1st time builder - stock question

[Alamocity]

Hey fellas, I'm beginning my first build with a pre-inlet stock. Looking at the stock tonight, I noticed that the forearm at the muzzle end is warped slightly to the left.

The warped part appears to be about 3 inches or so in length and maybe about 2 degrees off center.

I placed the barrel in the channel and the wood conformed to the barrel, of course, but I'm concerned about whether this will be a pressure point and a weak spot in the stock.

Can I fix this warp, or is it not a big deal that I shouldn't worry about?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Black Hand]

I wouldn't worry about it. You will be removing most of the wood and the warp will likely disappear. Either way, in muzzleloaders the barrel supports the forestock rather than the other way around.

 

[billraby]

Black Hand is right. The wood will only be about 1/8 inch thick at the thickest point. Don't worry about it.

 

[Dane]

Tape the barrel into rhe stock and leave it when you're not working on it.
Then don't worry about it. Very, very common.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Agree. The other thing about pre-carves is that the web is usually too thick too. Is the lock pre-inlet for you? If that's the case you may need to move the barrel so the breech plug face is behind the touch hole or drum.

What sort of style of gun are you building? Straight, tapered, or swamped barrel?

 

[Alamocity]

Thanks for all the input. Yes the lock is about 95% inlet. It's a swamped barrel.

Once I get the tang inlet, I'll let the wood and barrel mate when I'm not working the kit.

Thanks!

 

[tenngun]

Very first thing I do is make sure barrel fits, then I get masking tape and hold it in until I get the lugs fitted and inlet. I drill the pin holes and use a # 6 finish nail as the pin. Barrel stays in the stock unless I need to remove it for some job. Then I'm like a dog who thinks he can steal a slice of pizza around that stock with out a barrel in it. Don't feel safe letting a butterfly near it until the barrel is home again.

 

[Zonie]

Before busying yourself with the tang, the very first thing to check is the fore/aft position of the barrel.

If the lock mortise hadn't been cut, you would position the lock to the barrel.

Because the lock mortise has been started, your only option is to position the barrel to the lock.

If you haven't done this, the first thing to do is to figure out where the face of the breech plug is.
I run a wooden ramrod blank down the barrel until it stops on the face of the breechplug. Then, I mark the exposed ramrod at the muzzle.

Laying the dowel along the outside of the barrel and lining up the mark with the muzzle, I then make a line on the side of the barrel with a permanent ink Sharpie.

Measure and mark a distance 1/4 to 5/16 inches forward of the breech plug face mark. This mark should line up with the center of the pan (assuming your gun is going to be a flintlock.
If it is a percussion lock, this forward line should be lined up with the semi-circular cutout for the side drum.)

If the mark on the barrel doesn't seem to be in the right place, you must move the barrel so it is.

If the mark on the barrel is already too far aft from where should be then, don't move the barrel any further aft. Just make a mental note of it and proceed with inletting the barrel tang.

I realize this is for a swamped barrel gun and moving the barrel might effect the fit of the barrel to the stock but IMO, it's far better to have a slightly loose stock to barrel fit than it is to end up with the threads of a vent liner or percussion drum hitting the face of the breech plug or too far forward.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I agree with this about 99%, but with a slight modification. With any charge down the bore, powder is going to take up some volume. The vent liner is going to enter it somewhere up from the breech face. Only in-lines, patent breeches, some manufactured ones (like T/C's channeled breech), and certain Manton designs have the fire reach the charge coming up from the bottom. What this does is, in effect, is limit you on what your minimum charge can be. As soon as the charge is so small that the seated patch now covers the touch hole and fire can't reach the powder, then you can go no smaller. In calibers like a 50, for most, a practical minimum charge is right around 20 grains, but 30 is more like it. 20 grains in a 50 is going to take up a lot less vertical volume than it does in a 32 however.

If your vent hole location mandates that you groove or cut in to the plug, than that is something of a different matter. Older designs made use of much shorter plugs than are in common use today. As such, some say modern barrels and plugs as sold today are over-engineered. I'm not going to opine on whether you should or should not slightly compromise any safety element of today's barrels and plugs. Some say cutting off a thread or two is no big deal. Some say it is foolish to do so. All I can say is that many older designs were made with shorter plugs, and many of those guns are still around today. Derive from that what you wish.