Inletting the tang

[Justin]

If you try to bend the tang with that inside radius squared off like that you run in to a real danger of breaking off the top of the tang from the plug. Particularly cold bending.   Been there done that.  That's why inside corners are rounded.  Just get a good contact back as far as you can, and then bed it with your goopy compound.  File off the extra metal.   As was said before it's way thicker  than it needs to be for strength.  A lot of times those tangs can be really tough to bend without using heat and a more directed bending force, like a hammer.

What sort of a gun is this supposed to be (in about a year from now) anyway?  If you're doing the gun from a pre-carve those webs are notoriously thick to begin with.  A lot of styles really don't quite look right unless the web at the breech is super duper thin, like < 1/16".

YOu don't say if the lock is in yet or not either.

That's why I was a little unsure about filing all that round off. I think it's ok. I didn't go as deep on that file as I could have and didn't grip it in the vise way up at the bolster.

This rifle is intended to be a hunting rifle -- it's an Isaac Haines kit (pre-carve) from Jim Chambers. I have the lock inlet.

[Kingsburyarms]

That tang bolt line (drawn on the side of the stock) scares me.... BEFORE you drill any more - I'm going to put together a little process for you where you can locate and drill that hole for the real tang bolt and have it come out where you want on the trigger plate. It requires you to make a jig for your table top drill press, but you will also use it to drill your side plate to lock plate bolts (you didn't already, did you?) These holes matter in the grand scheme of things.

Jon

[Mike Brooks]

That tang bolt line (drawn on the side of the stock) scares me.... BEFORE you drill any more - I'm going to put together a little process for you where you can locate and drill that hole for the real tang bolt and have it come out where you want on the trigger plate. It requires you to make a jig for your table top drill press, but you will also use it to drill your side plate to lock plate bolts (you didn't already, did you?) These holes matter in the grand scheme of things.

Jon

Already in the tutorial section, several times.

[54ball]

 Justin,

 Drilling the tang bolt and trigger plate without a press set up or jig can be real real tricky. It's much trickier than the other holes since you have to go through metal on both sides at an angle and metal is unforgiving plus the target is small.

 If you do not have a drill press or jig, the following is a good option for you...

 Do not use a through tang bolt! Use a large wood-screw (buttplate screw) for the tang and suitable sized woodscrews for the trigger plate. Many Southern guns did not use a through tang bolt.

[n stephenson]

Removing the radius under the tang shouldn't weaken it enough to matter , if you don`t go over board . It does allow you to make the bend further toward the breech , which in a lot of cases helps.  Nate

[ltdann]

That tang bolt line (drawn on the side of the stock) scares me.... BEFORE you drill any more - I'm going to put together a little process for you where you can locate and drill that hole for the real tang bolt and have it come out where you want on the trigger plate. It requires you to make a jig for your table top drill press, but you will also use it to drill your side plate to lock plate bolts (you didn't already, did you?) These holes matter in the grand scheme of things.

Jon

Already in the tutorial section, several times.

About that....the tutorial section isn't quite the great resource it used to be since the great photo-bucket debacle of '17.   Rolf has gone back and fixed his photos and one or two others, but most pics are gone.  Shame to, great learning tool.

[Mike Brooks]

Removing the radius under the tang shouldn't weaken it enough to matter , if you don`t go over board . It does allow you to make the bend further toward the breech , which in a lot of cases helps.  Nate

All the antique guns I have seen are square in that area.

[Justin]

Justin,

 Drilling the tang bolt and trigger plate without a press set up or jig can be real real tricky. It's much trickier than the other holes since you have to go through metal on both sides at an angle and metal is unforgiving plus the target is small.

 If you do not have a drill press or jig, the following is a good option for you...

 Do not use a through tang bolt! Use a large wood-screw (buttplate screw) for the tang and suitable sized woodscrews for the trigger plate. Many Southern guns did not use a through tang bolt.

I do have a center-to-center drill guide (or also called "the spike" in The Gunsmith of Grenville County):
http://www.redaviscompany.com/0883.html

I think the line is worrying you just because of the angle you're viewing it at in that picture.

Also, I was able to clean up the countersink from my original attempt (no welder needed... yet )

Looks pretty centered to me.


When I just lay the tang bolt in there, it looks good but when I put the tang bolt through when the barrel is in the stock, I can tell the countersink hole isn't quite perfect. When I drilled the countersink the first time, I didn't quite have the angle right. But it's just a tiny imperfection and I'm not too worried about it since I think the barrel browning will hide it anyway.

Here it is just laying in the tang outside of the barrel (looks perfect to me):


Then when I lay it in the stock, you can see just a whisker of the countersink sticking out. Maybe when I tap the trigger plate, it will draw that bolt head in a bit.


Worst case scenario, I can clean up the countersink a bit and if that fails, I'll get it welded and re-drill it. I want to wait until I tap the trigger plate but I want to pin the barrel first before I start working too much on the bottom side of the stock (i.e. trigger plate). To drill the tang bolt hole I just relied on the pre-inlet done by Chambers. That may come back to bite me but some of my instructions seem to conflict with what you should do first...

[Kingsburyarms]

Sounds like you have the same tool I was suggesting - and the tang is lining up - Keep at it -

[Justin]

Removing the radius under the tang shouldn't weaken it enough to matter , if you don`t go over board . It does allow you to make the bend further toward the breech , which in a lot of cases helps.  Nate

All the antique guns I have seen are square in that area.

Jim Chambers also told me "the tang is 3 times thicker than it needs to be anyway", FWIW.

[Curtis]

Mr. Chambers told you right, Justin!  Inletting the tang is a much easier task if it is thinned significantly before you start to inlet.  Don't ask me how I know that!   

Curtis