Underlugs on European Flintlocks

[Ron Scott]

An acquaintance asked about the underlug on a old barrel he had purchased. It, like most of the rifles I have appear to have a lug that is stapled in. Have any of you removed such a staple to examine it, for depth, diameter and such?

[webradbury]

I always pull for the underdog.

[bama]

Ron I have a rifle that is dated 1803 and the lugs were gone on this barrel but the channels for the lugs were there and I have a picture of the barrel with one lug still attached. Unfortunately when the restoration was done the restorer seen fit to remove the one existing lug. These lugs were made for wedges. The way these lugs appear to have been made was to be made in the shape of a rectangle with a triangular foot filed onto the bottom edge on each side of the rectangle. The lugs thickness appears to have been a little over a 1/16".  A channel was cut the length and thickness of the body of the lug and then a chisel was used to lift a curl at each end of the lug to allow for the feet of the lug. The lug was set into the channel and then the curl was hammered down over the top of the feet. I don't know if the slot in the lug was cut before or after setting the lug in place, but this could be done either way. The length of the feet appeared to be about the same length as the thickness of the lug. The lug's channel was about the same depth as the thickness of the lug.

The original barrel is a hand forged Iron barrel and iron is softer than the steel barrels we have today. I have tried to lift the curl in the lug channel of a steel barrel and it is not an easy process. Much more banging around along the center of the bore than I care to do. Dovetailing the base of a lug is a much easier process in my opinion and just as good or better method.

[Ron Scott]

I got a good chuckle when I noticed my computer had corrected my title to Underdogs !  Thanks for sharing your observation Jim, I has suspected something of that nature but had not had a situation to make an observation. My examples are all pinned, so the lugs are pretty petite in length  but about an eighth of an inch thick. Curious that this method was popular as compared with dovetailed lugs. I note of my six originals Jaegers, none has the hole in the lug elongated. Suggesting that the builders of the time did not anticipate much expansion and contraction of shorter, walnut stocks?

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Ron, regarding the elongating of pin and wedge holes...here in North Central BC the humidity is never very high, or certainly not for extended periods of time.  I have never had the need to make holes with expansion room and have suffered no adverse effects.  I know that 'back east' humidity is a real issue, and I think the changing humidity is the problem necessitating elongating holes to avoid stock splitting.  I took rifles to Pennsylvania in 2007 and 2009 for Dixon's Fair, and my stocks which left home at 7.5% RH took on water immediately, making the wood extremely proud above inlays including the barrel tang and lock.  I lost points from the judges for lousy inletting, and no explanation from me could convince them otherwise.  As soon as I got my babies home, everything returned to normal, and all metal came flush with the wood.  I would not have believed wood could move that far.
You may experience extreme humidity changes in Oregon as well...

[Ron Scott]

It may be that the accordion like grain that is responsible for the fiddle figure in Maple may have a different propensity to  shrink or expand in relation to length.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I'm sure that explains the wood's movement, Ron.  If there is moisture available, curly maple will definitely suck it up.  I have found that tung oil is one of the best waterproofers for stock finishes.

[B.Habermehl]

I've seen forends expand in length by a good 1/16 of a inch in summer. I started to deliberately leave 1/8 inch of the muzzle end of the barrel exposed beyond the nose cap because of this. Especially on rifles built during the winter. BJH

[SingleMalt]

So, is the converse true, that a rifle built in a humid climate and brought to a dry climate would have the stock shrink?

[Eric Kettenburg]

So, is the converse true, that a rifle built in a humid climate and brought to a dry climate would have the stock shrink?

Absolutely.  Has happened many times when I've shipped from PA to CA.

[flehto]

The following happened to one build and is the reason I elongate the pin holes.  Sometime after the bbl lugs were pinned, this build sat for a couple mos and when I started to work on it again, the music wire pins wouldn't pull out. Finally got them out but couldn't push them in w/o doing some damage.  So henceforth, all pin holes have been elongated. 

Have encountered this situation w/ a finished LR, but not as severe....but, this brings up the question. How good is a final finish  which doesn't prevent the stock from shrinking and expanding?

At the start of final finishing, the entire stock has 2 coats of sealer.....it's even applied to the RR hole and only the surfaces under permanent inlays are excepted.  Even after the final coats of finish have ben applied and the LR has sat for a few months, the stock either shrinks or expands. Some stocks hardly change but others change a noticeable amount.

Possibly the only solution is to finish the LR w/ the plastic like finish found on modern, factory guns....have never noticed any expansion or contraction of the wood on any of my modern guns. But, this factory finish looks like heck on a LR.

Have tried different finishes and all the ones I used allowed the stock to change.....Fred