Southern guns details.

[oldtravler61]

  Ok gang this is NOT a pick someone's gun apart post.
 The question is why do so many contemporary gun builders make or use flat butt plates on Southern guns ?
 Of all the originals I have looked at. They all have a roundness to them. So I'm asking the big WHY
 do so many not make them that way ?  Or do I need my eyes checked ?  Even though my eye Dr. says their fine ?
  Oldtravler

[B.Barker]

It may be that some are cold forming their butt plates and find it to hard to get the crescent shape with the curve. Some may be looking only at photo's
and don't know about the curvature. I have noticed it also on some rifle. It is a bit of work to keep the curve in while forming the crescent shape of the butt plate. Many people think southern rifles are simple but they really aren't if you build one correctly.

[Stoner creek]

Case in point!




Mike, my big question is “What do you call Southern?” Is it Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama? And what time period?
 There were a lot of architectural changes that occurred within a 40 year span.
 And of course in the contemporary period, Herschel comes up with his own version of “Southern”.
 Good thread though.

[oldtravler61]

  Brian an Wayne I probably should have stated which area.
 Mostly East Tennessee, Tennessee an the Carolinas.
an my favorite The Soddy guns.
 Made a couple of butt plates an did the flat thing. Got the "Well
yeah sure goofed that up "  this was from a few people I highly
respect.
Brian ya they are a pain. But none the less it is more accurate.
Wayne thanks for the pictures an for a better clarification from me.

[Mark Elliott]

We would  just be making assumptions on this.  You need to ask the builder why they made it as they did.  I always put curve in my iron butt pieces along two axis.   The first thing I do is fold the plate lengthwise and then I hammer out that fold causing the butt piece to curve around the hammer in the other direction.   It is what makes butt pieces so easy to forge.   They take minutes once you have cut out the blanks for the plate and the heel extension.   It takes much more time to rivet them together and braze them.

[Hungry Horse]

   I asked myself the same question. Many modern made Southern buttplates are very flat. I haven’t had much contact with genuine Southern antique rifles in the flesh, but I’ve seen quite a few really good photographs. I also own a partial set of hardware from a Southern mountain rifle. I can’t say it any better than a metal fabricator friend of mine, who examined the buttplate and said “that obviously wasn’t his first buttplate, it doesn’t have a flat surface anywhere”.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Hungry Horse

[RAT]

Two words... Hershel House.

An entire generation of modern builders/shooters are convinced that the flat iron buttplate with the rounded heel is the authentic "Virginia" style... rather than Hershel's own modern artistic style... i.e. the Woodbury school.

I'm only aware of 1 original iron mounted rifle with a flat iron buttplate with a rounded heel... the Thomas Tileston 1773 rifle... and it came from Massachusetts... not from the south (see December 2015 Muzzle Blasts).