Hook breech screws

[Robby]

Are two screws typically used on a hook breech, one through to the trigger plate and one into the wood at the end of the tang?  Or, is it even a good idea, would the wood screw loosen eventually with battering. The only one I have done was on a side by side double rifle, .45/.45, the weight and mass seem to absorb most of the recoil, and the second screw seems not to be affected. This is for a .54 Allentown, single barrel and will be subject to heavy hunting loads.
  Robby

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I think it depends mainly on how long the tang is.  With a short tang, as in an English sporting rifle or pelter, only one screw goes down from the top, but there is frequently another that comes up from the trigger plate ahead of the trigger guard's bow, and into the underside of the standing breech. 

On a Hawken, with its long hour glass tang, two screws go down from the top into the 10 1/2" long trigger plate.

I have no experience with the long tangs of Southern rifles, but I would guess that the forward most screw is a machine screw going down and into the trigger plate, and those behind may very well be wood screws.

The screws themselves should not in my opinion, absorb the recoil of the rifle.  The fit of the standing breech, or for that matter, the breech of a Kentucky type of rifle, should be fit tightly against wood and it is the stock itself that receives the energy, not the screws.   and while we're at it, don't expect the barrel retaining pins or keys to soak up recoil either...it's the contact at the breech that does it all.

[Robby]

   I was advised to always leave a relief behind the tang. On what was probably my sophomore(wise fool) gun, I ignored that advise and went for the perfect fit. The gun shot fine for a long time, then one day it popped a big chunk of wood from the stock, right behind the tang. I guess thats what has me wondering.
   I would like to firmly fix the standing breech, but I am not sure  that the battering(compression) and natural changing(expansion, contraction thru humidity)  that occurs in wood, would eventually make the screw meaningless. the tang is about three inches.
  I have never seen an original an the pictures I have don't show that feature. Thank you for the information, I think I might look into the English sporting rifle idea.
  My barrel tennons are always slotted, pins or wedges, for expansion and contraction.
 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Bed the breech and the lug of the tang hard into the stock.  Allow a little gap at the END of the tang if you don't get a tight fit at the end of the barrel.  The screws don't stop everything from going backwards.