Trapdoor ........... perhaps

[Clark Badgett]

You can either cut a flat or cut a dovetail slot for the front sight. Then solder a sight lug. S&S sells a reproduction front sight lug that is radiused on the bottom for soldering if you wish to try that.

[mdeland]

Thanks for the tip Clark. I"m pretty sure I can do the integral lug and actually want to try the challenge. I can always do the sweat on lug if I mess up the integral one.
That small of a lug should be hard soldered in place and I've never liked putting that kind of heat on finished barrel steel.
I'm tapering this barrel to follow the original contour to fit the stock and barrel rings as closely as possible and that would make a dovetail for a sight pretty thin at the muzzle, besides, I want it to look original as possible.
I decided to give it a Niedner rust blue job for a finish, perhaps antiqued a bit and leave the stock as is with the original weathered varnish.
These cadet stocks fit me really well as is, being a rather short man of 5'6".

[Clark Badgett]

The original sights were dovetailed and soldered, IIRC. You could probably even pull the sight off your original barrel and reuse it. Dovetails need not be very deep to be quite secure with even soft solder. .030" would work.

[mdeland]

Oh, I did not see that it was dovetail. I thought it brazed on. I'll take another look.

[mdeland]

That would be so cool if I could reuse the original and a lot less work. Thanks for the help, I''ll take another look!

[Clark Badgett]

Oh, I did not see that it was dovetail. I thought it brazed on. I'll take another look.

It might be just brazed on, but I have seen a couple of original sights that looked like they had a small dovetail cut into the base. At least they looked like the normal trapdoor sight. I have for certain seen a M1861 barrel with a small dovetail where the sight used to be.

[mdeland]

I took another look and heated it to dull cherry red heat. I could see the braze joint but it wouldn't budge using a bass drift punch and ball peen hammer. Looks like it might possibly have a shallow flat under it but no dovetail that I could make out. It is indeed brazed on.

[John Bly]

The original front sight lugs are both dovetailed and brazed in place. It was very good work as the joint is very difficult to see. I would not attempt to duplicate it as every sight I've seen silver brazed on a modern barrel shrank the bore where the sight was.

[mdeland]

Been pretty busy of late but some progress on the Cadet trapdoor has been advanced. Here are some pictures of the barrel shank being turned , threaded, fit to the action , hinge scalp cut and chamber cut. Next up will be the extractor slot cut and fit then the tail stock set over for the taper cuts on the barrel. I'm thinking the integral lug milling will be interesting for us all as it will be a first for me.
You can see the block hinge clearance cut on top of barrel and the mate up ring from the front of the receiver black on the barrel shoulder.
The GO gauge is in the chamber and shows about .025 left to final fit for head space.

[mdeland]

There is some variance in fitting these actions up as my thread chart dimensions were not precisely what this action required for a tight fit up. With square threads minor diameters are just as important as major diameter. With V threads that are somewhat self centering one can get away with a bit of minor thread diameter tolerance but with square threads it will mean off center firing pin strikes if minor diameter thread tolerance is not adhered to, assuming all else is concentric with the bore. I've seen action holes that were not square and off center firing pins in the block that produce the same negative result.
The square threads on these trapdoors are only .050 deep.
This Douglas barrel steel cuts nice.

[mdeland]

I got that bass ackward! Major thread diameter with square threads is what keeps center. Actually I'm anal about both but i did say it wrong in the previous post.

[mdeland]

I need to check the head square on the block face too before final fitting the head space cut. Just now thought about that as I always square it on Roller and Highwalls.

[mdeland]

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the breech block face is almost dead nuts square to the bore, checked with a micrometer depth gauge around the perimeter from the action face.
The chamber was finish cut to go plus about .002 to accommodate various brass rim thicknesses an it won't lock down on a no-go.
Will cut the extractor next then start the taper.

[alfajim]

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the breech block face is almost dead nuts square to the bore, checked with a micrometer depth gauge around the perimeter from the action face.
The chamber was finish cut to go plus about .002 to accommodate various brass rim thicknesses an it won't lock down on a no-go.
Will cut the extractor next then start the taper.

What dia. & width cutter are you using to cut the extractor slot?

Jim O

[mdeland]

The Woodruff is .100 wide by .500 diameter. The upper portion of the extractor is circular but then the lower leg describes a larger curve which will have to be partially shaped with the cutter run out but some file and chisel work will be needed for a close fit me thinks.
I have always found fitting these extractors closely to be the most challenging part of good barrel fitting.