Floating Barrel?

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

Hello,
I acquired a percussion pistol that appears to have been an older kit from Turner Kirkland, and I noticed that the bottom of the barrel doesn’t make contact with the stock throughout it’s whole length due to whoever made it removing too much wood. It does have a barrel wedge though if that’ll help compensate. Would this gun be safe to shoot? It’s a .45 cal.

 

[Nobody85]

I’ve seen floating barrels in sniper rifles, but not in a Kentucky pistol .

 

[deermanok]

I bought a rifle stock off ebay for cheap. I guess it was a factory second. It was over milled kinda like your pistol.
I ended up cutting a few thin strips of wood and glued them on the inside of the stock to make up for the gap. Seems to be working fine for me.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Safe? Yes. But you might get some splittage near the wedge. Being a pistol, accuracy would not be affected enough to make any real difference. I had a similar situation and corrected it by laying a couple thin strips of leather in the bottom of the channel. Almost 50 years later they are still there and the gun has won many matches. Now, I'll put on my armor and wait for the excoriations to begin for recommending such a crude cure.