GunBuilding 101 Volume 2 Resurrected

[CrackStock]

Guys, I suspect that Mike may have thought that I did not respect his work by asking for more info from a blank, but I will show him that I actually did respect his work quite well -- by keeping every bit of it. I have tried to recreate it for you as best I could manage.

CS

Ok, here we go with the buttplate. First you got to figure out what your trigger pull is going to be by placing the triggers on the side of the stock where they will (hopefully) end up. Then measure and mark where your buttplate should end up , 14 1/4" pull in this case. Then lay your buttplate on the stock and trace around the inside of it.

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Now flip you stock over and establish your center line and cast off. I start cast off at the end of the breech tang. I was only able to get about 1/16" with this stock and Buttplate combo.

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Then band saw off the wood you need to take off to start inletting your buttplate.

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Here you can see we're well on the way to getting this thing near fitting.

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Now we have it close enouph to screw down. You'll see a few gaps that are left,

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then the next picture shows these gaps are gone afte I've peaned the edge with a hammer to close everything up. I bent and tweaked this butplate a couple times to get it to conform more to the stock. There are no hard and fast rules here, just show the buttplate who's boss and get it to go where you want.

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Now it's time to get ready to inlet the triggers. This gun is getting a set of L&R triggers. First level out the bottom of the forestock down to the final level it will have when finished. Then strike a centerline from the rear ram rod pipe area tothe buttplate. There will be some cast off involved here again.

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(More to follow, I was not sure how much I could put into one message. CS)

 

[CrackStock]

Now lay out your triggers , trigger guard and tang screw out and move these all around till you can get everything to work right. I had to grind some of the rear trigger off to shorten it and bend and file the trigger guard bow out. I also had to cut off both ends of the trigger plate....then it
finally all worked out.

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Now strip your trigger plate and mark out on the stock where it needs to go and start the inletting procedure just like we did on the lock.

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Inlet the plate and all the guts and get the guts so they work properly. I always put a wood screw in the rear off the trigger plate to keep it in place.

Once all of that's in it's time to drill the tang screw thru, Center punch the tang and the trigger plate where you want them to go. The screw should be 90 degrees to the tang.

Here's my drilling jig gizmo, I think it's self explanitory, if not ask what ever questions you need so we can all get it figured out.

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Here's the gun in the rig, ready to be drilled. The bottom centering pillar is in the punch mark in the trigger plate at this point.

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Clearance drill from the top, then flip it over and use your tap drill to go into the trigger plate.

Now, run your tap down thru the stock and tap the threads into your tigger plate, then counter sink the tang using the drill press jig.

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Here's a picture of the trigger installed and bolted in, then a view of the tang and tang screw.

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Tomorrow will mess around with the trigger guard.
But, I'll warn you it's going to be 50 degrees here tomorrow and I'm likely to be in the barn most of the day building chicken pens for the Old English Games I have coming from New York next week.

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Erzulis boat
40 Cal.
Posts: 310

Loc: California
Offline 01/12/06 04:55 AM - Post#219516
In response to Mike Brooks

Take a day off if you want!

I think our brains will still be smokin' for a while!

The drillpress setup with the alignment pillar is brilliant. If you saw how I was getting the tang screw to come out centered on the triggerplate.................it looked like the metrology department at the Lockheed Skunkworks.



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Davy
45 Cal.
Posts: 596

Loc: Texas .. always Texas
Offline 01/12/06 05:03 AM - Post#219522
In response to Mike Brooks

Once more into the breech! Great Mike!

Thanx amigo!

Davy

Edited by Davy on 01/12/06 05:03 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

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Mike Brooks
50 Cal.
Posts: 1193

Loc: Iowa
Offline 01/12/06 07:39 AM - Post#219639
In response to Davy

I'm glad you fellas are enjoying yourselves and getting something out of all of this. This is pretty much the same old same old for me, but it has been interesting to document the process as I go along.

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jim/wa
32 Cal.
Posts: 49

Offline 01/12/06 08:18 AM - Post#219658
In response to Mike Brooks

i am back still drilling pins my pistol kit came with 3-32 pins put those in barrel but i was thinking about putting1-16 pins in triggerguard and ramrod ferule what do you think about that and where do you get 1-16 pins and do you use exactly a1-16 bit to drill thank you

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Mike Brooks
50 Cal.
Posts: 1193

Loc: Iowa
Offline 01/12/06 05:06 PM - Post#219748
In response to jim/wa

* jim/wa Said:

i am back still drilling pins my pistol kit came with 3-32 pins put those in barrel but i was thinking about putting1-16 pins in triggerguard and ramrod ferule what do you think about that and where do you get 1-16 pins and do you use exactly a1-16 bit to drill thank you

I use alll 1/16" pins in all areas. Go to a welding supply store and buy 1/16" welding rod. It's copper coated and resists rust, which is a good thing. Use a 1/16" drill bit to drill the hole.


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riverrat43
36 Cal.
Posts: 97

Loc: South Alabama
Offline 01/12/06 05:48 PM - Post#219769
In response to Mike Brooks

Mike, absolutely fantastic thread! Allow me to ask a really dumb question here. In scribing your 1/16th cast off, you show a center line thru the tang and then, that line gets centered on two lines going to the butt plate. Why two lines? Seems to me that one line, scribed from the tang to the center of the buttplate and 1/16th off to the right would be easier that two lines 1/32nd each, to the side of center.

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Mike Brooks
50 Cal.
Posts: 1193

Loc: Iowa
Offline 01/12/06 05:55 PM - Post#219770
In response to riverrat43

Both of those lines actually converge at the tang, I just didn't draw the line to the right all the way to the tang. There was only enough room for about 1/16" of cast off on this particular stock. Actually, as it turned out I was able to get a little more than a 1/16" cast off.
If I could have goten 1/4" or so all of this would have been alot easier to see.

patch knife
40 Cal.
Posts: 120

Loc: Maryland
Offline 01/13/06 03:30 AM - Post#220021
In response to Mike Brooks

I just got in on this . Great job so far , Mike ! Thank you for all the work you are doing to share this with us


riarcher
40 Cal.
Posts: 493

Loc: Rhode Island
Offline 01/13/06 04:35 AM - Post#220050
In response to Mike Brooks

Only 2 comments.
WOW!&Thank YOU.


hollandbriscoe


Loc: north carolina
Online 01/13/06 07:16 PM - Post#220283
In response to riarcher

First off mike thanks for the great posts. My question is I am building my first gun and I made the mistake of getting the cast steel buttplate. I almost have it inlet what I'm wondering is there a way to peen this to get that final fit or will I just have to keep inletting?

Jack


WildatHeart


Loc: 24th CMR, Pennsylvania
Offline 01/13/06 07:47 PM - Post#220298
In response to Mike Brooks

Great stuff, Mike. About how much time do you have invested so far?


Mike Brooks
50 Cal.
Posts: 1193

Loc: Iowa
Offline 01/13/06 07:48 PM - Post#220299
In response to hollandbriscoe

You can peen a steel buttplate some, butt you have to file the edges real thin first. Cast steel is a little tougher to peen than a forged buttplate. I always get my steel buttplates alot closer than I do my brass before I screw it down and peen.

(I really appreciate all of the effort that Mike out into this project even more now! CS)