Investarm Kit - End cap pin is crooked? Any ideas?

[Old Walt]

Been reading on this forum for some time now. First post so bear with me.

Investarm Gemmer Hawken kit 54 cal.

I’m in the early stages of planning out how I want to go about this kit and what I actually want from it. Many typical kit flaws to overcome.

One thing that concerned me more than the others is the end cap pin is at an angle and not straight across. On one side it is very close to the end of the wood. I'm afraid if it stays like this any small bump on the cap could damage the thin bit of wood the pin is through.

Should I start it over and re drill the hole straight and then try to fill the old holes in the cap?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[akroguy]

I would redrill it, properly square to the barrel and further aft. Might be able to peen those holes shut with some ball peen hammer action and some filing or fill with solder. Or, just leave as-is. The barrel will provide support to the nose cap from any appreciable movement that could cause any tear-out at that right side hole. Yeah, that's some shoddy manufacturing process evident there.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Well, for me that gap from the wood to the inside of the nose cap is a problem. IF for some reason you drop the stock without the barrel in place, and it lands on that cap, that gap then allows for the impact energy to be transferred to where the back of the nosecap meets the stock. I think that's a recipe for some cracking or chipping.

One solution would be to inlet the nose cap deeper, but in your case it's already up against the forward ramrod thimble SO..., how about filling that gap with epoxy resin, so that it fill the gap flush with the nose cap but doesn't "glue" the cap onto the stock? That way it's still removeable, if you drop it in my above scenario the impact is spread across the front of the nose of the stock as well as the pin, AND, it provides more material above your pin so no worries about it splitting out.

Then you can move the pin if you wish or not.

LD

 

[Old Walt]

Thanks for input!

I hadn't thought of peening the holes shut. Something to ponder on..

I will certainly fill that gap with epoxy bedding (I've actually got some left over from a Winchester 70 that I recently red-bedded the action on)... I think I would like the hole re-drilled straight..

I'm new to these kits, but have read enough to not be surprised by the lack of quality control.. Most of the drilled holes on this stock will have to be filled with a dowel and started over.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Thanks for input!

I hadn't thought of peening the holes shut. Something to ponder on..

I will certainly fill that gap with epoxy bedding (I've actually got some left over from a Winchester 70 that I recently red-bedded the action on)... I think I would like the hole re-drilled straight..

I'm new to these kits, but have read enough to not be surprised to not be surprised by the lack of quality control.. Most of the drilled holes on this stock will have to be filled with a dowel and started over.

Sounds like you're getting the hang-of-it. Should be right nice when you're done.

LD

 

[Phil Coffins]

I see what you are talking about and would remove the cap and place the barrel in the stock. Then inlet the cap using the barrel to guide the cap back a bit for a nice fit. Inlet black is required for this purpose. A toothpick size piece of wood glued into the hole will give a solid place to redrill for the pin threw the existing hole. That it isn’t square has no effective on the finished job unless you point it out.

 

[EC121]

It fits up on the pipe pretty well. If you start messing with the nose cap, you might also end up having to move the pipe back or file metal off the cap. Minimize the work. Bed it and move on. As far as the cap pin, you can only look at one side at a time. Don't worry about it.

 

[Collie]

If you peen the pin into the holes and then file it flush with the cap I would think you wouldn't even see the pin in the finished product. This is what I've done for ramrod tips and it's worked really well.

 

[Old Walt]

wow guys, great advice! Thanks so much.

I had pondered on removing some of the end cap metal from its base to help close the gap. Bedding it is going to happen either way.

Im in no rush with this one so a little extra work here and there in the spirit of learning something new is not a problem.