bending a tang

[wolfers]

Hi, has anyone ever heated and bent a tang to match the profile of the stock
Thanks

 

[Stophel]

Yes, all the time. Though the bend is usually so little that I don't have to heat it.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Just put on a support and whack it.

 

[Cpl. Ashencheeks]

When you bent this tang as shown, did you do it without heating it?

 

[Stophel]

First thing to do with a breech tang is to saw it to about half its thickness. They usually come way too thick. Colerain breech tangs are like a quarter inch or more thick. :shocked2: That's too much to have to inlet!

 

[MSW]

my experience is similar with Colerain tangs ... there's so much metal that I didn't bend it; I just took away steel until it was flush... (maybe that's their intent) ... other tangs I've just cold bent, as that Alabaman shows ... his method worked for me, and I've only driven through Alabama (but it was sort of pretty, in a hot steamy delta sort of way).

good luck with your project!

 

[Eric Krewson]

I didn't heat the tang I bent and whacked it cold about three times.

 

[frogwalking]

I have had to cut out the fillet between the lug and tang so I could begin the bend closer to the end of the barrel.

 

[eggwelder]

i bent mine cold over the anvil horn and used a piece of hickory sledgehammer handle as a mallet. very slow process, but you sneak up on the shape almost perfectly. worked for me

 

[Vaino]

Never heated a tang when bending and here's my procedure, although there are many ways to do this.

First thing is to get rid of the large radius at the juncture of the tang bottom and bolster and replace it w/ a 1/32" fillet. The depth of the bolster, front to back is reduced but still long enough to use a wrench w/ shims to install and remove. The thickness of the tang is reduced from the bottom. The three sides of the bolster are filed w/ an angle.

A carboard template is made of a short length of the bbl and the adjoining wrist and this is used to form the tang.

W/ the breech plug screwed into the bbl, the tang is clamped horizontally at various positions in a vise and is bent using the bbl as leverage until the shape coincides w/ the template.

Side draft is then filed on the tang and it's ready for inletting.....Fred

 

[Dane]

What Fred said!!

 

[gunmaker43]

Yep, that 42" cheater bar works every time.....Tom

 

[Staggerwing]

I do the same. Get the breech plug set in the barrel as it should be and put the tang in a vise and bend to desired shape.

 

[JohnN]

As above.Then file to shape.

 

[jimmy82]

+1 for filing the Colerains flush. I did similar with a long tang on a Rice, but it was much more bending and a lot less filing. Just bent it cold.

 

[EC121]

I cut into the lug web to get the bend closer to the breech then saw a few cross cuts into the bottom of the tang to let it bend easier if it is thick. Then using the barrel for a lever I bend it between the jaws of an open vise. If you want to get scientific, you can clamp a round rod of the appropriate size with the tang to give it a smoother radius.

 

[vulture]

I've done it several times, hasn't really been that big of an issue, I've used a piece of metal pipe close to the arc I want and gently tap it around with a brass hammer.