Charlie?

[jkbrea]

I was looking at some old threads here and came across one that really impressed me. Charlie, a member, built a 40 cal Volcanic lever gun from scratch, machining everything including screws. He also built a pistol that was really cool. Unbelievable talent and probably the most on topic post in Levergun history.

He was here for a few years. Anyone know what happened to him and if he still builds firearms? It sure was an interesting read. I think this is the link.
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=22477

[Alphawolf45]

Charlie had some serious issues in his personal life a couple years ago and I don't believe he has regained the ambition to build anything.. I am scratch building a Marlin 1888 and an 1889 and can attest to fact that it don't take much distraction to slow or stop a project. Seems it has been about 9 months since I seen him on any forum and he was just responding to a post like this one- didn't mention any ongoing projects.. And he don't swap emails with me anymore.....He is pretty much offline and doing something else...He really does do fine work- or did.

[JerryB]

Alphawolf45, can you show us not to handy folks some of your work as you move along with your project??? Reckon most of us did enjoy seeing the work you and Charlie did before.

up here in north central Arkansaw the trees are starting to bud and some of the little yellow flowers are up. You must be some ahead of us.

[jkbrea]

Charlie had some serious issues in his personal life a couple years ago and I don't believe he has regained the ambition to build anything.. I am scratch building a Marlin 1888 and an 1889 and can attest to fact that it don't take much distraction to slow or stop a project. Seems it has been about 9 months since I seen him on any forum and he was just responding to a post like this one- didn't mention any ongoing projects.. And he don't swap emails with me anymore.....He is pretty much offline and doing something else...He really does do fine work- or did.

That's too bad. I wish him well. Now I remember seeing your work. You two have amazing skills. Keep posting updates and new projects. I wish I had that type of know how. I can't even make a pancake without screwing it up.

[Alphawolf45]

Charlie and I are sort of opposites.. As an engineer by trade it made him both highly particular and capable but also exceptionally proud of his work.. When he took a work in progress picture he made certain the pieces shown were without tool marks and highly polished PLUS he put as much efforts into the photography.. He has a light box and indirect lighting and good quality camera and knows how to take great pictures.

I rip metal, sometimes take too much off and have to add metal back with TIG welder.. I take in-progress pictures that are poorly lit, out of focus, with stuff in the background and I don't stone or polish any metal until the wood work is done.. But I don't really care if I impress anybody, I just build to suit myself. And for the last 4 years I have devoted myself to competition shooting and so primarily work on guns I can use in matches..

Here see an odd looking thing I built for a thrice yearly match held at my club..The match requires both a mag fed .22 rifle and pistol. .I didn't own any .22 rifle that wasn't either a single shot or tubular mag fed but I did have a pair of Ruger MarkIII .22 pistols....So I built a rifle upper that can be installed in a few minutes on a Ruger pistol.

rifle barrel upper 2.jpg

The rifle at top is the Marlin 1892 I scratch built and use in my small bore lever action matches.. Compare to the rifle upper on the Ruger below that has a 17 inch barrel.
Now let me brag....I took the Ruger pistol/rifle with me to a match last weekend. After the first match guys were shooting at silhouettes that were missed in last round of first match..I pulled out the as yet unsighted in Ruger and squared off in front of 5 half scale chickens at 40 yards offhand. First 4 shots plus a 5th that was a failure to fire that I cleared were misses as I aimed at different locations trying to find where I needed to aim to get on the chicken.. On 6th shot I aimed 4 inchs under and 3 inch to the left and got a solid hit on first chicken.. Immediately I pulled across the 4 remaining chickens firing as barrel was moving.. All 4 fell. Actually all 5 chickens hit the ground within 3 seconds. Luck...But 3 guys came running over to see what I was shooting as they had heard the rapid fire and 5 clanging steel silhouettes...I admit to enjoying their comments on my home built gun.

Edit to add .. I give a lot of credit to the Volquartzen accurizing trigger kit I installed in the Ruger..That kit gave a super smooth 2 pound trigger pull and I adjusted it for shortest possible trigger travel.

[walks with gun]

I painted a rock once, all by my self.

[Grizz]

I painted a rock once, all by my self.

I tried that once. The rain washed it all away.

[jeepnik]

I painted a rock once, all by my self.

So did I, but there were a bunch of us in green doing it at the same time. Now these particular rocks had already been painted many times previously, and I fear they are still being painted on a regular basis today.

[claybob86]

Charlie and I are sort of opposites.. As an engineer by trade it made him both highly particular and capable but also exceptionally proud of his work.. When he took a work in progress picture he made certain the pieces shown were without tool marks and highly polished PLUS he put as much efforts into the photography.. He has a light box and indirect lighting and good quality camera and knows how to take great pictures.

I rip metal, sometimes take too much off and have to add metal back with TIG welder.. I take in-progress pictures that are poorly lit, out of focus, with stuff in the background and I don't stone or polish any metal until the wood work is done.. But I don't really care if I impress anybody, I just build to suit myself. And for the last 4 years I have devoted myself to competition shooting and so primarily work on guns I can use in matches..

Here see an odd looking thing I built for a thrice yearly match held at my club..The match requires both a mag fed .22 rifle and pistol. .I didn't own any .22 rifle that wasn't either a single shot or tubular mag fed but I did have a pair of Ruger MarkIII .22 pistols....So I built a rifle upper that can be installed in a few minutes on a Ruger pistol.


The rifle at top is the Marlin 1892 I scratch built and use in my small bore lever action matches.. Compare to the rifle upper on the Ruger below that has a 17 inch barrel.
Now let me brag....I took the Ruger pistol/rifle with me to a match last weekend. After the first match guys were shooting at silhouettes that were missed in last round of first match..I pulled out the as yet unsighted in Ruger and squared off in front of 5 half scale chickens at 40 yards offhand. First 4 shots plus a 5th that was a failure to fire that I cleared were misses as I aimed at different locations trying to find where I needed to aim to get on the chicken.. On 6th shot I aimed 4 inchs under and 3 inch to the left and got a solid hit on first chicken.. Immediately I pulled across the 4 remaining chickens firing as barrel was moving.. All 4 fell. Actually all 5 chickens hit the ground within 3 seconds. Luck...But 3 guys came running over to see what I was shooting as they had heard the rapid fire and 5 clanging steel silhouettes...I admit to enjoying their comments on my home built gun.

Edit to add .. I give a lot of credit to the Volquartzen accurizing trigger kit I installed in the Ruger..That kit gave a super smooth 2 pound trigger pull and I adjusted it for shortest possible trigger travel.

Great work and story, thanks for posting!

[claybob86]

I painted a rock once, all by my self.

Glad I swallowed my last sip of coffee before I saw that!

[Charlie]

I am still alive and kicking
I have not built much lately though
My last project was a 45 ACP Derringer, I will try to post a picture here.
Many of you have already seen this if you visit other Gun related sites.

[Sixgun]

Charlie,
As a guy who has seen 40+ years of all kinds of guns, I am impressed. You have talent that few have.

Nice work......like "Walks with Guns" says, I too am pretty good at painting rocks...but I need a spray paint can....brushes are over my head.----6

[Charlie]

Thank you sixgun

I did build a couple more Volcanic's after that documentation posted here

Manganese Bronze and Titanium
That Titanium gun was the most difficult thing I ever tackled But I am pleased with what I was able to do.
I will never do that again though

[Griff]

Once again... WOW! Just, WOW!

[hondo1892]

Charlie, those are really cool Volcanic rifles. Great work and very impressive. I wished I had the tooling to make one in .22 lr. I think that would be a really fun rifle to shoot.

[Sixgun]

Speaking about Volcanics, I once had ...a few years back serial number 22....yes..# 22 Volcanic and I used it as a door stop down in my gunroom for quite some time. I knew what it was and it operated perfectly but it was missing the sideplate.....can't be seen in the photo...other side.......and lo and behold my one buddy took it to a gun show in Timonium, Md. and yes...it was like winning the lottery...an old timer had the sideplate that was needed to complete the gun....guess what the number was on the sideplate......22. I pelosi you not......sold it for 10 g's...cash......but......the gun belonged to my other buddy.......he did slip me a half dozen Ben's for my efforts. One of the highlights of my miserable life....well not so miserable.....I'm usually used to winning it all.---6



I tell ya....what really burnt my azz was that after the Volcanic was gone I had to use a replacement gun to hold the door open and the only thing I had was a 10 cent Remington Keene Deluxe pistol grip Sporting rifle with a half rd/oct barrel (serial number 47) to hold the door open. Good thing it was only a 95% gun or I might have had to use one of Nettleton inspected Calvary Colts. Life ain't easy sometimes.---6

[Charlie]

That is a cool story sixgun

That is also a cool Volcanic

At one time, there was a detachable Butt Stock for it.

Thanks for posting the picture.

[Sixgun]

That is a cool story sixgun

That is also a cool Volcanic

At one time, there was a detachable Butt Stock for it.

Thanks for posting the picture.

Thanks Charlie...I'm only being funny.....about the door stop......the Volcanic belonged to my buddy who owns Targetmaster. And yes....the buttstock is long gone....but it still brought 10 big ones. ...and no, I don't have any Nettleton inspected 1873 Colts Just trying to entertain to keep things lively during a boring winter. I am truly impressed with your craftsmanship.---6

That is true about the #22 sideplate. We were all amazed about the coincidence. Someone made out but it was not me. The Keene is mine and is a nice gun.

[1894c]

after looking at Charlie's work I'm not sure if I can even find a rock, let alone paint one...Charlie thank you for posting... :)

[Rimfire McNutjob]

The aspect ratio on that Derringer barrel kind of makes it look like a civil war mortar. Beautiful work.

Ah, and Sixgun would have you think that finding the matching side plate to that Volcanic was unusual for him. Trust me, he has gun luck like no one else. If he's not careful, he'll walk out his front door and get hit by a Marlin that falls from the sky. But not just any Marlin mind you, for him it would be one with a rare combination of features of which they would have made only six in the late 1880's. And, of course, it will be a 98%+ gun ... that was fired exactly twice. And then, the original box of ammo purchased with the gun will land next to him ... with 48 rounds still in the box, with the old price tag still affixed.

[samb]

Thank you for sharing your beautiful work Charlie.