Building a Muzzleloader - Polishing and Fitting the Trigger Guard

More of this Course • Page One: Intro • Page Two: Fitting the Buttplate • Page Three: Fitting the Lock • Page Four: Fitting Barrel to Tang • Page Five: Fitting Barrel and Tang to Stock • Page Six: Installing Trigger Assembly • Page Seven: Polishing and Fitting the Nose Cap • Page Eight: Polishing and Fitting the Trigger Guard • Page Nine: Fitting the Sights • Page Ten: Inletting for Wedge Pin Plates • Page Eleven: Sanding the Stock - Initial Sanding • Page Twelve: Final Sanding & Patchbox • Page Thirteen: Staining the Stock • Page Fourteen: Polishing and Bluing • Page Fifteen: Finishing the Stock • Page Sixteen: The Tools I Used • Page Seventeen: Conclusion

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I'll tell much of the story with photographs, so each page may be a bit slow to load. Click on any photo for a larger image.

Working the trigger guard was done slowly -- very slowly.

What buffing had been done at the factory was very rough and in this case I almost wish it hadn't been done. I was left with lots of material to remove on the inside (where the mold marks were), but some Spaniard had gotten quite heavy-handed with the power buffing wheel, and had almost removed too much brass from other surfaces.

I started by facing the areas that would contact the stock. I used a file for this, removing the mill marks and carefully keeping things square. I then worked the out-of-round ends with the file until they fit the stock inletting. After that, I was done fitting it to the stock, and it was time for some serious metal working.

As you'll see from the photos below, there was quite a lot of work to be done. I used a sanding block with 120 grit emery cloth and sandpaper on the sides, to prevent low spots and even things up. I used several styles of needle files for the tightly curved portions, and an eight-inch flat mill bastard file for flats and larger areas.

Bottom of trigger guard, before working it.

Top side of trigger guard, before working it.

Bottom of trigger guard after hours of filing and rough polishing with 120 grit emery cloth.

Top of trigger guard at the same stage. Quite a difference from the initial mess, eh?

Bottom view, after working it with progressively finer sandpaper, from 120 to 220, 400, 600, and finally to medium steel wool, just as I'd done with the nose cap. Again I finished up with "Flitz Maximum Strength Metal Polish Plus Corrosion Protection" using a T-shirt rag.

Top of trigger guard after final polishing. Quite an improvement, if I do say so myself!

Next Page - Fitting the Sights

- Russ Chastain

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