An 1883 Question

[ahfoxman]

Here is my method for 'rounding' muzzles. A long taper solid plug, stn stl, brass, or hard wood will do, a friendly workbench hammer and an ash/hickory handled fitting brush. GENTLY tap lightly lubricated plug in till just past tight with the barrels in an appropriate vice. Then hold the wood flat against the barrel surface and while continually rotating/sliding 'flat' around the circumference tap outside of wood. As you 'round' the muzzle gently keep inserting plug, don't pound in, or you will end up with a blunderbuss muzzle, you only want to round to original shape/size. Support the muzzles, I use a wooden block with a piece of industrial felt on top.(1/2" thick, high density) Common sense will result in a perfect undetectable repair. Remember, no heavy handed work around fine guns, sort of like working on a clock/watch. Enjoy!

[Robert Redmond]

Originally Posted by Tom Kidd

Here is my method for 'rounding' muzzles. A long taper solid plug, stn stl, brass, or hard wood will do, a friendly workbench hammer and an ash/hickory handled fitting brush. GENTLY tap lightly lubricated plug in till just past tight with the barrels in an appropriate vice. Then hold the wood flat against the barrel surface and while continually rotating/sliding 'flat' around the circumference tap outside of wood. As you 'round' the muzzle gently keep inserting plug, don't pound in, or you will end up with a blunderbuss muzzle, you only want to round to original shape/size. Support the muzzles, I use a wooden block with a piece of industrial felt on top.(1/2" thick, high density) Common sense will result in a perfect undetectable repair. Remember, no heavy handed work around fine guns, sort of like working on a clock/watch. Enjoy!

I actually couldn’t find anything around the house like that but managed to get it 99%+ rounded with a 1/2” drive 1/2” socket and a wooden mallet. Almost like it wasn’t even dropped!