Progress so far. Thoughts, problems?

[fosters]

Oh hey pd, if you are having trouble seeing the transfer of the inletting black you might try lipstick. Works great and probably no more messy than the black. Personally I tried to find a shade that matched the cherry of the stock.

f

 

Yes, they are all interconnected and thank goodness for the skill and talent that provide their help freely here for us new to all this.

I don't know if you have a copy of it, but I have found the book The Gunsmith of Grenville County a huge help as well.

 

[fosters]

Yup, got it. I've actually been researching this project for a couple years now. I have 4 books and 3 DVDs. Money well spent, and you are 100% right on how lucky we are to have this help here. Great people and I certainly appreciate their insight. I try not to bore them. They are a great help when I paint myself into a corner though.

f

 

[jdkerstetter]

....I plan to make some long veneers and place them in the gap with glue and let them setup. I can then sand them down as I'm sure it will stick out of the inlet.

Try to take wood from the actual blank you are working from whenever possible...and ensure the direction of the grain matches. The included wood Fosters received is a big benefit and included not only for a wooden patch box but for just such situations. There is plenty of wood on a stock to take slivers from that will go unnoticed later....barrel channel, fore end sides, under the cheek, etc.

Using wood from another source can become apparent when staining...especially if one uses one of the reactive acid stains....as no two pieces will react the same and your results are unpredictable.

Don't be afraid to glue in patches if necessary. There are many originals that have patches where knots or inclusions were covered....and, I'm sure, mistakes too. A good repair is practically invisible.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[Birddog6]

You can slice a piece of wood off the square part of the forestock. Lots of wood extra there.

Couple things of note:

Pin the barrel in before doing tang & trigger bolt, if you are using a thru-bolt. Be sure to use a Drill-point & have a pilot hole on tang & triggerplate so the drill bit doesn't walk & also it goes where ya want it to go.

Locate & drill the lock bolts After you have the barrel pinned, THEN inlet the sideplate. Otherwise you may have an issue getting the lockbolts in 90 degrees to the lock.

Depending on what barrel you are using, you may be able to just shape that tang & wood. If it is a Colerain, the tang on those is very thick & lots of meat you can take off.

Keith Lisle

 

[fosters]

Hey Keith,
It's a Rice barrel. My thought was just as you mentioned, filing both the tang and the wood at the rear of the tang to finish the shape and match the curve of the stock. To my greenhorn eye their seems to be quite alot of mass there on the tang. You think I can take it down enough with a file rather than re-bending? Just looking for an opinion. I'm sure re-bending is the correct way, just trying not to mess anything else up, but I do want it to be correct. I really want to learn this craft.

f

 

[Birddog6]

Rice tang is thinner than a Colerain. Just looking at the photo, I would bend it a lil more, cause looks like you may have a lil hump at the lug area & may need to round that down some as well.

Or.... Scribe the end of the tang with the wood, lift it out & look at it & see if you are comfortable with it.
I don't like them real thin, as if the barrel would move back at all in recoil, it could chip out at the end of the tang if Very thin.

All that tang is there for is to hold the breech down secure, nothing else, other than looks.

Keith Lisle

 

[jdkerstetter]

Rebend and reinlet. It is the right fix and you have nothing to loose as your new inlet will be better than what you have now.

Go slow and make sure your tools are sharp. Enjoy, J.D.

 

[Birddog6]

If you bend it, BARELY bend it. If bent much, you will have a gap at the end of it as you already cut the inlet. If this occurs, you have to add to the tang (various ways) or move the barrel back more.

That is why it is Important to have the tang bent correctly prior to inletting, so you don't have gaps.

Keith Lisle

 

[jdkerstetter]

Judging from the pictures, in this case I don't think there will be much of a problem as the tail of the tang will drop quite a bit and must be inlet as it goes down. The gaps at the side of the tang are a bigger deal.

A small gap is acceptable at the back of the tang and some builders do it purposely in case of set back. It can be filled with colored wax.

If a gap does develope at the back and the desire is to close it, generally it can be closed up bu cold forging the tang a little longer...stretching it...and hot if necessary.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[fosters]

Well I measured again and got my barrel pinned to the under lugs finally. Had to do the toothpick trick. It doesn’t look too bad and I hope after I stain it no one will notice. We’ll see and if it really sticks out I’ll do an inlay to hide. It.

Oh I replaced the underlugs with brass ones. That one rear one was still slightly loose so I had a spare set of lugs but they were too wide at the base. After an hour of filing and fitting they taped in solid as a rock. So there was an upside to the week.

I also did as you all suggested and bent the tang down a little bit more. It did make a small gap at the rear of the tang, but very small and hopefully after I shoot it a couple times it will settle in and it won’t show. This cherry stock compresses quite easily so I think it will be just fine. Sorry for the bad pict. Still trying to get the hang of this camera.

Now for the tang bolt. The length of the tang is 1 7/8” long. Where would you all place the tang bolt? I’ll center punch the tang and the trigger plate and drill so I just barely mark the trigger plate and than drill from the other side. Then I’ll tap the plate. Any hints on this procedure? How about pitfalls and things to watch out for?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

f

 

[jdkerstetter]

Glad to hear you got the barrel pin issue worked out. Great job.

You are right not to worry about a tiny gap behind the tang. Many experienced builders do this purposely. Even if it were not to close when finishing or shooting the gun it can be filled with colored wax.

Make the hole in your tang 3/5th's of the distance from the juction with the barrel. Seriously. But some will say I'm :stir:

Drill this hole carefully. This one concerns me more than any other hole on the gun. It's right there staring at anyone who handles or points it.

Go with a small bit and work up so you can fudge the hole over if you need to.

I don't drill all the way through to a blank trigger plate. I drill the center of the plate where I want the hole just as I do the tang. Align the tang and trigger plate holes and then drill.

Good luck and Enjoy, J.D.

 

[mikemeteor]

I’ll center punch the tang and the trigger plate and drill so I just barely mark the trigger plate and than drill from the other side. Then I’ll tap the plate. Any hints on this procedure? How about pitfalls and things to watch out for?

Get out your point to point jig for this job - if your using a drill press.
If not, rig up some visual guide to start (and keep) your holes in line as much as possible.

Once drilled, tap the plate from the top (tang) down - through the stock.

A little carelessness here and you pay for it with, at best, a tang screw head that doesn't settle nicely in its countersink; at worst, you're plugging and re-drilling holes in wood and/or metal.

 

[mogrene]

I was just scrolling through these older posts, and I noticed Laffindog's 11/20 comment on the placement of touch hole liner. Specifically:

"I mark the center of the touch hole with a dot from a fine felt tip pen, then punch it with a center punch. Don't worry about the outside diameter of the liner yet. Once the center is punched the OD of the liner will take care of itself."

[Sorry - I don't seem to have the hang of the "quote post" part of this site yet]

I'm not at the touch hole part of the project yet, but it seems to me you do need to worry about the OD of the liner. I plan to use a "white lightening" liner, which is hollowed out as a cone. Wouldn't you want to ensure that the OD of the wide end of the cone is aligned with or (very) slightly forward of the face of the breech plug? If it overlaps with the side of the plug, wouldn't that risk powder residue building up in the threads?

 

[fosters]

Hey Mo,
I was wondering about that myself. Upon thinking about it, I think the line protrudes into the barrel and you just file off the excess flush with the inside of the barrel. The cone I believe is oversize so to speak. I could be and probably am totally wrong however.

f

 

[Birddog6]

Too late, you are way past proper vent liner placement. It now goes where it ends up.

Keith Lisle

 

[Bruce Bogart]

Measure the length of your plug, mark it on the outside of the barrel, and determine where it will fit best. If you haven't drilled any kind of hole yet and the WL liner won't fit well consider using one of the interior coning tools Mr Snyder sells. Also you can cheat the hole forward in the pan area as long as you stay within the limits of the pan.

 

[fosters]

Hey all,
Drilling the vent is the last thing on my list of things to do I just marked the end of the breech plug and it's possible relation to the liner on the outside of the barrel long ago. I was kind of stuck because the lock area was already pre-inlet. The round circle in the pan area is the outside diameter of the vent liner. The vent can still be moved around some with in the confines of the pan of course. I've never used a liner before because this is my 1st project I have no idea how they work or if the outside edge diameter is important.

I still have to do tang bolt, lock bolts, trigger, nose cap, thimbles, trigger guard... etc before the vent I think right?

f

 

[Zonie]

Yes, the vent liner must be located far enough ahead of the breech face so the threads will clear it.

For a 1/4" threaded vent liner, its center should be 5/64" to 7/64" ahead of the breech plug face.

For a 5/16" threaded vent liner, its center should be 11/64" to 13/64" ahead of the breech plug.
Further ahead is better than closer.

The location of the breech plug and the (future) center of the vent liner is very important long before the hole is drilled.

Only by knowing where this hole is going to be will the builder know how far back to set the barrel in the stock to end up with the vent lined up with the locks pan.

Even more important if one is building a percussion gun is the correct location for the drums threads must be known to position the barrel so the drum and nipple align with the lock.