Lock Plate Tail Centered on Wrist

[Nhgrants]

How critical is it to have the lock plate tail centered on the wrist? I'm using a left hand queen Victoria
Lock by L&R and building a  NW style trade gun.  Can't seem to get the the center of the front of the plate on
The web, the touch  hole centered on the side flat a the tail centered on the wrist.  This blank  has not Benn shaped much in the wrist yet.  Thanks

[jm190]

Hi Nhgrants,
   From one "starting member" to another I'll paraphrase what I've read/seen in several books and on this forum. The tail of your lock should "draw your eye" down the wrist to the rest of the butt stock and onto the butt plate. There should be a "flow" from the lock down the wrist onto the butt stock and onto the butt plate. If you have RCA#1 take a look at RCA18; the tail is not centered on the wrist but still draws your eye down the center of the butt stock.  RCA42 is another example. I'm not an expert; just passing on what I've learned/seen. Hope this helps!

John

[Mike Brooks]

How critical is it to have the lock plate tail centered on the wrist? I'm using a left hand queen Victoria
Lock by L&R and building a  NW style trade gun.  Can't seem to get the the center of the front of the plate on
The web, the touch  hole centered on the side flat a the tail centered on the wrist.  This blank  has not Benn shaped much in the wrist yet.  Thanks

I'd buy some books on NW guns and see how they were done.

[Chowmi]

Mike is right, get some books if you don’t have any and see how they did it.

Here’s what I was taught regarding placement of the lock, in priority order:
1. Pan to touch hole alignment.
2. Architecture of the nose and tail of the lock relative to the wrist and the fore-end.
3. (And in last place...). Relationship of the forward lock bolt to the web.

In other words, place the pan in the right place reference to the touch hole first.  Then play with rotating the tail of the lock to get the architecture right. Remember that the bottom of the barrel can be notched to allow passage of the forward lock bolt (within reason, given the barrel wall thickness).
This is quite often seen on original guns, showing that they also used this priority order. I have an original Berks County gun with a notch in the barrel for the lock bolt, and a remnant Barrel from about 1805 -ish with a notch for the lock bolt.

Also, the forward lock bolt can be notched to allow the ramrod to pass below it, or the ramrod can be tapered in the last couple inches to pass by the lock bolt.

The important thing here is that, within reason, the front lock bolt placement is not nearly your first or second concern because you have some freedom of movement with it.  It does not necessarily have to be centered in the web if you use the aforementioned fixes, just as the old guys did.

The advice I gave above is generic, and my knowledge of trade guns is roughly kindergarten equivalent, so I would say again, look at examples of how they built the specific style you are building.

Hope this helps,
Norm.

[Chowmi]

In case I wasn’t clear, this is what I mean by notching the bottom of the barrel:





This barrel was likely made by Jacob Roop sometime in the first decades of the 19th century.  It may have seen use on more than one gun, or been shortened, but the point is to show that the old guys notched barrels to get the lock placement right so the architecture works.

Norm.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

As a general rule, it is ok to have the tail of the lock slightly below the centre line of the wrist, but never higher than the centre line.  Some Bedford Co rifles push this rule.

[flehto]

I've always had a little bit of a problem aligning the tail of the lock  w/ the center of the wrist when using  the large  Siler so I now use the Dale Johnson,  Golden Age and Late Ketland  locks which have lower tails. Usually locate the lock so the tail is   below the wrist cemter......Fred

[Mr. Bubbles]

You can also go to a # 6 bolt for your front bolt instead of a # 8 to give yourself a little more wiggle room.