Sling swivel on Jaeger

[jiml58]

Working on a Jaeger currently and getting the barrel lugs installed in preparation for installation of the barrel. The gun I'm building has the front sling swivel screw going through the forward most barrel lug. I have seen some Jaegers with the sling swivel on a more centralized lug.
Normally, barrel lugs are slotted to allow movement of the wood relative to the barrel.

the sling swivel screw must have some minimal amount of clearance where it goes through the stock wood.

So, if I put the sling through the front lug, I will have some nominal looseness, I wouldn't ordinarily have. And regardless which lug I select for the sling, since I can't slot it like normal, the wood cant move, increasing the likelihood of cracks.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how you would handle this?

 

[rchas]

My preference is to dovetail/solder a separate lug for the front swivel. The lug is nearly as wide as a barrel flat, and the screw hole tight to keep the screw/swivel from wobbling and damaging the stock. I make the hole in the stock just slightly larger than the screw to provide wood relief.

I place the lug so that when the butt is on the ground the swivel will land midway on a ramrod thimble.

 

[jiml58]

My preference is to dovetail/solder a separate lug for the front swivel. The lug is nearly as wide as a barrel flat, and the screw hole tight to keep the screw/swivel from wobbling and damaging the stock. I make the hole in the stock just slightly larger than the screw to provide wood relief.

I place the lug so that when the butt is on the ground the swivel will land midway on a ramrod thimble.

That is great advice. I like your thought there. Thank you, I appreciate it.

 

[SDSmlf]

So, if I put the sling through the front lug, I will have some nominal looseness, I wouldn't ordinarily have. And regardless which lug I select for the sling, since I can't slot it like normal, the wood cant move, increasing the likelihood of cracks.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how you would handle this?

As a suggestion, the following is generally what I do after having the opportunity to examine a few original Jaegers.

First of all, I use a separate lug with a much wider working section (approximately .300) than what the current suppliers I am aware of seem to offer (maybe .120” or so thick). The wider lug keeps the sling swivel screw from yawing if you are actually using a sling. The general absolute minimum acceptable length to support a diameter that I follow is 1-1/2 times the diameter, while 2 times is preferred. The sling screws seem to have a body of about .125”, thus .250” wide would my preferred minimum width for that sized screw.

Next I mount the sling swivel lug so the swivel rests on ramrod thimble when the gun is butt down. This way when you are replacing your ramrod the swivel rests on the thimble and doesn’t block the ramrod when you place it in the stock.

As to your concerns about splitting the stock near the swivel screw, I slot the stock a bit so it as room to move without any damage from the screw. Once the sling is installed, the slot in the stock disappears.

After loosing one screw and swivel assembly in the field after it became loose, I started using a bit of low strength thread locker to keep things snug. Still easy to remove, but not without some human intervention. Something to consider.

Last comment about barrel lugs on Jaegers with swamped barrels, be careful how deep you cut the dovetails, particularly with larger calibers. The barrels can have some thin sections. Below is a photograph of a typical barrel lug on a Jaeger (can’t find one of a lug for sling swivel and I’m not removing a barrel to take a photo) that has a dovetail cut about .050” into the barrel. While some will say it’s not necessary, I go the belt and suspenders route, and stake and solder my barrel lugs. If they don’t hold, someone has been using the BFH.