are close to the style of the
.ancaster rifle were building and right for the period.
'art of the way a loc! can fool you is that you
thin! you can get them apart with a screw driver.
/#(0*T IT+ Ta!e a loo! at the springs. Both
types of loc!s have the main spring in the bac! and
the flintloc! has the frizzen spring up front. These
may not loo! li!e much but youre sure to damage
a loc! if you dont un1tension these springs before
you remove any of the screws.
The springs put everything under tension and if
you try to ta!e a screw out itll bugger up the end
of the threads as you try to get it out. Besides, itll
be a real bitch getting the screw out in the first
time. To ta!e tension off the cloc!wor!s you need
to compress the spring. This much is obvious even after a cursory examination of the loc!. ,hat isnt
obvious is that it isnt easy to compress the spring.
Don2t let anyone !id you, getting that spring off
without a vice is a bear
The first thought is to use a little )1clamp. 0ood idea, but the springs are so narrow and have so much
slope to them the clamp cant get a good purchase on the spring.The next thought is the pride of Dewitt,
$ebras!a, the 3ice 0rip 4all true 3ice 0rips come from Dewitt, not far from my hometown5. These
6might7 wor!, depending on how you feel about leaving gouges on springs and such8really bad idea and
smac!s of 99 49ic!ey 9ouse5.
*nter the spring vice. This is a little gadget you should buy right along with your :entuc!y parts. It has
rotating ;aws that are specifically made to span the length of a main spring and let you compress it with a
couple turns of the thumb screw. 0o to Trac!ofthewolf.com to order tools and parts. They also have !its,
but Dunlaps feature better wood and select parts.
Chisels: dont chintz on these
A surgeon isnt going to wade into a "uadruple bypass with a -wiss Army !nife and you shouldnt try to
wor! curly maple with anything but topnotch chisels.
They are available from a number of sources but get the best money can buy. &oull use them for the rest
of your life, so dont screw around with middle of the line stuff. &ou can use 6palm chisels7 if you want,
but Ive always found them too short for general use. Theyre great for fine carving, but we may or may
not be doing any of that on this piece.
&oull need the following blade types<
1straight =>=?7
1straight @>=?7
1straight =>A7, this can be a simple -tanley type tool since
youll use it as a scraper.
1gouge, B>=?, ma!e this a medium radius to get into
corners of curved mortises.
I have probably fifty chisels, but these are the ones used
most and are all youll need for this pro;ect.
&oull
also
need
sharpening stuff as follows<
1medium stone to start wor!ing the blade
1blac! stone to set final shape
1white stone to put glass smooth edge on it
1.#$0 leather strop to really put an edge on it.
&ou can ma!e your own strop by gluing a =?7 long
piece of belt leather on a board. Then moisten it and rub
4they call it 6charging7 it5 coarse rubbing compound
li!e youd use on paint into it. (eally soa! the leather
with it and wor! it in. Ive used a lot of different stuff
and it all wor!s o!ay, but -imichrome polish, if you
can find it seems a hair better than the other stuff.
This strop is going to sit right there in front of you every second youre wor!ing wood and every two or
three cuts youre going to wipe the chisel across the strop. If you get in the habit of doing that, youll
never tear a piece of grain out because you waited one cut too long to sharpen your blade.
The Bench Vice
This little bugger doesn't look like much, but
it'll save you a lot of heartburn.
Yep, these are all you'll need for a Dunlap kit
and you'll be using the red 1/4 more for
scraping than anything else.
There are vices and there are vices and
the only really important aspect of a vice
is that you have one and that it be bolted
securely to a bench that doesnt move
under pressure. A lot of fol!s use a
special cradle on the bench to wor!
rifles, but were not going to get that
sophisticated, so well ma!e do with a
vice.
If you can find a unit !nown as a 3ice
3ersa, they ma!e life much easier. They
pivot in three dimensions and ma!e it
easier to position the piece for easy
whac!ing. 0od !nows we dont want to
be whac!ing at the wrong angle, rightC
The 3ersa 3ice moves in three1dimensions but even without one ma!e a set of bloc!s for any vice and
radius the bac! of one so it can rotate and align with odd shapes.
(egardless of what vice youre using, ma!e a set of bloc!s li!e Ive illustrated here. 9ine are pretty beat
up because theyve seen a lot of use, but you cant wor! without them.
The bloc!s not only protect the rifle from the ;aws, but we can cut grooves in the face of the bloc! that
match parts of the rifle and let you grab it more securely.
$otice in the pictures that the bac! of one of the bloc!s is radiused slightly. This is to let one of the bloc!s
rotate in the vice so it can self align with tapered parts of the stoc!.
Dont get too exotic with the wood, but ma!e sure its a relatively hard wood. &oull need to start with
something about two inches thic!, which can be hard to find. Dere again, dont get too caught up in the
details< find an old shipping s!id and ;er! one of the big pieces off the bottom. If its not thic! enough,
glue two pieces together and get out your saw. #r better yet, brea! out the band saw.
Also, notice the notch in the bottom legs< it has to straddle the screw in the middle of the vice.
:eep an old sweatshirt laying behind the vice because youre going to be using it as padding to protect
the stoc! in the vice. Doubled up carpet wor!s better.
Transfer medium
&oure going to need something to rub on the bac! of parts as you try to inlet them into the wood. ,here
they are touching, theyll leave a smudge of the medium. Dere again, simple wor!s< lip stic! will do the
The strop is nothing but belt leather charged !ith rubbing
compound. "se it religiously. #o, ignore that. "se it much more
than you use your religion.
;ob. A better bet is to get inletting blac! from Brownells.com. If you dont have their catalog, you should.
*ven though EEF of the stuff in it isnt applicable to this pro;ect, its a great resource for all sorts of stuff
thats gun related but useful in other areas too.
Drilling holes
&ou can this entire pro;ect with a steady hand and a =>A7 drill but having a drill press ma!es life much,
much easier. If you dont have one, dont rush out and buy one for this pro;ect. I can thin! of only one
hole that should be done in a press and thats the touchhole and only then if you plan on threading it and
putting a unobtainium liner in it. #therwise, ;ust hand drill it and try really hard to ma!e it a s"uare.
As we get into the different operations and other tools pop up 4since Ive probably forgotten some5 well
get into them at that time.
-o, get a vice, get some chisels, get going.
0o To 'art Three

by
Budd Davisson
$%clusive for &irbum.com
Building Your Own lintloc! "entuc!# $ifle: %art One
#!ay, we2ll admit it< this series is probably a little esoteric for a lot of fol!s. But, if you have the slightest interest in
$eat -h1t, hang in there. This is really a fun, relatively easy pro;ect that results in an artifact that even your
significant other would li!e to have hanging on the wall. Besides that, they are so much fun to shoot you won2t be
able to stand yourself.
If you haven2t been exposed to blac! powder shooting before, you probably have some "uestions about their safety.
The answer is that, yes they are safe. Treat them exactly as you would any other firearm with ;ust a little more
caution attached to handling the raw powder. ,e2ll get into that in some detail when we get ready to go shooting.
The %ro&ect
,hat we are going to build is a 'ennsylvania long rifle 4also called :entuc!y rifle5 similar to what Isaac Daines, one
of the more influential gunsmiths in .ancaster, 'A would have made around =GGH. In this case, it is a .AB caliber
flint loc! with a IswampedI @J inch barrel. A swamped barrel tapers from the breech towards the muzzle, then,
about a foot from the end, flares bac! out again. Don2t as! why. ,e don2t !now for sure.
,e selected an Isaac Daines style because I li!e his crisp architecture and general lines. Dis butt stoc! is typical
.ancaster, with straight lines top and bottom, but he rendered them in a tighter style. Also, I li!e the ;ust1barely1pre1
(evolutionary ,ar styling in general, with the flatter, wider butt plate.
This will be the first !it I2ve assembled, as I usually cut my stoc!s from a board, doing all the shaping myself, which
is a long tedious tas!. Kust inletting the barrel is good for AH hours plus because each flat of the octagon changes
dimension as you move up the barrel channel. %nless you2re really serious about it, the !it loo!s li!e the way to go.
It2s a little more expensive, but won2t drag on nearly as long. As I2m writing this, I2m guessing it2ll ta!e about ?H
hours to finish the rifle, not counting carving. I2ll !eep rough trac! of the time involved and we2ll see how that wor!s
out in the end.

The "it
,e decided to use a !it from ,ayne Dunlap 4Dunlap ,oodcrafts, =A?HH / /lint .ee (d, )hantilly, 3A LH=B=
4GH@5?@=1B=AG, 4GH@5 G@A1LGAJ5 as he is I9r. ,oodI in the long rifle community. De supplies much of the wood
used by the thousands of builders who populate the extensive sub1culture that has built up around the long rifle.
#ne of the primary reasons we decided on a Dunlap !it is that it uses the best components available and Dunlap2s
reputation for parts fit is un"uestioned. 9ost of his inlet mortises are so close to being the right size, they re"uire
removing the only tiniest amount of wood. Also, it ma!es no sense to put this amount of effort into a pro;ect and use
second "uality parts and material. &ou2ll see lots of !its at a much lower cost, but you won2t see any better. Dunlap2s
!its run in the M?HH1MJHH range. &ou2ll also see !its in the MLHH range that are usually made in Italy or Kapan. Ignore
those. *very aspect of them is "uestionable yet it ta!es the same amount of time to finish.
)urly maple is available in a wide range of "uality which generally means the more curl and the tighter the curl, the
more valuable the wood is. *xpect to pay MLLB and up for a premium piece of wood which will be around M@BHN by
the time it has been machined into a semi1finished stoc!. A straight grained piece of wood would be about M=HHO it2s
not worth saving that amount of money considering the time and "uality of the finished product.
Incidentally, the wood is nearly white in its natural state, but is stained prior to finishing to bring out the curly grain.
The IcurlsI are grain reversals so the end grain soa!s up the stain better and the light>dar! stripes stand out. It2s really
cool to watch that happen while you2re staining. Then, when you hit it with the first coat of finish and the grain leaps
out at you, you remember why you started this pro;ect in the first place.
Dunlap uses 0etz barrels which are usually the choice of most serious builders, but there are at least a half dozen
good barrel ma!ers out there. I2ve never used any other !ind.
The loc! in the !it is a -iler, which is also the standard by which other loc!s are measured. Again, there are probably
a dozen or more loc!s available, but the -iler wor!s well so why not use itC Also, the shape of long rifle loc! plates
and the hammer changed significantly after =JHH and in different regions. The -iler shape is more or less correct to
the =GGH period in the .ancaster, 'A area.
As you2ll see in the pictures, I2m going to set the rifle up to use both flint ignition and the much later 4and historically
incorrect5 percussion cap ignition. ,hen the cap loc! was invented in the mid1=J@H2s, a vast ma;ority of the older
flint guns were converted because the newer loc! was so much faster and more reliable.
All of the brass parts 4buttplate, trigger guard, etc.5 are wax cast, rather than sand cast, so they are "uite smooth and
only re"uire minor finishing. The sprue has to be cut off and the edges and ;oint seam dressed down.

The Tools
,hat does it ta!e to build one of these !itsC /or one thing, it
ta!es no power tools. Although you2ll see me using a drill
press, that isn2t necessary. A hand drill with a few
rudimentary ;igs will do the same thing, ;ust not as easily.
#f critical importance is a set of small carving chisels
including a flat chisel around =>JI across and a reasonably
small gouge. 9ost of the wor! could be done with a =>AI
chisel, but a gouge is absolutely necessary to wor! the
insides of the loc! recess.
Along with the chisels should come several sharpening
stones, down to the finest grit available. Then ma!e a leather
strop by gluing some belt leather to a bloc! of wood and
wor! some rubbing compound into its surface. There is
simply no substitute for sharp tools on a pro;ect li!e this.
$one whatsoever.
&ou2ll also see me using some blac! stuff as a color transfer
to see where the parts are touching the wood so I !now what
has to be cut away. .ip stic! wor!s ;ust as well and is easier
to find.
#ne gadget you may want to purchase is a little specially made vice to compress the main spring, in case you want
to disassemble the loc! to better wor! on it. -ee the article on long rifles elsewhere in Airbum.com to get the address
to ;oin the $ational 9uzzle .oading Association. Their magazine is full of suppliers.
The Ste's
The plan of attac! has some flexibility built into it but, at this stage of the game, we expect it to go something li!e
this, and we2ll present lots of pix to illustrate each step<
=. /inish inletting barrel tang so the barrel can get set solid in stoc!. This has to be done before finish inletting the
loc! to get the touch hole for ignition in the right place.
L. /inish inletting loc!.
@. Inlet trigger plate
A. drill and tap for tang and loc! bolts.
B. Inlet buttplate and drill for mounting screws
?. Install under1barrel lugs and drill stoc! for pins
G. Inlet trigger guard and drill for mounting pins
J. Inlet ramrod tubes and drill for mounting pins
E. Inlet muzzle cap
=H. )ut dovetails for sights
==. -and stoc! down to final shape and prepare for finish
=L. )arve designs on stoc!. ,e2ll ma!e up our mind whether to do that, when we get to that point.
=@. -tain stoc! and rub finish on. This is the really fun part because it starts to loo! li!e a real rifle.
=A. 'rep metal parts for Ibrowning.I They aren2t blued, but browned.
=B. 0o out and burn a little powder. &eehah++
See the following for 'rogress re'orts:
Part Two - Getting Started
Part Three - Inletting the Barrel and Tang
Part Four - Inletting the Lock
Part Five - Fitting the Butt Plate
(nd here)s a little discussion on %enns#l*ania rifles in general+
'udd Davisson, $%clusively for &irbum.com
Let the Fun Begin:
Getting Swamped but Getting it Right
/irst of all, since were doing this from one of Dunlap ,oodcrafts !its, were missing out on one of the most 6fun7
4read that as tedious5 parts of building a .ancaster rifle of this period8inletting a swamped barrel from scratch.
Swam'ed Barrels: %rett# ,ut a %ain in the Behind
/irst, lets tal! about the swamped barrel for a second. Im certain the real experts !now why our forefathers used a
barrel that tapered from the breech to the muzzle and then, for no apparent reason, flared out again about a foot from
the end, but Ive never heard a reason I believe. Tapering the barrel does give much better balance than a straight
barrel because it shifts the center of gravity bac! towards the hands. But why have it flair out againC
I personally thin! its the ancients way of driving future generations of gunsmiths nuts when we try to replicate
guns of that period. Thin! about it8every flat of the octagon tapers in three dimensions. ,hen youre hogging out a
tight fitting groove that matches a swamped barrel from scratch, its a .#$0, not particularly en;oyable process.
&ou can rough it with a router, but the important stuff is done by hand and it always ta!es me AH1?H hours. But then,
Im not a speed demon at anything.
The above is why I was delirious with ;oy when I dropped the wonderfully precise 0etz barrel that came with the !it
into the machined groove and found it fit so close. Id only have a couple dozen thousands of an inch here and there
to get it to snuggle right in. Im a bug on wood1to1metal fit and this was definitely going to yield a 6grew around the
barrel7 loo!.
$ormally, youd screw the tang out of the barrel and inlet the barrel first, then install the tang and do that last. In this
case, however, the base of the tang, which usually interferes with dropping the barrel in place, already has plenty of
clearance for the early portion of the fitting process. -o, we can do the entire unit in one shot.
$ow that Im finished with that process, however, I thin! it would have actually moved faster, if I had removed the
tang.
Ste' One: ma!e a mess
The first thing were going to do is swab the bottom of the barrel and tang down with inletting blac!. I hate this stuff
because it gets on your fingers and from there to the stoc!. It really doesnt hurt anything, but it is a messy process. I
use a stiff, half1inch brush to apply it.
,e drop the barrel into the channel being careful to ma!e sure the bac! of it is against the s"uare cut bac! of the
barrel channel. If it slides forward even a tiny bit, all of the tapered octagonal flats move ahead and start contacting
wood. ,hen they do that, they give us erroneous readings.
The entire tric! here is to gently put the barrel in place, then pull it out and see where it has left blac! smudges 4or
red, if youre using lipstic!5. The conclusion is obvious8it left a smudge because it touched the wood there. -o, we
gently remove all of the smudges by carefully 4read that again, )A(*/%..&5 cutting or, better yet, scraping away
the high points as indicated by the smudges.
You'll really get tired of chasing smudges but they indicate !here the metal is touching the !ood. 'y erasing the
high spots very gradually, the metal !orks its !ay into the !ood. Do it slo!ly. Don't get in a hurry.
A "uic! note here< were only going to be moving the
teeny, tiniest bit of wood. ,ere right up to the finishing phases, so brace your hands so the chisel or scraper is so
steady it cant get away from you. Dont get anxious here. Kust ta!e away enough wood that the smudge disappears.
Then even out the blac! stuff on the bottom of the barrel 4you dont need to add more5 push it down in the barrel
channel and repeat the process.
&oull only go through this particular cycle about ten thousand times on this pro;ect. As it happens, thats about the
same as if you had scratch built the stoc! from a board because Dunlap has gone through all the gross shaping stages
and brought us up to the final phases where the inletting blac! comes into play. This allows us to get an exact fit
without worrying about the basic alignment or shape of things. ,hen we start to inlet the loc!, however, youll see
where the machine inletting has saved us a ton of unseen inletting chores.
-sing the Transfer .ethod
Dere are some clues about what to watch for. :eep loo!ing for linear blac! mar!s at the bottom of the channels in
the corners indicated that the edges of the barrel are ma!ing contact. -ome fol!s will ta!e a file to the edges of the
bottom flats and round them slightly which ma!es getting a tight fit a lot less headache. I dont because this seems
li!e cheating. It aint "uite right.
As you scrape away the high spots, youll notice that one disappears to be replaced by another some place else. This
is part of the natural process of !noc!ing down the high points. Thin! about a mountain range and youll !eep
!noc!ing the top off the highest pea!s until you finally wind up with $ebras!a landscape.
Deres a ma;or tip for not screwing up where the wood meets the metal< from the outside all you see is the wood1to1
metal seam and we cant see whats inside. -o, stay away from the exact edge of the inlet mortise. .eave a =>=?7 or
so of vertical wall wood right where it touches the metal untouched until the very end of the inletting process. Then
go after that with hypersensitivity and remove as little as you can get away with.
.ots of times the pressure of the barrel in the channel slightly compresses that =>=?7 ledge giving you an absolutely
perfect fit. The down side to doing that is that if you have it too snug, you stand the chance of peeling some grain off
when you remove the barrel. 0et ;ust enough contact that it barely touches but ta!es no pressure to get it to fit. Dont
pound it into place.
Tang Discussions
/irst of all, the tang, as it comes on the barrel needs to be bent slightly to better follow the curve of the stoc!. It
doesnt need to be bent much, so wait until you have the barrel sitting well down in the stoc! so you can get a better
feeling for how much bend is re"uired. The tang is really soft, so you only have to hold the barrel in the vice bloc!s
4padded, of course5 and tap it with a hammer 4with a wooden bloc! between5.
This should be self(e%plainatory. The shape of the tang, with the wide tail, is very
typical of the pre1revolutionary .ancaster period. The inlet in the stoc! is a solid =>A7 too short giving you lots of
room to get it inlet exactly right. #r, in my case, to trim the tang to the 6pear7 shape that mar!ed some of the better
rifles of the time. The end of the tang was one of many places different builders did it 6their way7 and added a little
personality. The pictures show the steps in trimming it. This is definitely not a must1do for you, but I thought it
loo!ed cool.
9a!e sure the tang is bent so itll lay fairly well down the curve of the stoc! so you can mar! an accurate line
around it.
.ar!ing the Tang /nlet
Im going to ma!e a bigger deal out of this operation than necessary only to get a concept across thatll come in
really handy later on.
/irst, prepare the tang for inletting by filing a slight chamfer on the bottom corners. The vertical sides slope slightly
inward, which it ma!es it unnecessary to get exactly s"uare sides in the mortise. 9ore important, by giving the tang
a slightly wedge shape, you can wor! it down into the wood a little at a time and arrive at a =HHF wood1to1metal fit
every time because, as it goes down into the wood, it !eeps getting wider than the hole.
Also, by ma!ing the bottom surface of the tang slightly smaller than the top, when we mar! it for inletting, were
assured of the mar!ed area being undersized and we can wor! it up to match the top of the tang.
*veryone has their own way of mar!ing pieces for inletting but I do it with a $o. == *xacto !nife. )lamp the barrel
tight into the stoc! so the tang lays hard onto the surface. Then run the tip of the blade right up against the edge of
the tang and use barely enough pressure to brea! the fibers on the surface of the wood. Dont over do the pressure.
Do it again with a little more pressure. Then again and a little harder. ,ell let repetition wor! the groove into the
wood, not force.
This is the !ay it looked before shaping. The goal is to cut a line into the
wood that clearly brea!s the surface fibers so that those, which are inboard of the cut, can easily be removed. The cut
wont even be =>=?7 deep, but itll give a ;umping off point for the rest of the cutting and AB-#.%T*.& D*/I$*-
TD* %''*( #%T.I$* #/ TD* 9#(TI-* A$D 9AT)D*- TD* TA$0.
The scribe line doesnt actually match the tang, but matches the bottom surface, which is ;ust a little small. Dowever,
because of its wedge shape, as we wor! it down in, itll be constantly touching the outer surface leaving no gap.
On using chisels+
/irst, all chisels are two1handed affairs. &our right hand 4assuming youre right handed5 supplies the force and basic
guidance, but your index finger and thumb on the other hand do the actual guiding and placement of the tip of the
blade. Dont *3*( single1hand a chisel.
,hen starting the tang cut, ta!e your @>=? blade and insert it vertically into the scribe line with the bevel facing
toward the middle of the mortise. This puts the straight face where the mortise has to be straight. 'ush down so the
blade ma!es the scribe line deeper in that little area. Then move L>@rds of a blade width over and repeat the process.
The goal is to increase the depth of the scribe line a little at a time all the way around. Then we come bac! and
gingerly cut away the material between the scribe line and the mortise.
Incidentally, the Dunlap mortise is so close to the edge of the tang that youll only have a little area to scribe on
except at the rear.
0# -# -.#,.& AT TDI- '#I$T TDAT IT D(I3*- &#% $%T-. The tang is sitting right there in front of 0od
and everybody and its the last place on the rifle you want to have an ugly gap staring up everyone you hand the rifle
to.
) *+,$ )T !hen a plan comes together- ( 0ote on Shar'ness
,hen cutting the vertical faces of the walls, the blade should not only cut cleanly with no tearing of wood, but the
surface left behind should have a slight sheen to it. If youre wor!ing hard to shave a tiny area of the mortise, your
chisel is too dull. -trop it or sharpen it.
A.,A&- A--%9* &#%( )DI-*. I- T## D%.. A$D -T(#' IT. &oull "uic!ly develop a feel for when its
cutting and when youre forcing the issue. There is no place for brute force any where in this pro;ect.
As youre inletting the tang, youll be inletting the bac! of the barrel at the same time. -o, youll be loo!ing for
smudges from about six inches in front of the tang to the bac! of the tang. This is why its usually easier to remove
the tang and do the barrel first.
inishing the Tang Surface
&ou dont inlet the entire depth of the tang into the wood. &ou inlet until the top of the bac! of the barrel is slightly
below the surface of the wood behind it, which will put probably =>J7 of metal into the wood at the very bac! of the
tang and at least that much stic!ing out. Then you bring out your files and hand file the tang down to match the
wood surface.
D(#' TDAT 0(I$D*(+++ I said 6hand7 file it down. &ou dont have much extra wood on the top of the wrist and
the last thing you need is a nasty gouge or groove in it because you got in a hurry and grabbed a power tool.
'*(/*)TI#$ #$.& DA''*$-, ,D*$ &#% )(**' %' #$ IT. Dont get in a hurry. This rifle will be handed
down to your grand !ids so use the hand file and slowly wor! it down to shape.
,hen you have it barely flush with the wood, ta!e the barrel out and start using ,et Pr Dri paper wrapped or glued
around a hard board about six inches long. -and in only one direction, either pulling the sanding stic! toward you or
pushing away. Dont go both directions or youll have more trouble !eeping it flat. -tart out with LLH1grit and wor!
your way up to ?HH. In the process of sanding out all the file mar!s, youll ta!e away ;ust enough metal that the tang
surface is slightly below the surface of the wood. This allows you to later sand the wood down for a perfect match.
Drilling for the Tang Bolt+
)enter punch the position for the hole and drill the hole appropriate for the size of tang screw youll be using,
generally about @>=? 4Q=H screw5. ,ere going to counter sin! the hole, but not until weve drilled the hole in the
stoc! and we want to have the original hole all the way through the tang to help guide us.
.hen this is sanded do!n, carved and finished the !ood(to(metal fit !ill be nearly perfect. The pear(shaped tang
looks cool, if nothing else. )'ll replace the buggered bolt at the last minute.
,eve got a bunch more operations to do to the barrel, li!e mounting the sights and the attaching lugs under it, but
well do those in a separate piece of ;ournalistic chaos. %ntil then ma!e haste so slowly that cold molasses is passing
you.
0o To 'art /our
by
'udd Davisson, e%clusively for &irbum.com
Part Four: Lockin' it Up
,hen building a rifle from a board 4not a !it5 theres always a huge amount of head scratching 4and downright fear5
involved in getting the loc!>barrel>ramrod hole relationships right. The problem is that the loc! pan has to have the
proper relationship to the touch hole, which has to have the right relationship with the barrel bore and there has to be
a bolt coming all the way through the stic! from the off side into the loc! plate.
,hats the big dealC There wouldnt be one except that there is a @>J7 ramrod running full length under the barrel
right behind the loc! and TD* /(#$T .#): B#.T DA- T# 'A-- B*T,**$ TD* B#TT#9 #/ TD*
BA((*. A$D TD* T#' #/ TD* (A9(#D D#.*. The space is generally less than @>=?7.
-how me someone who hasnt had a loc! bolt interfere with the ramrod and Ill show you someone who hasnt built
very many long rifles from a blan!. $o matter how much you lay it out in full sized on the blan!, sooner or later you
nic! a barrel or a ramrod. #r worse yet, the loc! is in the wrong position on the barrel.
&ou dont !now the meaning of the phrase 6fearful expectation7 until youve drilled the bolt hole, put a bolt in it and
then slid the ram rod in for the first time literally praying that theres no interference.
But we dont have to worry about all that because the !it manufacturer, Dunlap ,oodcraft, has wor!ed all that out
for us. The hole is even drilled. That one factor ma!es using a high "uality !it li!e this worth the price of admission.
The 1oc! .ortise
Before we start wor!ing on inletting the loc! put the loc! in your hand and study it. .oo! at the two screw heads
protruding out the bac! 4tumbler and trigger spring5 and the way the main spring runs forward, tapers in width and is
nearly flush with the bottom of the loc! plate. Its important you remember all the parts bac! there because itll
ma!e the inletting process ma!e more sense to you.
The front of the main spring and both scre!s are going to be your problem areas. &lso, the area indicated by the
arro!s is supposed to lay flush against the barrel.
,hen starting a loc! mortise from scratch on a blan!, traditionally you completely disassemble the loc! and do your
first inletting using nothing but the loc! plate. Then, once you get that set to your taste, you start putting one part at a
time bac! on the loc! and inlet each in turn. -ome of us have made permanent little guides, or !ey templates, that
give the depth of each ma;or part so we can approximate them without having them on the loc! plate.
/ere's the spring vice again. )t'll become your little buddy during the lock inletting process.
Although disassembling the loc! is over!ill for this pro;ect, were going to do it
anyway because it ma!es the pro;ect move ahead a little more orderly with less hassle and with less chance of
mista!es.
irst Scri,e (round the 1oc!
The first thing youll notice is that the loc! mortise is very, very close to an exact fit for the plate. In fact, I wish it
had a little more wood so everything wasnt so critical.
#n my !it there was the tiniest oversized area about a half inch long on the top>rear of the plate that Ill have to glue
a sliver into. 9any would ignore it, but if I dont fix it I !now thats all Ill see every time I pic! it up. I mentioned it
to Dunlap and he said it must be pattern wear and has fixed it on subse"uent models.
Be careful scribing around the loc! because in many areas its already the right size and the scribe 4or *xacto !nife5
could ding the edge of the mortise.
/nletting the loc! 'late
As you wor! the plate into position there is one factor that isnt obvious from the beginning< besides fitting the
mortise, the flat bar under the pan area has to lay snug against the barrel. If you dont do this, there will be a gap and
every time you fire it, youll have fire flashing down into the loc! mortise. ,hat a bummer it would be to entertain
the guys at the range by setting fire to your fancy new bang stic!.
0oints of contact as indicated by the transfer medium on the !ood1 a2 trigger spring scre!, b2 tumbler scre!, c2
front edge of main spring, d2 plate is laying flat and this is okay as long as the bar is laying flat against the barrel at
the same time. .e don't !ant to cut a!ay too much !ood on the edges of the mortise and have there not be enough
support !hile the bar is against the barrel or it'll tip the lock, !hich looks bad.

If youre not wor!ing with the Dunlap !it and have a straight barrel, theres another little nuance here worth
mentioning. *arly period flintloc!s, li!e the Daines were replicating here, have a lot of subtleness to their lines and
if theyre wrong, the rifle doesnt fit you as well as it should. 9ost fol!s get the wrists too fat because the originals
have really s!inny wrists, which means they are also wea! in that area. The swamped barrel, however helps that
because the loc! goes in at an angle, which ma!es the wrist wider and stronger.
#n a straight barrel, the wrist can be too s!inny, so it helps to solder a little wedge1shaped piece of metal on the bac!
of the loc! bar under the flash pan that !ic!s the bac! of the loc! plate out a little. The piece doesnt have to be very
thic!. If its =>@L 4.H@B5 at the bac! and tapers to nothing at the front, thats fine.
)ompared to doing the barrel and tang, finishing the loc! mortise is easy. &oull use the transfer compound and
!eep searching out places it touches and scraping them away. Be 3*(& careful at the edges of the mortise so you
dont create gaps.
:eep wor!ing until the plate fits snug against the barrel and lays EH degrees to the plane of the barrel. Dunlap has
done such a good ;ob in this area its hard to screw it up unless you get in too big of a hurry.
/nletting the mechanism
'ut the tumbler 4the round thing with notches5 and the trigger spring bac! on the loc! and put transfer stuff on the
heads. )hances are youll find they touch the bottoms or sides of the holes already inletted in the mortise. In my case
I had to remove wood on the bottom and one side of both screw head inlet areas.
$ow put the main spring bac! in place. The spring needs room to wor!, so inlet it when the mechanism isnt coc!ed
or the bottom of it wont have room.
The front edge of the spring is "uite wide and in any inletting ;ob drives the rest of it. 'ut the blac! crap on it and
slide the loc! into position. $ote where the spring touches and remove ;ust a bit of wood. This becomes the same
drill< scraping, spread out the blac! on the spring, insert, remove, scrape, etc., etc.
:eep the process up, all the time loo!ing for places where metal is contacting wood too strongly.
,hile youre doing all of this chec! to ma!e sure the trigger bar isnt too long and contacting wood on the other side
of the stoc!. (outinely I have to grind =>J1@>=?7 off the end to get wor!ing clearances. Dont over due the trimming.
It has to extend at least @>=?7 past the center of the stoc! to ma!e sure the trigger blade contacts it.
By the way, while you have the loc! apart, polish the bottom of the trigger bar and get it super smooth so the trigger
blade doesnt encounter any roughness. Dont mess with the rest of the cloc!wor!s unless you really !now what
youre doing. If you want to ma!e it slic!er with a crisper trigger brea! 4were not using set triggers so this may be
worth the effort5 ta!e it to your loc! pistol smith and have him stone the parts. The reality is, however, this is mostly
wasted effort because the loc! wor!s really well the way it comes out of the box. Besides, were not trying to drive
tac!s at =HHH yards with this thing.
Drilling the ,olt holes
,hile you have the loc! disassembled and the plate inletted and clamped in place, run a @>=? drill bit on your trusty
hand drill through the bolt holes from the off side so it leaves a mar! for both holes on the bac! of the loc! plate.
The bolts are QJ x @Ls so youll need an J>@L tap and tap handle 4if you dont have one5 and a QLE drill bit 4.=@?H5,
which should be available at your local A)* hardware store for ;ust a few dollars.
The loc! plate is pretty soft metal, so this isnt brain surgery, but ma!e sure you ma!e a deep center punch mar!
exactly where the drill bit left its mar!. ,e dont want the QLE drifting off center.
This is best drilled in a drill press, but a hand drill will wor! fine as long as you wor! hard at !eeping it EH degrees
to the plate.
#nce you have the holes drilled, carefully force the tap in by turning it a full turn or so. &ou ;ust want it to catch a
thread and stic! in the hole so you can bac! off and see how perpendicular it is from all angles. Then, put a drop of
oil on the tip, put some pressure on it and slowly start turning.
If youve never tapped anything before, the !ey here, li!e everything else is dont be in a hurry. #nce the tap is
started youre only going to turn it about =JH1LGH degrees before stopping, turning it bac!wards EH degrees or so,
and then moving ahead. This is to brea! loose any metal stuc! to the tap and to give it more room to wor!. :eep it
oiled.
At the beginning ma!e it a point to chec! every EH degrees of turn to see that youre still vertical. #nce youve cut a
couple of threads, however, youre stuc! with the angle youre going in at, so dont rush it.
Cleaning u'
&oull notice when you try to put the hammer on the loc! that it contacts wood. -o, coc! the hammer, mar! where it
hits the wood and remove that ridge. Dont, however remove the ridge thats standing above the loc! plate all around
it. ,ere going to leave that until were doing our final shaping. This will protect the final surface until were ready
to wor! with it.
3ery cool+ This thing is starting to loo! li!e the real thing isnt itC
#n to the butt plate.
To to 'age /ive
by
'udd Davisson, e%clusively for &irbum.com
%art i*e:
Getting in Touch With our Butt
Im not sure how to characterize fitting a butt plate that is as complex as that on a :entuc!y. Im tempted to say its
a pain in the butt, but thats too obvious. ,hat I will say is that it almost doesnt ma!e any difference whether its a
!it or a scratchbuilt because unless its machined turned to a given butt plate, youre going to have about the same
amount of wor! to do regardless.
( cou'le notes a,out "entuc!#2t#'e ,utt 'lates in general
/irst of all, a butt plate is not ;ust a butt plate. They each have their own characteristics and style. #n top of that, the
stylistic progression of butt plates from old to not1so1old is seamless. The flat, wide, good1for1stompin1heads butt
plates of the old 0erman Kaegers slowly mutated into the mildly curved, wonderfully graceful, wide plates of the late
=GHHs to the s!inny, ridiculously curved and painful1to1shoot units of the =JAH R PBHs. /or the most part, you can
loo! at a butt plate and, with an JHF guarantee of success, place it within LB years of its date of origin from the
beginnings right up until muzzleloaders left the scene. In the case of most golden age :entuc!ies, you can even
come within BH miles of its location. The pros can nail it down much closer than that.
9ost of the butt plates share a couple of characteristics, however< they are curved to some degree and they feature a
return on the top of the stoc!. ,hat this means to the wood wor!er is that the plate must be inlet in three directions
at one time. The return has to come down into the stoc! and forward which moves the curve of the plate itself the
same direction. .oo! at the geometry of whats going on. Its actually pretty complex.
+n a golden age butt like this, the !idth of the return on the top means it has to be true or it !ill cant the plate in
both directions. &lso, note the !ood in the middle that has to be reduced in si3e, but not completely eliminated.
Generalities in installing the ,utt 'late
The !ey is to get the B' located correctly vertically so the bottom surface of the return on the top of the stoc! can be
set in the right position 4the flat it sits on is trued up in all directions5. This then means from that point on, youre
using that flat as a guide to move the butt plate forward by slowly removing wood on the butt surface of the stoc!
until the entire unit moves ahead enough that gaps in all forward surfaces are eliminated.
#n the Dunlap !it, the fit as it comes to us is close but theres no way they can ma!e it perfect because of the
variations in butt plates. The butt plates are cast brass with a good portion of it being pretty thin so they differ from
one to another because of slight amounts of warpeage while they are cooling. -o, were going to have to do our gun
ma!er thing and ma!e them fit.
Im going to go through the traditional method of fitting one of these little buggers, but at the end of the process Im
going to give a tip that was ;ust passed along to me that could !noc! a number of hours off the process.
itting 'ro,lems to ,e wor!ed out
The notch for the return on the top of the Dunlap stoc! as it comes is pretty good and needs only a little cleaning up
to be true. ,e can do that with a fine wood rasp.
The protrusion in the middle of the butt plate area has to be removed which, because its end grain, can be a pain.
If you loo! at the photo youll see the biggest problem area in the !it is at the bottom of the stoc! 4toe5 where there
was a gap a solid @>=?7 wide, so the entire unit has to slide that far forward. The little tip passed on to me 4dont
cheat and s!ip to the end5 might have solved that much faster than I did using my usual methods. Incidentally, it
normally ta!es me ?1=H hours to fit a butt plate and the tip could have cut that in half.
True up the flat area the return on the top sits on and that becomes the guide for the rest of the inletting. +bviously,
everything here had to move for!ard enough to get ride of the gap at the bottom. Treat the radius at the heel !ith
special care.
The small gaps and the radius problem at the heel of the stoc! 4top corner5 are no big problem. Theyll disappear in
the course of solving the big gap at the toe.
.ethods of remo*ing wood
(emoving wood on end grain can be problematic because even with a hyper1sharp chisel, its hard to control to any
degree of accuracy. /or that reason, plan on viewing the outer =>A1B>=?7 of the area where the butt plate actually
ma!es contact as being sacrosanct and were going to treat it very carefully. *verywhere in between its up for grabs
as to how carefully you want to do it.
I suppose if you want, you could ta!e a humungous spade bit on a drill and simply under cut it all. The theory here is
that no one is going to see anything but the very outer surface where the metal meets the wood, so anything inside is
invisible and doesnt count. Although it would greatly speed things up, I cant do it that way.
I li!e to wal! into my shop and, regardless of the status of an uncompleted pro;ect, regardless of what it isO I li!e to
be proud of it. ,ithout getting too fastidious about it 4actually, Im from $ebras!a where few of us even use words
with that many syllables5, I li!e the insides of my pro;ects to reflect the same care lavished on the outside 4go to The
(oadster )hronicles elsewhere in Airbum.com and youll see the same 6problem7 I have in this area5.
If I wal!ed into the shop and saw the area under the butt plate simply hogged down so it would clear with no effort
at finishing it, it would depress me. /urther, every time I pic!ed up the finished rifle, Id !eep seeing through the
butt plate to a messy area and I couldnt en;oy the rifle as much. That, however is a 3*(& personal attitude and not
one I suggest anyone else follow. This is also why some of my pro;ects ta!e so much longer than they should.
Getting rid of the ,ig clum'
Before we can do anything, we have to get rid of the big lump of wood in the middle of the area butt. Its a lot to
remove with hammer and chisel, plus I dont any 6normal7 sized chisels8they are all small. -o, I opted for a
thoroughly non1traditional approach. I put a ?H1grit sanding dis! on my trusty A7 angle1head 9a!ita grinder and
carefully went after it.
I use that grinder for so many different operations in so many different mediums 4its my prime cutting tool and
metal remover for heavy steel construction5 that Ive gotten to where Im really comfortable with super close, fine
operations. Dowever, be advised< that suc!er could easy get away from you in this !ind of operation and put a
helluva gouge in one of the mating surfaces right where you dont want it.
*ven though Im comfortable in the extreme with the tool, I still put three layers of duct tape over the mating
surfaces to protect them. It wouldnt be bulletproof protection, but at least it would !eep the damage to a minimum.
In about five dusty minutes I had the lump reduced to a much more manageable size and I was ready to move on to
my primary wood removal system for butt stoc!s< using a big chisel as a scraper.
True u' the ,utt 'late
Although we can inlet to correct for any irregularities in the casting, its better to true it up as much as we can
because its much easier to inlet smooth, regular surfaces.
*ife is much better if you use a mill file to even out all the mating surfaces. 'e careful at the radius in the corners.
4et a file they use to sharpen chainsa!s to !ork that area.

In this case, the inside surface of the butt plate has casting ridges and some areas that arent very even. -o, well ta!e
a big mill file and, laying it across the butt plate so were doing both surfaces at one time, gently smooth them down
Be very careful when youre wor!ing up into the small radius at the top that you dont leave some nic!s in the
corner from the file. -tay a little way away from that area and clean it up with a small round file 4a file used for
sharpening chain saws wor!s great5.
Be especially critical what youre doing with the bottom of the return. Try your darndest to ma!e the two flats
perpendicular to a line youve drawn on the inside of the plate with a felt tip pen. If the surfaces are off even a little,
theyll swing the toe of the plate one way or another. ,e can easily inlet those surfaces so the plate is s"uare on the
stoc!, but its easier if we start out with s"uare surfaces on the butt plate to begin with.
Beginning the 1O0G 'rocess
#ne of the things that ma!es this such a long process is that even though I !now we have to remove @>=?7 of wood,
which is a helluva lot of wood, especially when its end grain, Im not crazy about going after it with a band saw or
the grinder thin!ing Ill ta!e off =>J7 fast and the last little bit slowly. /ar too many times Ive ta!en that approach
and realize too late that there was some little nuance I missed and it caused me much more wor!. -o, I start creeping
up on it right from the beginning. Im certain the big guys do it differently.
The first thing we want to do is chin the plate on the upper return notch and verify that the angle of the notch holds
the top of the butt plate at an angle that follows the comb of the stoc!. ,e want it to be a flowing visual line from
the nose of the stoc!, right behind the wrist, all the way to the heel. A butt plate thats at an angle to the top line of
the stoc! stic!s out li!e a third eye.
&ou also want to be critical of that angle because if the front of the butt plate return is down by even a few
thousands, it pivots the plate on the heel of the stoc! and pulls the very bottom of the plate out "uite a bit.
'ut mar!s 4felt tip pen5 in the middle of the butt plate at both ends and have matching centerline mar!s on the stoc!
itself. If you have extra wood, flush the plate to the left side of the stoc! to increase the cast1off 4angle the butt
slightly towards you to off set the centerline right for better sighting. This is not important.5.
The lines on the bottom of the butt and the butt plate have to be watched carefully while youre truing up the flats for
the return so the plate remains vertical.
$ow were ready to start with the blac! transfer medium. Brush it on the butt plate, lay the butt plate in position and
tap it lightly with a bloc! of wood or mallet. (emove it and locate the high spots. This is where I probably depart
from the ways other guys do it.
.e're starting to get little touches of black all the !ay around, including at the front of the return. This is the point
!here !e move slo!ly. The only gaps left are at the very bottom of the stock.

I remove the high spots by using a heavy =>A7 chisel as a scraper. Its super stiff and, because its a full sized chisel
with the blade formed as part of the tang that goes clear through the handle, I can really get a good grip on it. &ou
can actually remove a lot of wood "uic!ly this way, but thats not the goal. The goal is to remove ;ust the local high
spots and the =>A7 size helps in that regard.
#ne of the first things youll have to do as the plate moves forward is to 3*(& gingerly form a radius on the upper
rear corner 4heel5 of the stoc!. /ight the urge to cut that to what you thin! is the right radius ahead of time. The
mar!s made by the butt plate in that area are very clear and very specific. They are also easy to remove ;ust a hair at
a time. /or this you use one of your inletting chisels and actually cut the sliver of wood away, going from right to
left.
Because the butt plate will contact the wood for only about =>A7 around the edges, youll wind up with what loo!
li!e little trails running around the stoc! that are carefully smoothed by scrapping. At the heel, where the small radii
are, the trails will be especially noticeable.
Again, dont rush. This is another of those areas where even the tiniest gaps show so we dont want to chop away
too much wood. 'ut a stac! of good )Ds in the player, have a supply of your favorite beverage handy and resolve
that this will be done when it gets done.
It can really be a mind numbing process so figure on doing it in two or three, three1hour sessions to minimize the
brain damage and ensuing mista!es.
Screwing it together
At some point youre going to finally have this thing inletted to the point that youre happy with it and its time to
put the screws in.
.i!e everything else, theres a long way to do this thatll save you some grief and shorter ways that may or may not
cause you grief.
The problem is that the hole in the top of the stoc! has to be in exactly the right spot and the holes counter sun!
correctly or, when you tighten the top screw, it can move the butt plate bac! slightly and undo all of your careful
wood wor!.
The method I use is to drill =>J7 holes, one in the proper location on the mid1line of the return and a distance up from
the toe. ,hen drilling these holes remember to try to !eep them vertical to the surface in "uestion. /or the bac! hole,
that means going in at an angle that matches the curve of the butt plate.
The final wood screws youll be using are much bigger than =>J7 but we use the smaller size as guide holes.
) ran the countersink in 5ust a hair more than necessary to get the slot in the scre! to line up across the centerline.
!hen ) dress the surface do!n and s6uare up the flats, most of the e%cess countersink !ill disappear 7he says !ith
great hope in his voice2. $ow, position the butt plate in
position and drill the bac! hole into the stoc! using the butt plate as a guide. Dont go very far into the wood with
the bit, we ;ust want it as a place to start a screw, and ma!e sure all centerlines match.
$ow, get a long sheet metal, pan head screw and run it through the bac! butt plate hole and into the wood. -nug it
up and ma!e sure it pulls the butt plate forward and tight to the wood both at the bac! of the stoc! and at the front of
the return. ,e dont want any gaps showing.
)arefully drill through the top hole and put a sheet metal screw in. $ow we have both screw hole locations in the
wood and the butt plate fixed. $ow its onto the real thing8countersin!ing and drilling out for the full sized screws.
The goals here are to ma!e sure the bigger screws dont ma!e the plate move and to have the screws centered in the
counter sin!s A$D EH degrees to the surface so the heads arent canted. This can sometimes be harder than it
sounds. Dowever, if we screw1up theres always a way to correct it8if we get a hole croo!ed or in the wrong place,
we can drill out the hole in the stoc! to @>J7, glue in a piece of dowel, and start over again. The @>J dowel gives a big
enough surface to relocate the hole easily.
Drill the holes in the butt plate out to the proper size, which in the Dunlap !it is @>=?I. ,e want to counter sin! those
holes ;ust enough that the screws are flush with little or no edge of the counter sin! showing.
The ideal situation is to use a countersin! with a pilot stub on the nose, but since those are nearly impossible to find,
youll ;ust have to use what the hardware store has to offer and be careful.
)lamp the butt plate firmly in the vice and proceed to counter sin! ;ust a little at a time, test fitting the screw in the
hole constantly. The countersin! will be happy to drift off center, if you dont hold it vertical 4a drill press ma!es
this much easier5, so be careful and test fit the screw often. Kust go a little at a time and itll wor! out fine.
$ow, screw the plate in place, doing the bac! screw first. )hec! the top hole to see if it is still in the center of the
larger hole. If it isnt, drill it out, plug it and re1drill it so the screw doesnt sit in the butt plate hole at an angle. Also,
don2t be afraid to ta!e a round file to the hole and fudge it one way or the other. It may not be perfect craftsmanship,
but it wor!s.
$ow youve done all the hard wor! and we can move on to trimming the stoc! wood down to size in the shaping
operations. This is the fun part because then you really get to see how well the wood fits the metal. ,ith any luc!,
youll see a seamless fit. Dowever, if it isnt "uite right, heres the tip that ,ayne Dunlap passed on to me and I
wish someone had told me about twenty years ago.
The pay off to !orking slo!1 it's hard to see here, but !hen the !ood is dressed do!n and the transfer black
disappears there !on't be a hint of a gap any!here. This is !hen you forget ho! long the process took. /o!ever
using the tapping the edge do!n tip !ould have shortened the process considerably.
The Ti'
Assuming youre doing a brass1mounted 4not iron1mounted5 rifle, the brass butt plate is "uite soft and easily bent.
-o, get it more or less inletted with gaps still showing and then, screw it down. Then, using something li!e a =7 steel
bar as a hammer, gently pound the edges into position. &oull have to file and sand the outside surface of the butt
plate anyway to smooth up the casting, so any hammer mar!s will disappear.
I dont !now if the plate would have deformed enough to ta!e up the entire @>=?7 gap we originally had at the toe or
not. I thin! Id be afraid to move it that far. A disruption in the line of the butt plate 9I0DT be noticeable.
Dont use a regular hammer for this operation because the mar!s will be too abrupt. In fact, the bigger the diameter
of your hammering instrument the wider and easier to remove the mar!s will be. A piece of L7 pipe would probably
even wor!. #r maybe hold the pipe in position and tap it with a hammer.
I havent tried this process yet, but its right up there on the top of the 6duh7 scale, its so obvious. -lap+ (ed spot in
the forehead.
,ayne says theyve found information that says this is the way some of the ancients did it too. -o, its historically
correct cheating. &ouve gotta love it+
There is no 'art -ix, at least not yet. -orry. :eep chec!ing bac!. This ma!ing a living thing is getting in the way.
In the mean time, wander around elsewhere in airbum.com. If nothing else, you2re a gun guy, so you will en;oy both
8obalt 'lue and The 9tone!all :ile. These are action novels for guys who li!e nuts and bolts detail combined with
unexpected plot lines. /or sample chapters, go to $ovels.
The Pennsylvania Rifle -- An American Icon
(nd for other reall# cool stuff3 go to 0eat Sh4t+