Sometimes it's cold and the chopsaw is lonely (Non-SBR SBR build)

[JustinR]

This project has been rolling around the back of my head for the last year or two, kept tripping over this rifle trying to figure out what to do with it. Finally pulled the trigger a couple days ago with the plan to knock the barrel back to 14ish inches, shorten the forend, and generally make the most ridiculous black powder "rifle" that I could In the end the plan is to have a rifle that I can use at blackpowder pistol hunting ranges, but using rifle powder charges and having the stock for stability.

Today, we start with a CVA Mountain Stalker .50 percussion rifle. This is the one that sold as part of a complete blackpowder starter kit in a blisterpack at WalMart for around $50 in 1995ish, and is worth about $30-$50 today - as in this whole gun is cheaper than a percussion pistol barrel that I'd still have to fit to my stock.

Some masking tape, and we have a pretty good idea where things are going.
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Started by cutting the dovetail for the front sight. Did this before chopping the barrel in case I fubar'd the dovetail
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But taking time and frequent dimension checking and we have a dovetail that'll hold the sight without needing a 3lb hammer to adjust.
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And here's generally where we're going.
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Still need to pick a finish for the stock and barrel, but first it's getting dragged out to the range to see how it patterns around 50 yds General plan is to strip the bluing, brown everything, and BLO the stock - but until it's on paper and throwing groups, it doesn't need to be pretty.

[stainless]

Looks like it will be a fun addition to the safe.

[DukeConnor]

That looks like alot of fun. would love to see a pic of it in action.

[USMC3531]

I did one of those a few years ago, they are a blast to shoot

[JustinR]

For how much smoke and flame comes out of the rifle length, I'm looking forward to not being able to see anything after the shot

Came in at 4lbs on the nose, so it's going to be a bit to hold hold on to as the loads grow. My typical hunting load is 90gn of 3F, so something around there that patterns well is the goal.

[brian]

You'll have to play with loads. But chances are its not going to be 90 grains anymore...holy black needs barrel length to fully burn. Fresh snow or white bed sheet will show you how much unburnt powder its spitting out.

[JustinR]

You'll have to play with loads. But chances are its not going to be 90 grains anymore...holy black needs barrel length to fully burn. Fresh snow or white bed sheet will show you how much unburnt powder its spitting out.

Of course; we'll see how much unburned fluffs out of the barrel.

Got more progress - barrel is browned, ramrod is made, ramrod pipe installed. Still need to figure out how I'm going to finish the stock. Also there are some aluminum parts that I'm looking at needing to turn brown as well, so that's a current research project.
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[Delkal]

Very nice! Now figure out how to put some Magpul tactical furniture on it.

[JustinR]

Very nice! Now figure out how to put some Magpul tactical furniture on it.

*looks at pile of random gun parts, looks at rifle, looks at pile of random gun parts, hmmm*

I could see a light on it, but i'm doing this because I'm kinda burned out on black plastic and aluminum, and no matter how much fun it is to assemble an AR it's still just that - assembly.

It's a lot more satisfying to pull the files and mics out and really dive into a project where if you screw up, you're, well, screwed. Mess up on an AR build and you just flip a spring around or find the one that you didn't realize disappeared under the work bench.

At least on a muzzleloader if I miss-cut a dovetail, you can just knock another inch off of the barrel without having to send $200 to the ATF first.

[JustinR]

Well, she shoots; time to finish up the woodwork. It was actually way closer to being on mark than I expected:

First group are the (5) low/left off the target. Figured my corrections, made half the corrections to make sure everything was moving the right direction leading to the (3) a bit less low and a bit less left, with the final shots being the (2) in the orange.

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25 yard target, but the plan was bow range or less - so I'll call this a success until I can get out and actually mess around with charge weights and patches.