The Staudenmayer English sporting gun I am currently building has a trigger guard a little different from any I am familiar with, and is not commercially available. Originally a standard scroll type guard was purchased for the project, and would have served well on the gun - however using it would have been too easy, right?
I started with some 3/4" mild steel stock purchased from a local farm and home store, bent a tab for the retaining screw and used a monkey wrench to bend the main body of the trigger bow. All bending was done cold, and adjusted by eyeballing it guard against the gun drawing and some photos.
Getting close on the bow curve:
Here are a couple of photos of the guard on the original gun:
Doing a little trimming of the width - this step could have been done before bending as well:
Drilling and tapping for the guard screw, 1/4" x 28 tpi.
Screw is in place, it will be cut off and braised to make it permanent. Notice the factory guard behind the one in progress. The bow is considerably larger, big enough for double triggers.
I cut a couple of small pieces for the inside back of the bow (the spur?), riveted the three pieces together, then silver soldered the whole mess in place.
Then I cut and bent some stock for the rear of the grip rail, and braised the two pieces together:
Now comes the fun part - filing and cleanup to make it all look more like a trigger guard than a chunk of scrap:
Now it is to the point I can attach it to the rifle and refine the shape while seeing what it will look like on the gun.
I will look at it over the next couple of days and continue to refine it if I see something that needs improved. Then I can inlet the grip rail and when the time comes, engrave like the original!
As always thanks for looking!
Curtis
