Forged brass butt plate

[B.Barker]

Thought some guys might want to see this. I forged up a butt plate for a rifle I'm building for myself. Thought about leaving the butt bare then decided to go ahead and put on a plate. I made a swage out of maple since brass is soft. Since my stock was pretty much shaped I made the part of the plate a bit big but not the heal return. Brass work hardens pretty quick when beating on it with a ball peen hammer so I annealed it several times while forming it. Don't try to pound the brass into the swage form all at once. Gradually work the heal and butt together. If you try to work one part than the other you will get frustrated and won't get a piece that looks right.









virtual dice rolling

[Bigmon]

how thick was that sheet brass when you started?
Did you make that pattern that you cut out or find it somewhere?
That is a nice job

[Elnathan]

I made a couple, with varying degrees of success, using the eye of a sledgehammer as a swage block. Apart from the advice to anneal frequently and go slowly, with which I heartily concur, I think the biggest key to success is getting some good soft 260 cartridge brass. I went through a number of pieces of unknown alloy from some knife supply company that would crack almost immediately before I got some decent brass from another source.

By the time I got a result I liked, I had learned to only put about 30 degrees of bend at the heel before starting peening. It tightens up pretty fast if you are doing it freehand like I was.

Bigmon,
You posted while I was typing. I used 1/8" thick brass and hammered it out a bit to save material and weight on the finished product, leaving the heel at full thickness before peening in the cup. Patterns aren't hard to come up with, but remember to measure around curve of the tang, not across. Otherwise the tang will end up too narrow.

[B.Barker]

Made the pattern to fit the butt of my rifle. I'm not sure of the thickness but guessing its a 1/16".

[B.Barker]

Elnathan 1/8" brass is too thick. I won't use anything over .082" and prefer thinner stuff. If you take you time you won't thin it out much and the tinner stuff works much better. You are right 260 brass works the best.

[Eric Kettenburg]

I've done a lot of those but never in a wood pattern like that - that's pretty cool.  I've always used a swage block, as noted above just a bit of a bend at first then the hammer work will close up the bend very quickly.  With 260 type brass you can easily do it with 1/8 in an iron swage block but you have to anneal constantly.  I just got a smooth rifle back for a fix that I made about 20 years ago, made a long fowler type buttplate in this way (swaging) with 1/8 really soft stuff.  Since it's still here if I get a chance I'll pull it off and take some pictures.  Most times, doing this, folks want a fairly pronounced and well shaped heel, and that takes a combination of extremely soft brass as well as multiple annealings.  If you push it too far it will start to crack, primarily in the bulbous heel region.

I've seen at least 3 old rifles with very thin swaged brass plates that appear to have been swaged right onto the butt of the rifles themselves.  I tried a couple that way and it's a gigantic pain in the a**.  It also pretty much guarantees a crooked buttplate, which fits right in with the originals but will get you the stink eye nowadays.

[Richard]

Brian, thanks for posting. I've started down the rabbit hole of building my own furniture and was wondering about how to do a butt plate.

Richard

[jim alford]

Where does one purchase the proper brass . I have in the past attempted to forge brass butt plates and in spite of frequent annealing , I failed due to severe cracking . I believe I was using the wrong type of brass . Tanks

[rich pierce]

I made one a week or two ago from some 1/16” brass that was originally a door kick plate.

[Elnathan]

Where does one purchase the proper brass . I have in the past attempted to forge brass butt plates and in spite of frequent annealing , I failed due to severe cracking . I believe I was using the wrong type of brass . Tanks

I bought mine from some knife company down in Florida that specified their alloy. These days I'd get it from Mcmaster-Carr.

Elnathan 1/8" brass is too thick. I won't use anything over .082" and prefer thinner stuff. If you take you time you won't thin it out much and the tinner stuff works much better.

Your mode of forming and mine were quite different, I think, and I was shooting for a bit more cup in the heel than yours. I think I ended up with about 1/16" thick everywhere except part of the tang.

If I ever make another one I might try your method and thinner brass.

[B.Barker]

I buy most of my metals from Alro steel. I think they have several places to order from around the country. I pick mine up from Ann Arbor Mi every time I go to see family.

[Tim Crosby]

I nadenin a week or two ago from some 1/16” brass that was originally a door kick plate.

 Ok, I gotta ask what the heck is "nadenin"

[rich pierce]

Phone too small. “Made one”

[B.Barker]

Well, I tapered the heal return a little to much. However I like it.

[rich pierce]

Looks good to me!

[Telgan]

Brian - What size hole ya got in the front end of that thing?

[Daryl]

Well done!

[B.Barker]

Same as yours Tom, .54. Hope to take it hog hunting some day.

[frenchymanny]

Hog hunting is so much fun!
What would be your load in a .54?

Thanks,
Manny

[B.Barker]

Don't know yet. Probably around 90 grs. or so with a .530 ball.

[sqrldog]

Load sounds fine to me about what I use in my .54 for hogs and deer. Get it done and come for a hog hunt about the first part of May. Tim

[Cory Joe Stewart]

That's a neat trick.  Thanks for sharing. 

Cory Joe Stewart