Hi Bruce
The parts you bought at Friendship, if you purchased a set, were probably made by Myron Carlson.
About three years ago I built a Bean style mountain rifle (my first build) with the same set of Carlson parts that I got at Friendship around 1980. He copied these parts directly off an early Bean rifle.
Guy Montfort was a big help on some of the finer details of using these parts, and I think he provided the following info:
“The entry cap is correct for the Bean rifle it was copied from and is very cool - not many people use it. It mates with one of the thimbles. What you do is take a small round file (the kind you use for sharpening chainsaw teeth)that matches the diameter of the thimble and cut a half round notch in the entry "cap" for the tail end of the thimble to tuck inside of. The two parts are inlet into the stock at the entry area as separate pieces. The tail end of the thimble tucks just inside of the entry cap, so it appears sort of like an old "oil can" type of thing, if that makes sense. The entry "cap" is secured by two tiny nails (I used brads) - one on each side of the stock - and the thimble is pinned as a separate piece. I made my first rifle with these parts and it is a lot easier than it sounds - get Ron Borron's drawing. If you can't, e-mail me and I will try to get you a copy or a photo of mine. One thing to be aware of is that you want to inlet the "cap" far enough that you don't have too big "step" from the forearm to the thimble, but the size of the cap will sort of control the width of your stock in this area. You sometimes need to file/ shape these parts a bit to get to the dimensions you need.”
All the best
Paul
