For the past week I've been consumed with planning the underhammer build.

Yesterday I finished the final revision of the last revision of the final design of the action, and made cardboard cutouts of the breech block, striker, sear bar, sear, and trigger. After a jack-leg clearance and function test with the cutouts pinned to a board, things are looking good. I have full confidence it will work as I envisioned.

Today I started collecting the items needed for the build. Those included various pieces of scrap steel and aluminum scrounged from friends or found in my garage, several items ordered on-line, and a pretty good assortment of nuts, bolts, and such from Ace Hardware. I have only two things left to find; a four-inch by five-inch piece of 3/4" thick steel plate, and the stock wood.

I have a .54 caliber 1" octagon barrel that I bought a loooong time ago and never used. Don't even recall the manufacturer. It has a little surface rust but nothing severe, and will be used for the prototype barrel.

Right now my estimate of the cost of the build is in the neighborhood of $160 plus whatever the stock wood cost (which shouldn't be much as I only need a twelve inch long piece). The estimate excludes the cost of a barrel, but includes a 4X ProDiamond scope, a DNZ scope base, and a Limbsaver recoil pad. Ironically, those three items contribute over $140 to the cost.

Sometime on Monday I'll be visiting a scrap yard about a mile from my house in search of the 3/4" steel plate.

Will be holding thums for you, did you get any ideas from the link I posted? The whitesmoke link.

good luck friend - And as I was reading this I thought to myself "where is the ramrod going to go?" Can't go underneath because it would be too short or else stick out beyond the muzzle. And also "How will the forearm part of the stock attach to the barrel?" I assume you would use a shotgun style hook system. And the ramrod can come in from the side.

Wildeboer, it was an interesting link. Thanks. That build follows the traditional underhammer style with the nipple screwed directly into the barrel and a flat spring trigger guard serving to power a swing hammer. My approach is going to be quite a bit different.

By the way, "holding thumbs" is a new expression to me. Is it a common one in South Africa? I assume it's much like crossing one's fingers for luck.

Bronko, the ramrod will go under the barrel in a traditonal way. It will either be full bore length and protrude 3/8" beyond the muzzle, or align with the muzzle and be 3/8" too short of reaching the face of the breech. I haven't decided which yet, but will probably let it protrude.

The forearm will be attached with screws to two ramrod pipes that are silver soldered directly to the barrel. The crude and not to scale diagram below shows the method. I thought about putting an underrib on the barrel but decided I didn't want one.

If you build it, they will come. Saw that in a movie. But that was about baseball. So I would not put much stock in that. What kind of wood do you want for the stock?

Haven't decided on the wood yet Cayugad. It will depend on what I can get for the right price (by which I usually mean scrounged & free ). I'm thinking walnut/cherry/maple/mahogany/etc.

heck for the wood, just use anything for now. you can always upgrade to a better quality later. I'd just use a piece of oak 2x6 for now.
I really hope this works out for you semi.

That's doable Bronko. Right now I'm planning on a rather unique buttstock mounting feature rather than the traditional throughbolt method. Changing stock wood at a later date would be quite easy.

Yes, it means the basically the same. It is commonly used in South Africa between friends.

I'm glad to hear you're well on your way on this build. Make sure you take lots of pictures of it as you go.

And with that, I will be holding thumbs for you as well. (Sorry, I liked the expression.)