AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: Dutch on August 15, 2025, 07:44:45 PM
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I am fitting the lock plate bolster against a swamped pistol barrel so there is a good bit of taper required. How thin is too thin for the bolster before I run into issues?
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At some point with a thin bolster it becomes difficult to make a nice taper from the lock panel “flat” to the forearm of a gun. The thickness of the bolster also impacts the maximal wrist thickness. The thinner the bolster, the more inward the internals of the lock are. This can bring the mainspring closer to the barrel and even the bridle close to the trigger blade inlet in some cases.
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Those are my main concerns Rich, I can deal with most issues, I would just like to minimize them 😉
I have it pretty close now and I will begin the lock internals shortly which should tell the tale.
Thanks for your comments
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In years past I have had to solder a tapered spacer to back of the lock plate, and then add weld to the frizzen edge to fix the gap on small barrels.
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The only lock I know that has a thicker bolster are some M&G locks.
I have sweat soldered a 1/6" plate to several lockplates. I don't like
cutting gouges into the barrels & etc. I think ALL of the bolsters need to be 1/16 to 1/8"
thicker. But I am not a HC/PC builder. To me, just because they did something 300 yrs ago
doesn't mean it was the best way, it just means that is how they did it. Your mileage may
vary.
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I appreciate your recommendations guys, I am having to thin the bolster not add to its dimension. The stock is juuust wide enough (not quite perfect) which is the reason for removing thickness to keep the lock in the wood…