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Breech

Some time back, an old machinist buddy asked me if I could reverse engineer parts of a vintage firearm. This was really a project I enjoyed. I took an original .44-70 C. Sharps carbine and took it apart, measured on either a CMM or an optical comparator and made drawings and solid models of the parts I examined. From the past, the skills and methods, the file marks and tooth patterns of my forebears tools spoke to me of the way things were done 130 years ago. In a way it was spooky, because what I found was these guys did things in ways that weren't too far removed from the way I made parts. What was a bit of a surprise was that the methods used had to be very advanced for that period of time. Cutting edge technology from 1874....

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Uploaded on June 11, 2007
Taken on June 10, 2007