The gunsmith's manual

by J. Parish Stelle; Wm. B. Harrison

Guns Defined.—Excepting the pistol, and the mortar, perhaps, all fire-arms now in use are classed under the name of guns. The cannon or artillery ordnance in all its sizes and forms, is simply a large gun. It is variously divided off, according to character, into heavy siege-guns, field-pieces, rifled-cannon and smooth-bores. These again are sub-divided into a large number of different kinds, as the Armstrong, the Dahlgren, the Columbiad, the Paixhan, the Parrot, the Whitworth, etc. But with guns of this class the practical gunsmith will have nothing to do, and hence it is but reasonable to suppose that he feels no particular concern about them. It is with the small-arms that his concern will mainly lie, and therefore from this page to the conclusion of this work the gun mentioned will be some instrument classing with the small fire-arms, and liable to be brought to a gunsmith’s shop for repairs.

The small arms, or hand guns, are muskets, rifles, carbines, fowling-pieces and pistols. These may be properly divided into three classes: the flint-lock, the percussion-lock and the cartridge breech-loader.

The Old Flint-Lock Guns.—Of the old flint-locks, only a few are now in existence within the United States. Here and there one has been kept as a kind of heirloom by some family, and occasionally these drop in upon the gunsmith for repairs, but not often. They are more common along the Mexican border in Texas, perhaps, than in any other portion of the country.

A minute description of the old flint-lock-gun need not be given, as, in general characteristics it does not differ materially from all other muzzle-loaders. The barrel is usually longer than that of the more modern gun; and, in the case of the rifle, the stock (all wood) extends nearly to the muzzle. It is what, in later days, when half-stocks had been invented, was called a full-stock. As already intimated the interior mechanism of the lock differs very little from that of the more modern cap or percussion-lock. On the outside, in place of the cap-hammer is a cock arranged with two lips for holding a flint. The lips are brought together firmly upon the flint by means of a screw which passes down immediately back of it. In the top of the lock-plate, directly in front of the cock, is set the priming-pan; a small iron receptacle made to contain, say the fourth of a teaspoonful of gunpowder. When the lock is in position the butt or open end of the pan comes squarely up against the barrel of the gun where a small hole called the “touch-hole” communicates with the interior, and with the charge, when the gun is loaded. Over the priming-pan a cover fits nicely, lying horizontally when the pan is closed, and turning up at right angles on the edge nearest the cock, and standing erect, a small plate of steel, immediately in front of the flint. This cover, with its vertical plate is called the frizzen. It works on a hinge, and is held into whatever position set, by means of a small spring called the heel spring. When the cock is set in motion by drawing upon the trigger and releasing the check to the mainspring, the flint comes in contact with the steel plate of the frizzen, throwing it back upon its hinge and scraping down its face directly towards the priming-pan. As the frizzen flies back the pan is uncovered, of course, enabling the flint to end its journey directly in the priming powder of the pan. In its scrape over the steel plate of the frizzen it causes many brilliant sparks of fire, which descending with it into the priming sets off the charge.

The Percussion-Lock Gun.—As has already been stated, the immediate successor of the old flint-lock was the percussion or cap-lock. While now far beyond its zenith, it is still the prevailing gun in many portions of the country; especially in out-of-the-way districts South and West. In the oldest make of these guns a small plug of iron is screwed into the barrel at the point where the touch-hole of the flint-lock was located. It is called the cylinder. The end passing into the barrel is drilled to communicate with the powder-bed of the gun, and with a cap-tube, which is screwed into the cylinder, to stand erect near the side of the barrel. In more modern guns the cylinder has been discarded, the tube going directly into the barrel and communicating with the powder-bed.

The oldest percussion-lock rifles are set in whole-stock, on the plan of the flint-lock gun; and on account of the fact that all the old-fashioned folks are not yet dead, some factories put up new guns after the same model, calling them Kentucky rifles. The stock reaches the full length of the barrel, which is heavy and about four feet long. It is octagon in shape. But in most of the more modern rifles the barrel is shorter, say from 32 to 36 inches in length, and comparatively light; and the stock extends only half the length of the barrel, joining to a rib affixed to the barrel for the purpose of holding the ramrod-thimbles.

The “patent-breech” may be mentioned as another peculiarity of the percussion-lock gun, since it was not known in the days ere the flint-lock had lost its prestige. In those early days the breech end of the barrel was closed by a plug of iron, screwed in and called the breech-pin. From its upper side there extended backward along the stock a thin plate or strap, through which screws passed at right angles to hold the barrel in place. This method of securing the breech-end of the barrel into the stock has been done away with by the patent breech, which secures it by means of a short hook on the end of the breech-pin; or, rather, on the end of the short plug screwed into the barrel in place of the old breech-pin. It is much more convenient than the old fashioned arrangement, as it enables the barrel to be taken from the stock in a moment, doing away with the labor of drawing the breech-pin screws.

On the Muzzle-Loaders.—The percussion-lock muzzle-loaders all work upon about the same principle. The charge must go in at the muzzle and be put down to the breech. In the case of army guns it is usually contained in a paper cartridge. The soldier bites off the end of the cartridge in which the powder is inclosed, to admit of a communication with the cap, and then forces it down with the ramrod. But in the case of rifles and fowling pieces, or shotguns, as the latter are most commonly called in this country, cartridges are seldom employed. In loading a rifle the powder is first measured in a “charger,” and then poured down the barrel; next comes the patch, which is usually a piece of new and strong cotton cloth, most commonly the kind known as white drilling. This, having been tallowed upon one side, the tallowed side is spread over the muzzle of the gun, and the bullet is pressed upon it into the muzzle, the side from which the “neck,” formed in moulding, has been cut, must be directly downward. Generally with the handle of a knife the bullet is pressed into the bore as far as it can be sent by such means; then the patch is gathered around it and cut smoothly off exactly flush with the muzzle end of the barrel. The next operation is to draw the ramrod, throw the gun under the left arm, with its breech resting upon the ground and its muzzle in front of the breast, and then having set the butt end of the ramrod upon the bullet and grasped it in both hands, the bullet is gradually, and by main strength, forced downward into position. To make sure that it is entirely down the gun is taken from under the arm, by some, and set with the breech resting upon the ground more in front, after which the ramrod is raised up a foot or so and pitched down the bore like throwing a pike. If it does not bound back the bullet is not down solid upon the powder, and the pitching is repeated until it does bound. The upward bound of a few inches is sufficient to settle it that the bullet is down.