Lehigh Trigger Plate

[TommyG]

Getting ready to fabricate and install a trigger plate on a Lehigh I'm building.  I am looking for a bit of insight and have a few questions regarding the process.  I have my trigger forged and pretty much final shaped except for the final fitting to the sear and the decorative work.  Also have everything laid out as far as the triggerguard, trigger and plate relationship.  My questions are around the boat tail trigger plate that doesn't use a rear screw but a reverse draft instead.  Do you guys inlet them from front(breach) to butt? or from rear(butt) to breach installing the reverse draft first?  I know it seems like a simple question, but with the boat tail tapered end, one could pull a gap if not done correctly.  Also, I am leaning toward not cutting the trigger slot in the plate until installed.  Are there any pros or cons regarding this idea?  Thanks

[smallpatch]

I may have been wrong all along, but I just on let it like any other plate, with a slight bevel, and the tang bolt holds it in place.  Never needed to do anything to the point on the rear.

[rich pierce]

Good question but inquiring minds want to know what sort of Lehigh you are building!

[Eric Kettenburg]

The rear 'wedge' or reverse draft isn't really a regional thing and it certainly was not used on all Lehigh area pieces.  You can find it on rifles of various areas and on European work as well.  On some it's a little spike, on some if the plate doesn't come to a point, it's a wedge etc.  As Dane noted, there's really no need for it as if the plate is inlet well, the tang bolt alone should hold it from moving and also if you have the guard bow return touching the plate, that also will hold it in place.

If I want to spike the rear of the trigger plate, the way I do it is possibly different than what others do so I can only speak for myself.  I inlet the plate almost complete, then just hammer out the tail a little and reshape to the reversed draft or spiked point, then drive that back into the wood and finish the final plate inletting, very easy since the majority of the inletting is already done.

[TommyG]

Thanks guys.  This is exactly the insight I was looking for.  It is a Niehart that I am building, with a pointed plate.  So I guess I'm just over thinking this.  I will proceed to inlet like any other plate. 

[smylee grouch]

I have soldered a tinny short pin on the bottom side of trigger plates and rear ramrod pipes to wedge into the wood in the inlet to help hold them in place.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Funny thing is, on most old guns that have some form of this feature, the wood around the spike is broken  or chipped out anyway, and yet the trigger plate is still flat or mostly flat into the stock!  Tang screw and guard return are really doing the work.

[blienemann]

I was taught much the same way as Eric describes - inlet the plate almost complete except for the rear, shape the tail with a reversed draft so that upper or inside edge is longer, heat the tail with a torch, push the pointed tail up and rearward into the wood and rotate the front lug down into the inlet.  The tang screw and perfectly fit undercut rear will hold it firmly in place. 

A screw in the rear of the trigger plate is rarely seen on old guns, and looks amateurish.  There are a few exceptions.

A little heat and burning in is handy in several gunstocking operations - finishing inlets for wedges comes to mind.  Burning maple is a happy and historic fragrance!  bob

[smylee grouch]

That's a good point Eric and I have seen pictures of guns so effected. I have not had that happen to any I have done yet but I do put a very slight downward angle to the pin so it goes in slightly downward and hopefully wont chip out. There might be less of a chance of chipping out on the trigger plate than the RR pipe.