# Firearms and Shooting > Projects and Home Builds >  Making A Quigley Sharps Rifle on my lathe.

## homebrew.357

Hi All, been off line for a bit, my computer had a brain fart and gassed it`s self. So new laptop and learning to get it going and it would not let me on the  forum, got it fixed.
So with the Hawken going good I needed a new project, looking on EBay I saw the plans for the Quigley 1874 45-70 rifle for sale!, now as I have all the add on bits form my Hawken project , why not, so bought the plans. In six days I had them, 26"x36"x nine sheets nice and clear . Now this is a lot harder to do than a muzzle loader, and I may have bitten off more than I can chew, doing this with only a lathe will be a challenge for sure. When I start there`s projects I start in the middle with the hardest part  :Cool:   ,so I know if I carn`t make it`s no good.
So have made the breech block, with the firing pin assy in one bit, how did I do it, buggered if I know ,but it all fits together, some pic`s, Cheers, Homebrew.357.

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## Maca49

That will be nice, keep the progresses coming. I'll look forward to them! :Thumbsup:

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## Barefoot

Cool
I'll place an order if Maca will  :Wink:

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## Maca49

Holy shit give me the dollars first!

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## Barefoot

go on, we can go halves on the plans and I'll see if my engineer with throw it in the CNC machine computer  :ORLY:

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## Maca49

Barrels?

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## Rushy

> Barrels?


It would be hard to shoot accurately without them so yes!

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## Maca49

You making Rushy?

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## Rushy

> You making Rushy?


Mate I don't even really know what this thread is about. I thought it was about making a rifle but the pictures above don't look like any bit of a rifle that I have ever seen.

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## Maca49

AR shooters! The wasters of the world

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## homebrew.357

This is what the sharps 45-70 looks like, It`s going to be a hard job to make one. Homebrew.357.

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## sako75

Like the rear sight

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## Shamus

> Attachment 26587Attachment 26588  This is what the sharps 45-70 looks like, It`s going to be a hard job to make one. Homebrew.357.


Looks like you are off to a good start  :Have A Nice Day:

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## homebrew.357

Those pic`s and this one is to show Rushy what a Sharps looks like, and it is Maca 49`s avtar, I think. there`s pic`s are not my gun, haven`t made the barrel or receiver yet. I think my pics are to big, have to see if I can down size them, slow in down loading.  Any way this is what I`m trying to build and could take a year or two.    Homebrew.357.

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## Rushy

That is a fantastic project.

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## Maca49

> Those pic`s and this one is to show Rushy what a Sharps looks like, and it is Maca 49`s avtar, I think. there`s pic`s are not my gun, haven`t made the barrel or receiver yet. I think my pics are to big, have to see if I can down size them, slow in down loading.  Any way this is what I`m trying to build and could take a year or two.    Homebrew.357.


Yep your looking at the breech with a 45/70 in the groove, they are a nice rifle to shoot, mines extremely accurate, but it's a range rifle, cause I don't go shooting on a horse and it's to heavy to cart anywhere except from the car to the mound,

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## Maca49

There's a stock for one on trade me "Lloyd82" he wants $135.00

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## homebrew.357

Attachment 26642  Here is a pic of where the breech block, (not mine) fits in the receiver, and seeing that I`m making it I don`t think a  standard stock would fit, would like to make one of black walnut. This rifle will be basically black powder loads or smokles   and a range rifle or a Sharps business rifle, I can only make a barrel 24/25" long on my lathe, and can give it a twist of 1-24" or 1-20", not shore which is best,  long range shooting uses a 1-18" twist with a .500gr bullet, I will be using .300/.450gr to save my shoulder.   Trying to sort out my pic`s, cheers, Homebrew.357.

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## homebrew.357

Some more pic`s to see if I can upload them, The  lumpy bit  at lower right is then of the breech under lever front bit, making it in tow bits, think I`v got it. homebrew.357.

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## homebrew.357

Ok, That lumpy bit part of the under lever/trigger garde , had to make it in two pieces and when both were ready I weald them together, then a lot of grinding, bending, sanding, polishing for a nice finish.
The Sharps 45-70 has a bore size of .458cal, the gun drill I had for my Hawken drilled a bore of .419/20, to much reaming to get the right size. So went on to Ebay in the US and bought one, 48" long x .444" dia. Now they drill a hole a bit bigger than there size, should come out to .445", leaving .013", so no reaming, just a polish with 600grt paper and cut the rifling .065 per side for a bore of .458", way to go! 
Pic`s of the leaver, new gun drill and barrel to be, Homebrew.357.  :Thumbsup:

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## Rushy

The work you are doing on this is frigging amazing.

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## homebrew.357

Here`s  the new gun drill and barrel to be. the large round bit of aisi 1045 steel is going to be the receiver  with a hell of a lot of machining!, O for a milling machine or c n c, good things take time. 
Homebrew.357.

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## Maca49

Keep it going! I shoot 500 grain with 63 grains of FFG and my shoulder is just fine, that off hand, prone hurts real bad if you get it wrong! :Thumbsup:

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## nevereadyfreddy

> The work you are doing on this is frigging amazing.


+ frigging 1

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## homebrew.357

Hi, Hey Maca is your one a Shilo sharps, with a 1-18" twist, it will shoot out to 800/1,000, like Billy Dixson. I`m thinking of 1-20" or 1-"24, should be good to 3/400 yards and a lighter bullet?.
Making the side plate it has to be good hard steel, and you have to by a meter of it and I only need a small bit. So asking my son if he had any comeinhandy bits of good hard steel , yep, you can have my buggered up chain saw blade. It was so hard had to cut it with my angle grinder to get a small bit, then heated it to red hot and let it cool, now I could work it, and just the right thickness and when finished can reharden and temper to a good colour. And the same for the main spring assy, my idea is to make a spring out of a spring, so a soft bit of car spring steel was used to make the main spring and when finished just reharden and temper.  :Thumbsup:   some pic`s, Cheers, Homebrew.357.

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## Maca49

Your an inventive bugger, why a stihl and not a husky? Should it not be an American Chainsaw? Homelite or Poulan ! Hahahahahahahahaha

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## ishoot10s

> Your an inventive bugger, why a stihl and not a husky? Should it not be an American Chainsaw? Homelite or Poulan ! Hahahahahahahahaha


I think he's building it to last.  :Grin:  There's just no substitute for good quality stihl steel...

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## sAsLEX

This guys youtube channel might be of interest to you as well - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmV7H3qOPNI

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## Scouser

Brilliant Homebrew, you are a true machinist, good luck on your project.....

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## homebrew.357

But wait there`s more!, I also used car spring for the set triggers, they need to be hard as well, with lots of milling, grinding and polishing , made the set spring as well and a bit of a test ,all is working good .
Scouser, No I`m not a machinist, that's not fair to the guys how have done there time in the trade, I just muddle along and hope it comes out right :Wtfsmilie:   . Yes I`m building it good and strong, that is until I give it a good stiff proof load ! :Zomg:  , some pic`s before I blow it up, Homebrew.357.

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## homebrew.357

Hi Guys, Have been waiting for a redo of my hip op, Just got called up for it but it is a temparey one, only 3/6 months and then the finale one, so no more lathe work for a bit  :XD:  :Oh Noes: :, Homebrew.357.

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## Scouser

> But wait there`s more!, I also used car spring for the set triggers, they need to be hard as well, with lots of milling, grinding and polishing , made the set spring as well and a bit of a test ,all is working good .
> Scouser, No I`m not a machinist, that's not fair to the guys how have done there time in the trade, I just muddle along and hope it comes out right  . Yes I`m building it good and strong, that is until I give it a good stiff proof load ! , some pic`s before I blow it up, Homebrew.357. 
> Attachment 26764Attachment 26765Attachment 26766


Believe me mate, coming from a time served Toolmaker, you are one hell of a machinist, thats some pretty intricate metalwork skills there Homebrew......

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## homebrew.357

Well thank you Scouser, I am honoured by your words, but not for long, now I can strut my stuff , but lucky there`s no toolmaker / engineer looking over my shoulder , the way I do things would have him pulling out tuffs of hair!, screaming ,   :XD:   "YOU CARN`T DO THAT'!!!.
Now here`s a good example, making the tumbler with a round bit of 4140 steel on the lathe , set stock up in the tool post to cut a radi with milling cutter set off centre to fly cut . then in fore jaw chuck set off centre to machine body of tumbler.   Now a shaping cutter made from a t/c tipped saw blade, (Very handy old t/c saw blades), is used to cut the sear and half cock notch and then cut it off the stock and set up in tool post again to mill out the slot for the fly on the side. The plans had it in the middle , but I could not do that, so it`s on the side, works on my Hawken.  Cheers, Homebrew.357.

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## homebrew.357

more pic`s

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## Scouser

Thats what im getting at Homebrew, by putting the milling cutter in the chuck and 'bolting/fabricating' the part you want to 'mill' on the lathes saddle you circumvent the problem.....SWEET AS.......

As long as you keep the saddle tight on the threads so you get no 'backlash' and hence no 'chatter marks'.......but im teaching my granny to suck eggs....eh!....well done mate, an awful lot of patience required to do what you do (so well)  :Thumbsup:

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## homebrew.357

Hi, Having a go at carving out the hammer from a chunk of 1045, yep the hard way,  milling on my lathe, good things take time. Any way I have made the little side plate for the tumbler and had a go at jeweling it so it looks nice on the inside. :Have A Nice Day:  Cheers, Homebrew.357.

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## ishoot10s

Looks great! You're going very well. :Have A Nice Day:

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## homebrew.357

Hi Guys, Still hobbling around on my crutches and yea, back on to my lathe, carn`t stand sitting around. Like I said, I`m making the Sharps hammer from a round lump of steel, here is how it was done. Set up a and drill the holes, some holes are just for profile and this gives you a datum point to work from to do most of the machining . Made up a cutter to cut the top profile on the outside of the hammer, now this could not be turned  full circle , so it was cut by the ( Rocking the baby ) way, chuck back and forth ectra, until your arm falls off.  
A lot more work to do yet, have to cut the square hole for the tumbler shaft and square the shaft to fit, its good to have a hobby,  :Thumbsup: , OK the photo shoot, Cheers, Homebrew.357.

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## homebrew.357

The hammer is coming along nicely , the hole in the hammer for the tumbler shaft had to be square, so set up the hammer in fore jaw chuck centred on the hole then using the lathe saddle as a shaper with a small square cutter I slowly cut across using cross slide then turned chuck to register for the fore sides , now how is that for thinking outside the square  :Cool: ,  Then some filing and fine sanding to get a good finish, I know my stuff  :Thumbsup: , so here is the hammer, Cheers, Homebrew.357.

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## stug

Far out that is impressive work!!

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## Blaser

Master craftsman!!!!

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## Spanners

If you want to make another as a project PM me and we'll talk a deal

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## homebrew.357

Hi Spanners, Lost the plot there somewhere . So moving right along there, set the tumbler up in the fore jaw chuck to cut the square for the hammer. On the top slide a t/c cutter is packed up in the tool post and cuts the square like a shaper, back and forth on the hand wheel, about 3,000 times per flat and your wrist falls off.  :Ouch...it Hurts:  .
Then some finale fitting to finish it off, it fits,  :Thumbsup:  , Ok, the pic`s, Cheers,  :Beer: , Homebrew.357.

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## Maca49

Your a patient man, and stretch the brain to acheive what you have done, impressed  :Thumbsup:

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## Friwi

Are you going to heat treat the trigger and hammer cocking parts?

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## homebrew.357

Yes, Will be doing that to day, turned on my lathe and it would not stop???,  :Bouaaaaah:   until I turned the power off, now it won`t go, Bugger.   :Pissed Off:   So hardening all the bits will be the job today , and will see if I can get a nice colour  on the hammer and side plate, but will test some bits first to see that I get. Homebrew.357.

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## Toby

If I can do half the stuff you've done on a lathe I'd die happy.

Did you learn it by trade or by playing around with them for years?

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## homebrew.357

Hi Toby, Yes, I self taught my self I suppose over the years, if you had a car you had to fix it yourself, a garage cost to much, My first "gun" was made of water pipe, using black powder and used to hunt rabbits with it,( you don`t want to know),  the cops found out and made me get a real one, a.22. I have also made a garden chipper out of a 3.5 hp moter mower engine driving a 202 holden fly wheel, takes no prisoners. Just love making things out of steel, I`m Mickgivers brother , no such thing as "Carn`t do it"   Cheers, Homebrew.357. 
 :Thumbsup:

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## kimjon

Far out, haven't been on here much lately....that's awesome!

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## kotuku

homebrew -you are a fucking marvel.Mate if i had half your talent id be bloody happy.hmmmm- 3.5 B&Sdriving a holden .202 flywheel as a chipper -mate can i have the plans. im looking for a 3.5B&S to power a duckplucker for the boys in the field.welcome to the worlds first bareassed swan selfie!!!

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## ishoot10s

You only need half his plans @kotuku or you'll end up with a duck-fucker!

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## kotuku

aye- c404 picked up this plucker originally and gave it to me to work on cause im the mad DIY bastard in the syndicate.Tried it out on a duck-fuck me the way it ripped the feathers etc off the bird nearly choked me.old dog who was watching got a free duvet in under 30secs.problem uis of course ye old 1/4hp electric motor dont function in the field.
I like that chipper idea-Id like to deal to a few people who take shit outta my mancave &dont put  :Thumbsup: it back!

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## gadgetman

> aye- c404 picked up this plucker originally and gave it to me to work on cause im the mad DIY bastard in the syndicate.Tried it out on a duck-fuck me the way it ripped the feathers etc off the bird nearly choked me.old dog who was watching got a free duvet in under 30secs.problem uis of course ye old 1/4hp electric motor dont function in the field.
> I like that chipper idea-Id like to deal to a few people who take shit outta my mancave &dont put it back!


Remind me to borrow the chipper first.  :Wink:

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## homebrew.357

I tell you guys you would not want to put a duck down my chipper, it would be a f.....k up duck for sure!, When I make something , It`s built like topsy, on plans, I just bubel along and end up in the poo. When I made this "Chipper shredder' , I had The Shed mag, and sent a note to the editor Terry Snow, well he wanted to know all about it ,So yes it is in The Shed mag, Jun/ JULY 2007, ( Garden Gorilla Muncher Home made shredder and chipper ) if you get the mag, its all there.  :XD:  this is a hunting forum!!, not bloody gardening.oop,Homebrew.357.

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## homebrew.357

Still waiting for the sparky with my lathe bits :Dark Mood:  so hardened and tempered some bits to see what colour I could get, and the sample is the same as the action side plate, looks a nice colour and the hammer will be the same. Assembled the action now I had the hammer on the tumbler to see if all would work, no way, cocking the hammer was hard, spring to strong, so had to  thin down the spring , thought this would be the case as I left it thick ,.100" and the plan was .085", now it works good a nice firm spring weight. Sorted out the fly and now all is working good, carn`t wait to fire it. I was looking to get a bike cog for the rifling of 1-18" ,so got a 3" dia one, now I have , big one=1-33", medium one =1-24.5", and 3" one=1-15.5",  :Pissed Off: bugger, still can not get it right. Then maybe a twist of 1.15.5 would be ok?, Back to the bike junk shop for a 3.5"one?, I`ill get there. Pics, Homebrew.357.

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## hanse

I have been following this with great interest Homebrew, this is really neat, you are obviously a clever chap! Forgive my stupidity but how does a bike cog achieve your rifling? I don't pretend to understand half of what you have done so far but the bike cogs have me fully bushed!

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## homebrew.357

Hi Hanse, You have not seen my thread on my ,Hawken plains rifle project, go to #2 on this thread 11 down, and you will see what  a really, REALLY clever chap that I am. I made that one from the comehandy bits, but this one has to be done right. But I`m using all the add on bits I made for making the barrel. I did not see a sine bar machine, and when thinking of how to do it I looket up in my garage, and there was my garage door opener, a big loop of bike chain, Bingo! , :Thumbsup:  brain fart, it was all on. Homebrew.357.

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## kotuku

> I tell you guys you would not want to put a duck down my chipper, it would be a f.....k up duck for sure!, When I make something , It`s built like topsy, on plans, I just bubel along and end up in the poo. When I made this "Chipper shredder' , I had The Shed mag, and sent a note to the editor Terry Snow, well he wanted to know all about it ,So yes it is in The Shed mag, Jun/ JULY 2007, ( Garden Gorilla Muncher Home made shredder and chipper ) if you get the mag, its all there.  this is a hunting forum!!, not bloody gardening.oop,Homebrew.357.


 shit no -was gonna put gadget down it first
  gadget is built like a racing stockwhip,sidestep slicker than nicky hager on the make,and unlike a fat germanic prick -hes as honest as sunday is long.
 the only thing worrying me is hed go in for seconds just to see if he could improve the electronics on ya beast.

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## homebrew.357

Hi guys , I`m   going to start on making the barrel for this Sharps rifle , so will start a new post just for this and give you an idea of how it was done on my lathe.
Will stop this thread from getting to long , so see you there. Homebrew.357.

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