Lehigh butt plate inletting

[RichG]

laying out the butt plate on a Lehigh rifle. I'm making a copy of the un-named lehigh in the virtual library. To me the comb of butt plate looks to be inlet into the comb of the stock and not just set onto the stock in the normal manner. The wood looks like it's exposed on the sides of the comb and  matches the angle of the flats on the butt plate and the comb lines, in the wood, from the inside corner of the butt plate  are wider than the comb of the butt plate. Am I making this harder than I need to or is this a common feature of Lehigh rifles?

[Acer Saccharum]

I sent you an email with a photo, Rich.

[RichG]

thanks. a picture is still worth a thousand words

[smallpatch]

Rich,
The common Lehigh buttplate is a sheath type buttplate.  You are correct, the return of the buttplate (top part) is inletted flush with the wood on the top of the comb.  Most common buttplates will not work.  The comb of the buttplate gets narrower as you go forward.

I hope that makes sense.  The photo I"ve enclosed is not great, but hopefully you can make out what I mean.

[JDK]

Somebody asked me about this recently, so I took a few shots for them.  These might help you a little too:







Enjoy, J.D.

[eddillon]

Buttplate on original Easton smooth rifle.

[Acer Saccharum]

Ed, that illustrates perfectly the filing of the BUTTPLATE extension so that the inlet can be beveled. This makes for much stronger fins at those delicate top corners.

If the extension was filed with vertical edges, the wood would be wafer-thin, and surely break in use, if not during the build.