Tang and lock bolts

[Ky-Flinter]

While we are on the topic of tang and lock bolts, why do most of the store bought ones have a slot you can drive a truck through?

-Ron

[rich pierce]

While we are on the topic of tang and lock bolts, why do most of the store bought ones have a slot you can drive a truck through?

-Ron

I guess they figure most users must only have cheap big box store screwdrivers. Same for wood screws

[Jim Kibler]

Most ordinary wood screws have slots way beyond what cheap hardware screwdrivers fit.  One of these days I'll probably set up a machine to make good quality screws...

[JCKelly]

Half a lifetime ago when I built guns I had neither the skill, nor desire, to make such Perfect Rifles as you guys do today. I was quite happy if they had workmanship comparable to the sort of original Kentucky rifles that I could actually afford. Matching the lines & styling of an original mattered much more to me.

So, no @!*% lathe, just my trusty files with a 1963 B&D electric drill mounted on a drill stand. No other machine tools, think them unneccessary for what I made (maybe because I could not afford them?). Find a hex bolt, plain carbon steel in hardware, file that hex to a rounded head, cut the slot with hacksaw and/or file.     maybe maybe a carriage bolt

Of course file off any zinc, or dissolve it by soaking in lye. Brown that imperfect filed-to-shape thing & you have a good match for that old rifle Grampa gave you. No fantasies about making a living doing things that way - it was a fun hobby.

[jerrywh]

Like Bob Roller I use 12L14 and make all my own screws and lock bolts. Nothing an my stuff is standard anyway. I prefer fine threads. For show guns it's easier to line up the slots with fine threads.

[Dphariss]

All valid points. Just had sticker shock on the price because of never buying them before. Always forged or used the lathe.
Mark

What is seen in the price of cross bolts and tang bolts is the same deterioration we
have seen in the value of money.You can now pay what a Lincoln,Cadillac or Packard
car once cost for a riding lawn mower.
Bob Roller

Tou pegged  it...
In 1975 I bought a 1/2 ton Chevy Van, new, for about 4000 IIRC.
In 1977 I bought a new 4x4 short bed Silverado 1/2 ton pickup, no A/C or power windows, for 5500 or 5700 can't recall right now. Great pickup.
In 1964 a IHC 1600 Cab and chassis truck was 3200 bucks.  First house I bought 30 odd years ago was 26000. When we sold it ot was over 100K and not much of a house....
Since about 1979 I have not been able to buy any new vehicles. Be !@*%&@ if I will pay 40-60K for a pickup.... 
Dan

[Dphariss]

While we are on the topic of tang and lock bolts, why do most of the store bought ones have a slot you can drive a truck through?

-Ron

Because whoever is making them makes them that way and the suppliers apparently don't bother to tell them to make smaller slots. But on the other hand I don't especially like them too narrow either thats a PITA too.
Answer? Buy a little table top lathe and make your own. It will be handy for other things as well. You can make you own tumblers, vent liners, rod rips and other round stuff. Or better yet buy a decent sized lathe.
Dan

[45-110]

Dan you are right about a small lathe being almost indispensable. It's use sort of separates the builders from the assemblers. I have mine running for some project about every other day, alot of making some little tool. Craigslist/Ebay is a source for local deals.

[Bob Roller]

All valid points. Just had sticker shock on the price because of never buying them before. Always forged or used the lathe.
Mark

What is seen in the price of cross bolts and tang bolts is the same deterioration we
have seen in the value of money.You can now pay what a Lincoln,Cadillac or Packard
car once cost for a riding lawn mower.
Bob Roller

Tou pegged  it...
In 1975 I bought a 1/2 ton Chevy Van, new, for about 4000 IIRC.
In 1977 I bought a new 4x4 short bed Silverado 1/2 ton pickup, no A/C or power windows, for 5500 or 5700 can't recall right now. Great pickup.
In 1964 a IHC 1600 Cab and chassis truck was 3200 bucks.  First house I bought 30 odd years ago was 26000. When we sold it ot was over 100K and not much of a house....
Since about 1979 I have not been able to buy any new vehicles. Be !@*%&@ if I will pay 40-60K for a pickup.... 
Dan

I saw a Dodge crew cab for sale yesterday for $59,999 and it was USED low mile 2018.
Like you I will not pay such a price and also lost interest when the price of cars passed
that of real estate.I bought a 1997 Lincoln Town Car in 2005 at an estate sale for $3900
and it was low miles and we still use it every day with 186,000 on it. A nice big,quiet,
very comfortable car that gets 25MPG @70MPH with overdrive engaged and we have no
desire to replace it.I drove a low mile 2009 Town Car to the CLA Show in Lexington Ky.
3 years ago and it was sluggish because it was 500 lbs heavier than the '97 and low speed
handling was atrocious at parking lot speeds. I turned it down.The '97 is way more agile
with 4000 lbs instead of 4500.
Bob Roller

[Bob Roller]

Dan you are right about a small lathe being almost indispensable. It's use sort of separates the builders from the assemblers. I have mine running for some project about every other day, alot of making some little tool. Craigslist/Ebay is a source for local deals.

I would be even more non functional than I am if I didn't have a lathe
and I have been blessed with 4 of them and am thinking of buying a
new 5th one.
Bob Roller

[little joe]

Last bbl from Rice 285 plus postage, lock and trigger 250 plus, wood 150 and brass at 100. If I pay that I will not cry about 10 dollars for screws. TOW has some nice ones.

[flehto]

The lock bolts and tang screws I've  bought from TOW require a thinned down screwdriver tip...the slots are quite narrow. The lock bolts have  nicely domed  heads and  the tang screws have  slightly domed heads. Have used these on all my builds ...Fred

[Ky-Flinter]

The topic of this thread is "Tang and lock bolts".  We all know the prices of everything keep going up, but let's try to stay on topic, please.

-Ron
ALR Moderator