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[eddillon]

Full stock Hawken build.  L&R Hawken lock.  Petonica High grade maple stock. 15/16" .50 barrel.  Barrel channel and ramrod groove already in stock.  I measured and precisely inlet the lock for a perfect hammer/nipple alignment.  Problem:  went too deep with the lock mortise.  Looks like the lock will be narrower than the wrist.  Thankfully I didn't remove the molding as I inlet,  My solution is to super glue a 1/8" piece of maple to the lock plate.  Make it match the profile of the lock plate and trim/sand as necessary to bring it above wrist level.  Remove the wood piece, glue it in the mortise and proceed using my brain this time.  I'll silver solder a piece of sheet steel on the lock bolster to fill the resulting gap between lock and barrel.  Didn't realize that I would have this problem  The lock bolster probably would have been thick enough with a 1" barrel.  Any of you have a different approach? 

[bob in the woods]

I don't really know Hawken rifles that well, but if you have a patent breach/ with snail etc and the lock was in alignment i.e. hammer/nipple meet perfectly; shouldn't the rest of the rifle be in proportion to that i.e. in scale ?  The 15/16 barrel is the element that controls the rest of the design as I see it.  I suppose you can do as you propose, but I'm not sure it would look right to me .  [ Remember, I said I don't know Hawken rifles that well !    ]

[eddillon]

Haven't inlet the lock internals yet.  Just a flat bottom, too deep lock plat inlet.  Plan to remove the wood piece I attached to the lock plate and then,  glue the wood piece in the flat bottom inlet after it has been trimmed to raise the level of the lock plate.  No way to see the goof up with the lock in place-I hope  

[sqrldog]

Not quite sure I understand the necessity of soldering any thing to the bolster of the lock. Never had to do this in building several 15/16 barreled rifles with Hawken style bolsters or using a drum and nipple. The bolster should fit square and tight against the barrel. If the plate mortise is a little deep mix up some accraglas with saw dust dye it to the approximate color you plan on finishing the rifle. Fill all holes in the lock plate with modeling clay. Put release agent on the barrel and plate. Then a little of the mixture in the to deep inlet mostly around the edges as the interior will be mostly gone after inletting the guts.Clamp the barrel down snug and the plate square against the barrel let it set up remove the plate and get on with inletting the lock. Stain the lock mortise same color as rifle and the repair will be practcally invisible. A good epoxy will work but I have always used accraglas. Tim

[eddillon]

Not quite sure I understand the necessity of soldering any thing to the bolster of the lock. Never had to do this in building several 15/16 barreled rifles with Hawken style bolsters or using a drum and nipple. The bolster should fit square and tight against the barrel. If the plate mortise is a little deep mix up some accraglas with saw dust dye it to the approximate color you plan on finishing the rifle. Fill all holes in the lock plate with modeling clay. Put release agent on the barrel and plate. Then a little of the mixture in the to deep inlet mostly around the edges as the interior will be mostly gone after inletting the guts.Clamp the barrel down snug and the plate square against the barrel let it set up remove the plate and get on with inletting the lock. Stain the lock mortise same color as rifle and the repair will be practcally invisible. A good epoxy will work but I have always used accraglas. Tim

My problem is that the lock plate is deeper than the wrist and the bolster still is not in contact with the barrel.  Fit around the lock plate is perfect.  Wood looks like it grew around the lock plate.  No gaps.  Only gap is between barrel and bolster in front of patent breech.

[Joe S.]

Very interesting Ed,my stock is also from pecatonica and is a hawken longstock as well only flint.After inletting my lock plate to get the bolster/pan tight to the barrel mine seems a little deep also.While not past the wrist it looks a little deep to me.I plan on taking some more exact measurements this weekend before moving forward.While it looks like I have enough to make it and everybody says the less wood the better on a longstock you now have me wondering.

[bob in the woods]

You would ideally have a 1 to 1 1/8 in breach and a tapered barrel.  A spacer between the plate and the barrel will require fiddling with the hammer/nipple engagement .  Maybe you could redo the wrist etc in proportion to the barrel/lock dimension ?

[sqrldog]

Unless the wrist was precarved wrong the lock against the barrel should work. You only need about 5/16 or so wood on each side of the barrel. Measure the thickness of the bolster this is all the wood you need  on both sides excluding that needed for a cheekpiece to finish a straight barreled rifle. Excess wood is usually left because the stock maker doesn't know the thickness of the bolster of the lock you will use. A 15/16 " barrel will have a fairly small wrist.

[Pete G.]

Glue some small strips of shim (aka popsicle sticks) to the fore and aft areas of the lock inlet. The lock really only bears in these two spots anyway. Use a scraper and/or sharp chisels to get the lock plate back down to where you want it. Sometimes it seems that we spend more time recovering from things like this than we do building.

[eddillon]

Thanks, all.  Popsicle sticks and epoxy did the trick.