Belly Plates

[crockett]

A while back I saw a Hawken that had a metal plate on the bottom of the forestock. I thought that this was a repair, that someone knocked the bottom hard and broke out the thin area between the bottom and the ramrod hole. I recently saw some photos of other rifles with more elaborate plates, called belly plates. Were these originally put on a rifle? Were they to strengthen the area or just for looks?

 

[waksupi]

They were generally put on if a ramrod drilling went astray, or if the forend had worn through. I made one like that many years ago. About twenty years back, there were a couple makers in this area that put out quite a few rifles with wear plates for cosmetic purposes. They do look kind of neat. The only real drawback is if you hunt in cold weather. They do chill the fingers pretty well when you carry them all day.

 

[Zonie]

Some of them were known as pommel plates.
When on horseback, the rider often rested his rifle on the pommel of the saddle in front of the rider.
The metal plate kept the wood stock from being worn.

At least, that's what the gunsmith that drilled the ramrod hole thru the forearm said. ::

 

[Herb]

Crockett, some rifles were made with them and some were added later as repairs.

This is my Green River Leman Trade Rifle which I made at the Green River Rifle Works in 1978 in a class called "Antique Custom Riflesmithing". The instructor, Greg Roberts, drilled my ramrod hole and the bit came out the bottom of the stock. That's why I fitted this wear plate. Some gunmakers, including in Western Pennsylvania, fitted them to rifles they made. There is a Jacob Wigle rifle in a museum here, made in Westmoreland County, PA between 1811 and 1844, that has a wear plate original to it.
Some Bedford rifles were made with wear plates.

 

[Zonie]

Personally, I like the brass panal on some half stocks.
This is the .54 TC Hawken I built years ago.
The little extra touches I added were a toe plate, one of the oval brass plates with the machine engraged Eagle on the cheekpiece a thumb plate and this pommel plate.

 

[Herb]

Here are four wear plates. Top is the Leman Trade Rifle. Then a .54 Henry Albright Lancaster where the stock checked after I built it. I added that original design wear plate to cover that crack after the rifle was finished. Next is a Jacob Wigle Westmoreland Co., PA rifle copied exactly from the original in a museum here. Jacob put that plate on as a decoration when he built that rifle. Bottom is my copy of a Thomas Oldham Bedford, and that rifle had the wear plate as a decoration.