Maynard civil war era carbine, hobby machinist built

Alphawolf45

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This is my replica of Civil War era Maynard 50 caliber breech loading black powder carbine.


I have been using tools for well more'n 35 years..I have multiple lathes and mills and surface grinder and heat treat furnace and Rockwell hardness tester, bandsaws , welders and,and,and ....I threw everything I had at this project and still had to make special cutters and setups along the way. Took approximately 3 months..Used a rifled barrel blank and store-bought nipple and I bought the 3 leaf rear sight. But made every thing else including bolts and springs..Worked from the drawing in Frank DeHaas book "More Single Shot Rifles and Actions" ..Plus had a man with an original gave me some dimensions..I used cnc mill to rough out the parts and then everything else was done on manual machines.

Good shooter.Also have a second one half done but on back burner for a while.Its chambered in .45 acp because I load that cartridge and have plenty extra for plinking.

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Any chance that you have more pictures of this rifle. In 38 spl this would be cute.
 
Any chance that you have more pictures of this rifle. In 38 spl this would be cute.

I pulled hundreds of pictures off the internet showing various models of Maynards..Subtle differences.. The sporting centerfire version was offered in wood case with multiple barrels so a guy could use it as shotgun or rifle in his choice of calibers..Yes certainly would be fun in .38 special..I have the one started in .45 acp and reserve the option to build additional barrels to fit it.The couple pictures shows early in the construction. Amazing ain'it that can go from that rough to finally ready for use, working just with the machinery found in a typical well equipped home workshop.

There are approx. 20 different breechloading civil war carbines that a guy can build if he has the tools and sufficient time.

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nice project.
the case colors turned out real nice

Thanks .I have CCH several guns, some turned out better than this one and several come out worse..Seems like a bit of a crapshoot... I have a new shipment of color case hardening charcoals coming Monday. I am going to re-do a Lowwall rifle I built years ago. That one was the first I ever did and I used only wood charcoal, no bone charcoal.It turned out with the hardened skin I wanted but no colors other than a washed out black color.Am pulling the gun apart in order to rust blue the new barrel I put on it last month and I will then polish the receiver and see if I can make it look better with CCH colors...

This is the one I am going to re- color case harden next week..Sorta looks like worn cold blue dont it?

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looks like a old thinning blue worn from years of use, nothing wrong with that.
 
looks like a old thinning blue worn from years of use, nothing wrong with that.

Yes you and I agree on that..Its well good enough for a rifle that gets used..By re color case hardening it I run the risk of making it look gaudy..Did that with a Highwall I built that come out so bright that I couldnt tolerate it so I buffed off the colors..See that rifle after the buff- I think its now a handsome piece of work- Incidently I finished that one 3 years ago and was the last one I had finished until this Maynard...I havent actually completed very many of these kinds of projects..Still have a lot to learn if I stick with the hobby another 20 years or so. ;-)

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it definitely looks good now, and you can still make out a little of the color.
 
it definitely looks good now, and you can still make out a little of the color.

Dirtyjim
Yeah that one had a much different bright pattern on either side that didnt match side to side and I couldnt stand it..I am trying to have a few handsome guns..Pretty guns are not what I am going for and gaudy isnt the goal either. Heres a couple Stevens model 44 and 1/2s that I built that look good to me

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