Could use some help with tow kit

[lost arrow 801]

Hello everyone . So I just received   my J.P. Beck longrifle  kit from track of  the  wolf. Is the breach plug tang supposed  to  be  that wide (it half inch) or do I need to slim it up some. The stock came with the tang inlet  for about a 7/16th.

[Mike Brooks]

It should be as wide as the top flat of the barrel.

[smylee grouch]

I would think as wide as the top flat too on the barrel end of the tang but flaired wider somewhat on the but end of the tang.

[M. E. Pering]

Like Mike Brooks said, it should be as wide as the top flat of the barrel where the breech plug tang meets the barrel.  Looking at some photos of original Becks, I have notice that he often had a flair to his tangs.  This is probably why TOW sent you a wide tang, in case you wanted to emulate this feature.  J. P. Beck also sometimes shaped the end of the tang into a decorative shape, but his stock architecture didn't really change over the years.  
 
As far as the stock inlet goes, that should be undersized, to allow you to do the final inletting of the tang and plug.  If it is like most kits I have seen, it should be significantly undersized.

Matt

[Karl Kunkel]

You need to remove the breech plug and finish inletting the breech end of the barrel. They leave the tang inlet undersized so you can shape the tang if you wish.  Reinstall the breech plug, and inlet the the tang.

[frogwalking]

Mike,  He needs your how to build a longrifle tutorial.  I cannot find it to give him the URL.

[Karl K.]

http://americanlongrifles.org/PDF/tutorial.pdf

[Bill Ladd]

Dang. I'd forgotten how thorough Mike's write-up is. I need to print out & bind that to have next to my bench - if I ever get back to my bench.

[lost arrow 801]

Great  tutorial mike. I've been drooling  over your work for awhile now ,when are you going  to  write us neophytes   a book ?

[Mike Brooks]

Great  tutorial mike. I've been drooling  over your work for awhile now ,when are you going  to  write us neophytes   a book ?

Thanks guys. That was all of everything I ever knew.....   No book in the future, I'm trying to gear down, not take on more these days.

[Pete G.]

Don't gear down too much; you'll rust up.