Peen or Solder? Some success.

[Bob Gerard]

I installed a Brown Bess trigger guard on a nonsense gun I am making, and the fit was a struggle but I almost got it right.
There is a 1/16” space between the trigger plate and the bottom flat of the forward guard bow. 
(I could not inlet the guard any deeper as I already exposed the ramrod hole in the front part of the inlet)
I am considering two options to fix that gap; either peen the sides of the guard ( it probably wouldn’t take much and the brass is very thick there, and it’s very soft brass), or option two would be to solder a thin flat bit of brass and file blend the parts.
Any suggestions or other ideas would be appreciated.
Thank you.

[smallpatch]

Bob, it doesn’t look flat. Check it with a straight edge, and flatten by either bending or filing, and see if that fixes it.

[Bob Gerard]

Hi Dane- you are right that it isn’t flat. The guard is made with an angle to it.
(I slightly bent the point of the inside bow upward to contact the trigger plate.)

[Bob Roller]

Smallpatch gets my vote.Use a straight edge such as a steel ruler and file.
Bob Roller

[Jim Kibler]

Just inlet the back part deeper then.  Bend the guard to suit your needs.  I don’t think I would consider solder or peening.

[Bob Gerard]

Hi Jim- Thanks for your suggestion. yes I did inlet the back pretty far already. Any deeper and I will be narrowing the wrist too much. Here’s a picture to show how it is now.
Could you say why you wouldn’t advise soldering a spacer on? (i imagine peening might disfigure the guard too much).
Thanks

[Steeltrap]

I’d solder a piece. No real pressure on that part so low temp would work fine. It may leave a line but doubtful that anyone but you would see it.

[Gaeckle]

If you solder on a thin piece of brass and you aren't satisfied, you can always remove the soldered on brass with heat

[bama]

Could you file the interior flat of the guard thinner so it will set deeper in the mortise.

[Bob Gerard]

I had considered that. If it was a flat forward extension perhaps. But it’s rounded, so filing it would alter the shape.

[Bob Gerard]

I gave it a try soldering a bit of brass on to the trigger guard. My 2 nd soldering experience. It came out pretty well, at least it’s better. (I think I can swell the wood later to fix that slight gap.)
I am certainly learning a lot of things with this rifle build. Biggest lesson I think is to be very aware of leaving more than enough wood where it’s needed before shaping it too much.

[smallpatch]

Bummer, now you have 2 gaps.

[Bob Gerard]

It looked silly with only one 😉

[Dphariss]

Remember the guard may not be the same as the original. It may have come from the mould unlike the one the pattern stock was inlet for.   As Jim said bend it file it as needed. Looking at it from this distance i would bend first. Soldering requires brass colored silver solder. 

[Daryl]

Or, once stained and finished, those gaps will likely disappear.

[kutter]

Remove the brass plate you have soldered to the trigger guard and clean that surface back up(remove solder).

Then solder a flat piece of brass to the forward portion of the trigger plate where the gap exists.
Make it thick enough to allow for fitting to close the gap afterwards.
Trim it around the edges of the Trig plate so it leaves the brass showing as standing high.
That is your 'gap filler'

Now refit the trigger guard back onto that new brass shim till they both meet perfectly.
You then have a brass to brass simple contact surface  and no gap showing.

Soldering is simple as it is on the flat surface of the steel trigger plate. No obstructions, no additional inletting to be done.
Just tin the surfaces, flux, clamp and heat till the solder flows.
A simple propane torch does it.

[JH Ehlers]

Bob it looks like you should have bent the front extension up a bit and then down again from the bow, more like a tweak below the fat part. Hard to explain. Might be too late for that. From the pictures it looks like you could also inlet the rear extension more to try and close the gap. If youre carefull and patient its possible. I personally don't like adding on bits to close gaps.

[smart dog]

Hi Bob,
Your post reminds me to cover this issue in my threads on building Brown Besses and British fowlers more fully.  I've noticed this is a common problem.  Below is how the mortise should look.  Ignore the extraneous border lines from the TRS machine mortise, which I wiped out.














All wax cast Bess trigger guards are too thick and bulky.  They look more like the clumsy components used on Dublin Castle issued guns rather than Tower issued.  It is best to thin and flatten the undersides of guards first before inletting.  Then anneal them.  The front of the trigger plate should be inlet deeper than the surface of the wood to allow the sides of the trigger guard to set down in the wood a little bit. You can file that wood down a bit after inletting the guard.  Also the underside of the front end of the bow is usually flat and straight but sometimes it needs to curve a little to follow any curve that might be in the surface of the trigger plate.  The hole for the thumb plate should also pass through the tail of the trigger plate.  Bend the guard in any way necessary to allow it to fit down flat against the wood such that the mortise can be very shallow and still hide the edges of the guard.  The key to that it to cut the mortises for the lugs and then bend and fit the guard down on the wood until it matches the surface of the wood with the trigger plate installed.  Then inlet the guard.  You may find that you have to go a little deeper with the trigger plate to get the guard down into the mortise.  That is why you should not pin the trigger until the guard and plate are fully inlet. 

Once the guard is satisfactorily down all the way, then drill and pin it and drill and pin the trigger. 

dave

[Steeltrap]

It worked out well the first time.....except you didn't solder on a long enough piece. Un-do, cut a longer piece and re-do.

File away until it's all on the same plane and you're done.

[Bob Gerard]

Yup a longer bit of brass would have done the trick. It’s challenging to to get this right, and I have to remind myself that it’s supposed to be an enjoyable project.
But whatever.
Anyway it’s an interesting hands- on learning experience for me.