Forestock thickness

[greymount]

I was wondering how thick the forestock should be on the sides of the barrel on a York/Lancaster longrifle. I thought I read somewhere that it should be 1/8 of an inch to the rear thimble and 1/16 thick to the nosecap. Also how thick should the forestock be at the ramrod channel.

 

[Mike Brooks]

You got it right.
I take a 1/8" drill bit and use it as a spacer to draw a line next to the barrel. Same with the 1/16". I'm a little confused about your ram rod channel question. Once you set your line on top of the stock like I just desribed, that will give you your width. You just cut down to that line then make your stock round.

 

With regards to the rr chanel, if your refering to how deep the rr sits in the stock, you should have at least 1/2 of the rr exposed. So with a 3/8" rr, the rr chanel should be no more that 3/16" deep, a bit less is good but definately no more than 3/16"

Cody

 

[rich pierce]

The forestock thickness is also determined by the thickness of the web of wood between the barrel and ramrod groove in the forestock and the ramrod hole in the forearm. 3/16" is safe here, as far as giving yourself enough leeway when drilling for pins and the front lock bolt. 1/4" is too much and you can't get away with 1/8".