Muzzle Blasts January 2015.pmd - National Muzzle Loading Rifle

Making, Modifying,
and Decorating
Trigger Guards
by Fred Stutzenberger
Remember that your trigger guard
casting is not sacred. It can and should be
modified to the requirements of your rifle.
(Alexander 190)
Of all the hardware fitted to the muzzleloading rifle, there
is a wider choice of trigger guards than of any other part.
Major suppliers such as R. E. Davis and Track of the Wolf
offer a bewildering array of choices numbering close to a
hundred different styles. Some are exact copies of guards
from old original rifles; some are representative of a particular school of rifle-making and some exhibit general characteristics of a particular period.
Trigger guards were formed in four general ways: many of
the early guards such as those on matchlocks or wheellocks
were simple strips of metal (Fig. 1). The guards of American
longrifles were usually sand castings (Fig. 2) that required
straightening and a great deal of surface clean-up before installation. Those on southern mountain rifles were usually
riveted two-piece hand-forged of wrought iron (Fig. 3). Today, most guards are investment cast, a process that retains
most of the surface features of the original although their
fine details can usually be enhanced by a bit of cautious engraving (Fig. 4).
The preparation of trigger guards (straightening, filing, sanding, and polishing) is tedious work. Keith Lisle
(CustomMuzzleloaders.com) offered his take on sand
cast guards:
“As for investment cast versus sand cast – I always use investment cast. To work for 4-8 hours on a sand cast guard and
then come up with a bunch of holes in it is not my idea of quality. I
usually hand pick my guards and butt plates when I’m at the CLA
show or Friendship.” Good advice from an experienced builder.
Fig. 1 – The guard of this south German rifle by Johann Michael Maucher (c.1675) is composed of two strips of metal riveted together to create a simple bow
and return. (Photograph from Blair 280)
Fig. 2 – Sand casting leaves a rough surface that usually requires a lot of clean-up.
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Fig. 3 – This guard was hand-forged by Paul Bigham and riveted together.
Trigger guards are difficult to hold in a vise because they
have no parallel sides. They have many little curves and corners and facets that must be cleaned up with needle files. Unlike other hardware, they must be finished on all sides. Some
work on the returns can be done by clamping the pinning tabs
in a vise. However, I made two holding fixtures that are more
versatile for most of the guard surface (Figs. 5 & 6). Being of
mild steel strap, they can be bent to conform to the angles of
any guard. They are drilled and tapped to accommodate any
size of guard from a child’s rifle to a military musket. For
working on the edges of the guard, one end of the fixture is
clamped in the vise while the other end rests on an adjustable
support. If you choose to attach the trigger guard to the trigger
plate to make it one rigid assembly (which is stronger and easier
to remove), the plate doubles as a holding fixture. Keith has
developed the epitome of trigger guard fixtures (Figs. 7a &7b).
Once you make and use these fixtures, you’ll never go back to
trying to hold the guard in a vise or, worse yet, holding it in one
hand while filing with the other.
Some trigger guard styles lend themselves to the “heat,
beat, and bend” strategy. The early guards (matchlock to
wheellock period), made from one or more flat metal straps
Fig. 4 – Investment castings retain the fine detail of the original, but a bit
of engraving is useful to define the outlines of the raised figures. Note that
the guard is held firmly on the backing board by clamping the front pinning tab in the vise.
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www.MuzzleloaderBuildersSupply.com
Catalog is $10.00 plus $5.00 shipping
Fig. 5 – This holding fixture for working on the underside of a guard
was made from 1/8" x 1" mild steel strap. The toe clamps were made on
a milling machine, but they could be easily made from short sections of
angle iron.
We offer every part needed to build traditional rifles and pistols.
See our own line of European and American pistols (not offered elsewhere).
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Owned and operated by Ryan Roberts
P.O. Box 848, Aberdeen, Idaho 83210
Tel: 208-397-3008 Fax 24/7: 208-397-3009
Fig. 6 – This fixture was designed to hold a guard for work on the bowl and
smoothing of inner surfaces. It was made from mild steel strap like its
companion fixture in Fig. 5.
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Fig. 7a
Fig. 7 b– This Cadillac of all trigger guard holders was devised by Keith Lisle.
are quite easy to make if you do not insist on using material
too heavy for the purpose. The workable maximum thickness
is about 1/8" in annealed brass and 3/32" in annealed mild
steel plate. The trigger guard on this early Balkans Pattern
pistol (Fig. 8) was formed from 1/8" brass sheet. These guards
are fairly easy to make, but it is wise to make a mock-up of
thin soft material (0.010" aluminum roof flashing) as a pattern before cutting out the blank. It is hard to get the length
right without a flexible prototype that can be straightened back
out and measured before cutting the blank for the real thing.
I have made several trigger guards for NW style trade guns
like the one in Fig. 9. The size of the guards on the old originals was quite variable depending on the time period and which
of the many manufacturers (Barnett, Chance & Son, Derringer, Henry, Hollis, Lacy, Leman, Sandwell and Southernland
to name a few) produced the piece (Hanson 3). Most of the
trade gun guards were huge compared to those on American
longrifles; they had plenty of room in the bow to allow a
mittened hand easy access to the trigger. This one was hammer-forged from a foot long strip of 0.100" thick x 0.700"
wide mild steel sheet using a 2.5" diameter cast iron pipe as a
mandrel to form the huge bow.
Keith explained how he makes his nice riveted southern
mountain trigger guards:
“The metal is cut out to a rough pattern. Then I heat, bend,
and forge them into the shape I want. I put it up to the rifle to
Fig. 8 – The guard on this early Balkans style pistol was made from a
sawed blank of 1/8" thick brass sheet.
insure I have the height correct, as not to bind the fingers in
the bow, and also want the rail at the rear low. If all is okay, I
proceed to cleaning them up. If not, I work on them until they
look how I want them. Then I drill two holes in the bow on
each end. Mate the rail to the bow and mark it, and do the
same on the tail. Then I drill holes in bow and tail. Next I
clean the joints and apply some silver solder braze flux. The
rivets are installed and hammer peened tight. Then go back to
the rifle to insure all is well in fit. At this point, I silver solder (braze) the riveted joints together. Once again I go back
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to the rifle and finish the fitting. I clean them up good and
now have them ready to install on the rifle. Next, I bend, shape,
and forge them by hand, as I don’t want them to be alike and I
don’t want them to look machine made. This gives each rifle
an individual and unique look. The welded ones are done the
same way, with exception of wire welding the joints together,
then grinding and shaping them until I get it the way I want it.
Again, each trigger guard is made per individual rifle, so it is
unique to that rifle. Whatever the style, I can’t stand anything
weak or flimsy. To bump one and break it just doesn’t sit well
with me.” Here is Keith’s guard forged as three parts and assembled using copper rivets (Fig. A). Figures B and C are top
and bottom views of a welded guard.
Although most of the sand-cast trigger guards on the classic American longrifles exhibited about as much diversity as
a span of chain link fence, such was not the case with its ancestor the Jäger rifle. Many Jäger rifles were real showpieces
that sported gilded hardware chiseled in high relief with abundant open work inspired by Parisian pattern makers (Shumway
12). At present, I am building a .62 caliber Jäger. The acanthus leaf motif was frequently used on Jägers to adorn trigger guards, toeplates, and buttplate returns so I decided to
dress up the Track #TG-SPW-J-B trigger guard with an acanthus-like flourish at the end of each return. The acanthus leaf
motif can get complex in a hurry and outrun my ability to
shape and to inlet. With a little help from decorative applications of the acanthus leaf shown in The Art of Engraving
(Meek 11) and appropriate sizing on the photocopier, I arrived at practicable motifs (Fig. 10). The motifs were glued
to a sheet of 0.078” thick brass sheet then band-sawed out.
Fig. 9 – Guards like the one on this trade gun require a deceptively long piece of metal because of the huge trigger bow.
Please visit us at Booth #11937 at the 2015 SHOT Show
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Fig. A – This is a three-piece guard, riveted together and then silver soldered. Note that the forward extension is held by a large screw into the stock just like
many of the original SM rifles. Pinning tabs were hard to hand forge out of a flat surface, although I did see tabs that pierced the returns and were braded
over on the underside.
Fig. B – Top side of a Lisle welded guard
Fig. C – Bottom of a Lisle welded guard
After much shaping with a variety of needle files (see suppliers), the outlines were soldered to a backing sheet (Fig. 11)
for ease of engraving the final pattern without interference
from the trigger bow. The guard returns were held in a dedicated trigger guard holding fixture for milling indents to accept the stalks of the motifs (Fig. 12). To withstand the repeated in-and-out of the inletting process, it was important
that tightly fitted lap joints were made (Fig. 13). The stalks
of the acanthus leaves were tinned, clamped into the tinned
indents and soldered into place using Hi-Force 44TM low
temperature silver solder (see suppliers). The finished trigger/guard assembly was drawn into the trigger mortise via
the tang screw. The acanthus motif in the finished rifle (Fig.
14) contrasts with the darkly stained stock.
Inletting a small piece such as these acanthus motifs can
be a bit complicated. Keith and I discussed our “do and don’t”
recommendations for inletting:
1. Do not shape the inlay so that it requires leaving many
thin across-the-grain sections of wood. They are very fragile;
taking the guard in and out of the inlet will break them off.
2. Pencil around the inlay first then remove a substantial
segment of wood in the center extending out 1/16" to the
pencil line. That relieves the wood and gives the remainder
room to move when cutting in the mortise outline.
3. If a section of wood starts to give way, stop and reglue it using a very thin needle to carry a tiny drop of glue
such as WoodBond. Then keep your mitts OFF until it is
thoroughly set.
4. Don’t cut the inlet so tight that it has a tendency to pull
out wood when you lift it out (this pertains to removable hardware such as locks and trigger guards as well).
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Fig. 10 – The trigger plate/guard assembly was placed in the trigger mortise with paper patterns of the acanthus leaf motifs in place before transferring
them to the brass.
Fig. 13 – A tightly fitting solder lap joint is needed to withstand the repeated pressing and pulling of the motif from the inlet.
Fig. 11 – Soldering the motifs to a flat brass plate allows engraving from
all directions without interference from the guard.
Fig. 12 – This fixture is adaptable to any trigger guard and holds the
returns rigid when milling indents for attachment of the trigger plate or
decorative motifs.
5. The trigger guard should be inlet so it sits free in the
inlet, without stress to hold it down. The same goes for the
finial, as stress could bend or break it. This is particularly
important when inletting a finial that has been soldered on to
the original guard.
6. Measure the depth of the inlet relative to the thickness
of the motif to be inlet. Use a dial caliper (see suppliers).
While leafing through books illustrating American
longrifles and pistols (for example, Kentucky Rifles & Pistols 1750-1850 and The Kentucky Pistol), it becomes apparent that pistol trigger guards received more artistic attention than those of rifles. There are several probable reasons
for this disparity: the rifle was the tool of the pioneer, the
hunter, and the explorer. The pistol was the status symbol of
the affluent gentleman who could afford the best that firearms technology could produce. The longrifle was developed
as a unique product by local gunsmiths of Colonial America
while the pistol was the product of a highly organized and
refined network of British craftsmen who specialized in one
of twenty-one specific steps whether it was barrel making, lock
filing, stocking or engraving. A third reason is that the colonial
gunsmith made his living, lean and erratic as it was, from making rifles, not pistols. His access to the pattern books and hardware of his European counterpart was severely limited by geography, wars, and tariffs. Fine pistols were cheaper to import
than make locally, so their decorative motifs reflected the fashion of the day beyond the necessity of the function.
Unlike the American longrifle, the American pistol garners little respect as to its originality or architecture.
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Fig. 14 – With the trigger/guard assembly firmly positioned in the trigger mortise, the modified returns can be precisely inlet into the stock.
Fig. 16 – Adding a snippet of solder to the dovetailed relief helped to get
complete tinning of the joint before adding the motif.
Fig. 15 – This motif was sawed from brass sheet and shaped with
needle files.
Alexander (340) characterized the American pistol as an English dueling pistol decorated like an American longrifle.
Chuck Dixon offered a builder’s point of view of the American/Kentucky pistol: “The best are almost invariably flintlocks. They can be plain or fancy, but the vast majority of
original pistols are unadorned, and some are clubby and ugly”
(Chandler & Whisker 61). Luckily, no such disparagement
can be leveled at the eighteenth century English pistol. I may
show my naiveté here, but I have never seen a clubby or ugly
original English flint pistol. That’s the reason I hesitated for
many years before trying to duplicate the beautiful workmanship and architecture of the London gunsmiths. When I finally got the courage to start, I didn’t have a trigger guard
worthy of the project, so I decided to modify one of my sand
castings by slimming it and shaping an appropriate motif (Fig.
15) to add to the forward return.
In some of my previous adventures, solder over-spread was
a frequent hazard that required tedious clean-up. To avoid that
problem, I nestled just a tiny snippet of solder in the dovetail
(Fig. 16), fluxed and tinned that in and brushed out the excess
with a dab of steel wool. After similar treatment of the extension piece, joining of the two left a barely visible joint
(Fig. 17). The result looked pretty good after inletting, particularly when compared to the casting with which I started
(Fig. 18).
Keith suggested an alternate method for attaching finials
to existing guards: “Cut your trigger guard at the last line on
the finial on both ends. Make a new end plus finial out of 1/8
or 3/16" brass plate. Lap joint the 2 pieces together with low
temp silver solder. The end result is a thicker piece on the
end, and it looks like you cast it all together, as the line will
hide the lap joint.” I might add that Keith’s method, although
more work, is much stronger than a shorter lap joint just out
at the end of the existing return. Also, it would allow more
material for sculpting a 3-D finial that would look more proportional to the original return.
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Fig. 17 – The dovetail joint between the return and the motif is nearly invisible to the unaided eye.
Fig. 18 – This comparison between the modified guard and its sister guard illustrates what can be achieved by the appropriate use of simple tools.
Fig. 19 – This trigger guard appears to have originally been on a fowler. Its pinning tabs had been drilled and its surface show handling marks. Why
it was taken from the gun is a mystery.
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If you are not confident in your engraving skill, you can
still add a nice touch to your plain trigger guard by filing a
simple border along the edges of the bow. Scott Kaufman’s
brother, Jay was remodeling an old (1810) house and found a
wooden box with some gun parts in the attic. Among the parts
was this pretty little fowler trigger guard (Fig. 19). The delicate border along the rim of the bow added a touch of restrained elegance. Almost all old original trigger guards have a
border like that. Look in the rifle and pistol books for examples.
You can do that on most any commercial trigger guard, particularly since most are cast much thicker than the old
originals. Here’s how:
1. Color the area along the bow rim with a felt tip marker.
2. Secure the guard in the vise via the pinning tabs.
3. Use the sharp edge of your dial caliper as a scribe to lay
out the width of the border (0.100" is plenty wide) along the
edge. Scribe repeatedly to deepen the lines.
4. Use a fine needle file to carefully relieve the border to a
depth of 0.020" while feathering out the depth at each end of
the border. If you use a graver to cut the initial line, it will save
a lot of work later.
5. Sand the relieved area with abrasive cloth backed with a
popsicle stick or other firm support. Sand to at least 400 grit.
6. Wire brushing will create a soft matt finish over the
whole guard.
A nicely done border does a lot to dress up the
appearance of a simple trigger guard. Give it a try.
Suppliers
Brownell’s Inc. (brownells.com) 800-741-0015 for Hi-Force 44
silver solder and a wide range of specialized gunsmithing tools.
Enco Manufacturing (use-enco.com) 859-745-2650 for dial
calipers starting under $20.
Metals Depot (metalsdepot.com) 859-745-2650 for #260 brass
sheet and plate
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Dock Houston and Scott Kaufman, Machining
& Technical Services, Clemson University College of Engineering & Science, for excellent technical assistance.
References
Alexander, Peter A. The Gunsmith of Grenville County.
Texarkana, TX: Scurlock Publishing Company, 2002.
Blair, Claude. European and American Arms. New York:
Bonanza Books,1962.
Dixon, Chuck in Chandler, Roy, and James Whisker. The
Kentucky Pistol. Bedford, PA: Old Bedford Village Press, 1994.
Dixon, Norman. Georgian Pistols, George York, PA:
Shumway, 1971.
Hanson III, Charles. Trade Gun Sketch Book. Osseo, MN:
Track of the Wolf, 1994.
Shumway, George. “Our Germanic Rifle Heritage.”
Muzzle Blasts, Feb. 1993.
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