Construction
Of A Working Replica Of The Union Repeating Gun
My Gun
by Lyle Hegsted
In
2002, I had finished my Williams Gun and was looking through various
books for another gun to build when I ran across pictures of the "Ager"
machine gun and started thinking about building it. Editors
note: the Williams Gun construction article can be seen at http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/williamsconstruction.htm The
history of the Williams Gun can be found at http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/williamsgun.htm
I
called Brian Haack in May of 2002 to tell him about firing my Williams
Gun and mentioned that I was thinking about building an Ager.
Brian said his was almost complete and he hoped to fire it
shortly. As usual, he was about a year ahead of me. He also
mentioned he had a spare carrier and would send it to me. That
saved me many hours of work as it is a major machining project.
He also sent me sketches of what he had done. As in the past,
during the construction of my Williams Gun, Brian's help was
invaluable and without him, this new Ager project would have
been very difficult to do.
There
are no plans that I know of for the Union Repeating Gun/Ager but there
are some pictures. I wrote to the Marine Corps Museum at Quantico
and asked for any information they
had on their gun. D. Stenger, an Ordnance Specialist, sent me
some email pictures and overall measurements.
and asked for any information they
had on their gun. D. Stenger, an Ordnance Specialist, sent me
some email pictures and overall measurements. I
started by making some sketches and building a wooden mockup of the
receiver (photo at right). A few hours with a band saw saved many
hours of work with a milling machine. Even doing that, there were
parts of the receiver that I built more than once.
The
receiver of the original gun appears to be a casting. I didn't
have a way to make a casting so my gun was built in sections using 5/8"
and 3/4" plate that was bolted together with 5/16"
bolts. When working properly, this assembly was welded
together. My son teaches welding and he did the welding for
me. There is an art to welding plate of that thickness without
getting warps. Most of the receiver is made of 5/8 inch
plate with the exception of the right hand receiver side; it is made of
three quarter inch plate.
The base plate for the gun was the
starting place (pictured here in the photo at left). Then the
bottom plate of the receiver. The bottom plate is crafted from a
half inch mild steel plate. After the bottom plate of the
receiver was made, the front plate was made. There are two
critical holes in it. The barrel screws into the front receiver
plate and the crane pin for the carrier is mounted in it.
First,
the crane pin hole was located. The carrier should just clear the
bottom of the receiver. After the front plate, the side plates
were made and bolted in place then the top plate of the receiver
was added. The spacing between the top plate and the carrier is
critical. It holds the chargers in place vertically when the gun
is fired. The clearance is just enough for the carrier to
revolve. I used two layers of heavy paper as a spacer while I
drilled the holes to bolt the top plate in place.
The
receiver mounted on the base plate can be seen in the two photos
above. On the left is the eject side of the receiver and pictured
on the right is the feed side of the receiver.
The
front plate of the receiver with the barrel mounting hole is visible in
the photo above. The barrel shroud has not been welded in place
yet.
The
barrel hole was located by making a dummy charger with a half inch hole
through it and a transfer punch used to locate the hole for the
barrel. The front plate was mounted in a lathe and internal
threads cut. Then matching threads were cut on a .58 caliber
Green River barrel from Track of the Wolf. The shoulder depth on
the barrel was adjusted until a flat came up to top when the barrel was
screwed in tightly. There is a set screw on the barrel shroud to
lock the barrel in place.
Once
the receiver was assembled and carrier in place, the internal parts
were made. First part was the operating handle and axle.
The cams that provide the motion to revolve the carrier, cock the
hammer and drop it and lock up the cylinder all are mounted on this
axle.
Once
the operating handle and axle were in place and turning freely, I
started on the cams that make the gun work. I used a line reamer
to align the holes for the axle.
What I call the "monkey
motion" was built next (photo at left). On the original gun, it
was a brass casting but I didn't have a way to cast it or a piece
of brass big enough to make the frame for the monkey motion so I made
it out of mild steel. This part is the heart of the gun. It
converts the rotary motion of the crank into a vertical motion that
moves the hand that rotates the carrier to bring a charger into
position for firing and moves a wedge that pushes the charger against
the face plate and barrel and holds it during firing. The
inventor/inventors did some very complex thinking when the first model
was made. The
"hand" engages notches in the back of the carrier and as it comes up,
it moves the carrier through 60 degrees. As the "monkey motion"
starts to move down, the hand slips out of the notch and goes to the
next one for the next movement of the carrier. I built several
hands before I got one that set the carrier position correctly.
The
next step was to build the lockup mechanism. On the original
guns, it is an arm on the monkey motion that goes by a spring loaded
stud and pushes the stud into a dimple on the back of the
carrier. I made several assemblies but never got one that I
liked. My gun has a cam to operate a push rod to lock up the
carrier. The cam took a bit of experimenting; again I made
several of them. They were roughed out on a milling machine and
finished with a file. If you don't like to use a file, you don't
want to build a Union Repeating Gun.
It
took a while to get the timing right. As the carrier is
approaching "top dead center", the locking rod must be moving 
forward, when the carrier is at TDC,
the locking rod must be in place and stay during firing; then as the
hand starts to move the carrier, the locking pin has to be
retracting. The photo at the right shows the interior receiver
mounted on the base plate, before the top plate is in place.
Look closely and you can see the dummy charger (center of photo) in its
place on the rotating carrier in the firing position.
forward, when the carrier is at TDC,
the locking rod must be in place and stay during firing; then as the
hand starts to move the carrier, the locking pin has to be
retracting. The photo at the right shows the interior receiver
mounted on the base plate, before the top plate is in place.
Look closely and you can see the dummy charger (center of photo) in its
place on the rotating carrier in the firing position. A
detailed photo of the back of the receiver is seen (below left) with
the cams in place. On the left side of the receiver is the
cam that locks up the carrier in the firing position. This is a
change from the original guns. Under the cam is the flat spring
that powers the hammer and its tension adjustment. The
middle cam is the hammer cam. It cocks the hammer and drops
it to fire the gun. The last cam on the right is the "monkey
motion" cam that converts the rotary motion to the up and down motion
needed to revolve the carrier and move the wedge that holds 
the chargers in place.
the chargers in place.The last cam built was
the hammer cam, it is shaped like a comma and lifts the hammer against
a flat spring and drops it at the right time. There is a spring
tension adjustment. It sets the force used to power the
hammer. Too much tension and the hammer gets in the way of the
carrier as it moves; too little and the caps don't fire.
The
last piece built was a wedge that pushes the chargers forward and locks
them against the barrel and front plate of the receiver during
firing. The charger can't move back during firing as the wedge
holds it, it can not move sideways as it fits snugly in the grooves in
the carrier and it can only move upward a few thousands because of the
top plate of the receiver. If the barrel is located correctly and
throated, the gun will not shave lead when it is fired. All
this machinery is put into action by the crank handle on the right
which is mounted on the side of the receiver.
About
two years from the start date, there came a time when I could crank the
operating handle, the carrier would rotate and lock up, the dummy
chargers were wedged in place and the hammer would drop.
As
you
can see in these photos (above and below), the Union Repeating Gun
(Ager) is coming together. In
the photo above, the gun is mounted on the basic carriage frame
with the base plate, receiver, crank, brass charger
(ammo) hopper and barrel. Assembled for the first
time as a unit in the photo below, the weapon is looking good.
The
first chargers took close to two hours each to make. With jigs,
they still take close to an hour each to make. They started as a
20' stick of 1 inch diameter cold roll steel that was sawed
into pieces about three and a quarter inches long.
Those went into a jig on the lathe and were faced and cut to the
right length. The length has to be held to a couple of
thousandths of an inch or they will jam the gun. The
chambers were bored out using a 9/16ths drill. A stop on the
drill kept the holes the right depth.
After
that step was completed, they were turned end for end and the recess
that protects the musket cap was bored to the proper depth. Then
the hole for the cap nipple was bored through and threaded to take a
standard musket cap nipple.
Next
the chambers were reamed to the proper size. A 14.5 mm reamer
works well and was a standard size at a reasonable price. Then
the chargers went into a jig in the mill and the recess that
protects cap is milled so there was a flat surface for the cap nipple
to set against. When that was done, the hole for the cap nipple
was threaded and a cap nipple is screwed in. When purchased in
lots of one hundred, percussion cap nipples are $1 each.
Estimated costs for the chargers are $1.50 each.
I
modified an old shotgun shell loading tool to expedite the loading
of the chargers, 35-40 grs. of Goex FFg works well at the ranges I
shoot at but the standard service load was most likely 55-60 gr. of
musket powder. A .575 Minie is greased, wheel bearing grease
works well, however care must be taken to insure that no grease
will get where it can wet the powder. Lastly, the Minie is
pressed into the charger with the press. I've had a few "squibs"
from wet powder and plan to make a wad cutter that will make wads from
waxed cardboard milk containers to solve that problem. The mouth
of the charger is greased to prevent chain fires. I don't cap
until I'm ready to shoot. If a charger gets dropped and the cap
nipple gets hit, you can get shot. That's one of the reasons for
the carpet in the picture of my friend test shooting the gun. It
also protects the chargers as they drop out. The original gun had
a box on the carriage for the chargers to drop into.
Test
shooting
from modified sawhorse in 2005
The
Ager was mounted on its basic carriage on a temporary sawhorse frame
and then fine tuned. There is gas leakage just as in a
revolver. The gun is a big hand cranked six-shooter and on a
cloudy day, flame can be seen coming out the sides and muzzle.
In order to
get the first shot off, the crank handle must be turned two complete
turns. There is an empty slot "under the hammer" and another empty slot
between the "hammer slot" and the slot being filled from the hopper.
Each turn of the crank advances the carrier one slot or 60
degrees.
To eject
the fired charger, the carrier has to move the charger from the firing
position, 12 o'clock to about 9 o'clock before the charger will roll
out of the carrier slot (gravity pulls it out) so it takes two cranks
to eject the last charger. "
Building
the wheels was the last step in the construction process without
wheels, the Ager wasn't going anywhere easily.
When I built my Williams gun earlier, I made a full scale drawing
of the hub, two spokes and a felly. The drawing was pasted
on sheet tin and templates were made. These were used to
transfer the patterns on to the wood. I used the same size wheels
on the Union Repeating Gun so I used the old templates.
The spokes were made first - two dozen of them. I traced the shape of the spoke on a piece of 2" x 6". There are two templates, one looking at the wheel from the side and one looking from the tire in. The spokes were rough
sawed on a bandsaw.
The dish was put in at this time in the form of a "dogleg" just outside of the hub area. Somewhere I read that the "dish" on a artillery wheel was five degrees so I used that, it looked right and worked well.
The spokes at the hub end are cut wedge shaped with a 30 degree angle on each spoke. A jig was made and the
The spokes were made first - two dozen of them. I traced the shape of the spoke on a piece of 2" x 6". There are two templates, one looking at the wheel from the side and one looking from the tire in. The spokes were rough
sawed on a bandsaw.
The dish was put in at this time in the form of a "dogleg" just outside of the hub area. Somewhere I read that the "dish" on a artillery wheel was five degrees so I used that, it looked right and worked well.
The spokes at the hub end are cut wedge shaped with a 30 degree angle on each spoke. A jig was made and the
angles
cut using a chop saw. When the spokes were arranged in a
circle, they made a solid wood hub. Then the spokes were shaped
using a drawknife, a small plane and a spoke shave. After you
make a few spokes, you can shape one in about fifteen minutes.
When the spokes were finished, they were mounted on a plywood disc with sheet rock screws, then glued after the spacing was right. The hub is made of plywood discs glued together. First, two spokes are mounted as opposites, then the next two mounted at 90 degrees to the first two and opposite each other. Then the remaining spokes fill in between. Quite often some thin shims were needed to get the spokes to line up properly. I checked them for spacing using a felly.
The hubs were built next. I cut plywood discs for the hubs. I've found "Gorilla" glue to be a good glue for this. The discs were glued and clamped in place. After the glue had set up, the axle hole was bored thru the center using a Forstner bit. For axle boxes, I use a piece of straight pipe.
When the spokes and hubs were done, it was time to cut the spokes to length. They were close but need a final trimming. For this, I made a tool from a piece of strap metal with a stub on one end that fit in the axle box. The tool was used twice, once to mark the length of the spoke and then to mark the shoulder of the tenon. I used a long hole saw to cut the tenon. First the center of the spoke was found, then a hole was drilled to act as a guide for the hole saw. In place of the drill that is normally used in the hole saw, I used a piece of drill rod.
The shoulders were cut with a small hand saw. Then the fellys were mounted. If you are building an American style wheel, the hole in the felly does not go all the way through, English style wheels the hole goes all the way through and a small wedge is driven in the end of the tenon to hold the felly in place. On American style wheels, the felly is held in place by the tire when it is shrunk on.
The fellys were put in place next. I gave each of them a light coating of glue as I slid them on. Some long pipe clamps kept them in place. After they were glued, it was time to true up the wheel. That was done using a disc sander shown in the picture of "truing up a wheel".
The fellys were not a full 2" wide. I found some heavy "doorskin" material at the local lumber yard and pieces to
When the spokes were finished, they were mounted on a plywood disc with sheet rock screws, then glued after the spacing was right. The hub is made of plywood discs glued together. First, two spokes are mounted as opposites, then the next two mounted at 90 degrees to the first two and opposite each other. Then the remaining spokes fill in between. Quite often some thin shims were needed to get the spokes to line up properly. I checked them for spacing using a felly.
The hubs were built next. I cut plywood discs for the hubs. I've found "Gorilla" glue to be a good glue for this. The discs were glued and clamped in place. After the glue had set up, the axle hole was bored thru the center using a Forstner bit. For axle boxes, I use a piece of straight pipe.
When the spokes and hubs were done, it was time to cut the spokes to length. They were close but need a final trimming. For this, I made a tool from a piece of strap metal with a stub on one end that fit in the axle box. The tool was used twice, once to mark the length of the spoke and then to mark the shoulder of the tenon. I used a long hole saw to cut the tenon. First the center of the spoke was found, then a hole was drilled to act as a guide for the hole saw. In place of the drill that is normally used in the hole saw, I used a piece of drill rod.
The shoulders were cut with a small hand saw. Then the fellys were mounted. If you are building an American style wheel, the hole in the felly does not go all the way through, English style wheels the hole goes all the way through and a small wedge is driven in the end of the tenon to hold the felly in place. On American style wheels, the felly is held in place by the tire when it is shrunk on.
The fellys were put in place next. I gave each of them a light coating of glue as I slid them on. Some long pipe clamps kept them in place. After they were glued, it was time to true up the wheel. That was done using a disc sander shown in the picture of "truing up a wheel".
The fellys were not a full 2" wide. I found some heavy "doorskin" material at the local lumber yard and pieces to
match the
fellys
were cut out on a bandsaw. These were glued and clamped to the
fellys to make them a full 2" wide. They held the fellys in line
also and bridged the joints of the fellys.
The tire was 3/16" x 2" strap metal. This is thin enough a tire roller was not needed. The tire was held in place with "C" clamps. An eighth inch or so gap was left where the ends meet. When the tire ends were welded, the tire pulled up snug. This process can be seen in the photo at right.
Last step was to drill the holes in the tire and fellys to hold the tire in place. Holes were drilled between the spokes and the tires bolted on using 3/8" carriage head bolts. Each wheel took thirty hours or so to build.
The tire was 3/16" x 2" strap metal. This is thin enough a tire roller was not needed. The tire was held in place with "C" clamps. An eighth inch or so gap was left where the ends meet. When the tire ends were welded, the tire pulled up snug. This process can be seen in the photo at right.
Last step was to drill the holes in the tire and fellys to hold the tire in place. Holes were drilled between the spokes and the tires bolted on using 3/8" carriage head bolts. Each wheel took thirty hours or so to build.
I hope you
enjoyed
reading about the gun as much as I did building it. My thanks to
Bob Niepert for the work he did getting this ready for the Florida
Reenactors Online News Magazine.
photos and article
by Lyle Hegsted
Editors note: Below you
will
see some photos of Lyle's completed Williams and Ager
guns.
Editors note:
Additional
articles
by Lyle concerning the construction of his Williams Gun and the history
of the Williams Gun can be found at http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/williamsconstruction.htm and
http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/williamsgun.htm
Lyle Hegsted
stands with his two creations. The Williams
gun on the left weighs about 750 lbs. and the
Ager on the right
weighs close to
400 lbs. Both weapons are mounted on
standard 57
inch diameter wheels.
This article, its photos and all other
information contained herein are copyrighted
and may not be reproduced in any form without
written permission of the editor and its authors.
Home / Weapons Contents / Contact the Editor
Designed by Dixie Myst Designs copyright ©2006