Early buttplate fitting.

[Pukka Bundook]

Gents,
Its been very nice to see some early or different pieces being shown here, and though this is primarily a Long Rifle forum, that such arms are welcome.
(Thinking here Dave's B.Buss, and JH Ehlers Shaw build)
For those contemplating an earlier than usual project, I just wanted to show a method of buttplate fitting that not all may be familiar with.

These pictures are of another (relic) blunderbuss, from the end of the 17th C to Very early 18th.
The method of fitting the long thin tang of the butt plate , is to shape the forward end of the tang to the shape of a mortise chisel, and inlet it so the chisel tip is embedded into the stock.
This method has proved itself to be very effective and does away with the need of any cross pin to hold the extension down.

All the best,
Rich.
















As you can see, this extension is much deeper than the thickness of the puttplate, to prevent it moving or bending.


R.

[flatsguide]

Richard, thanks for posting those pics, I’ll most likely use that in my next build. Also notice how thick that tang is.
Cheers Richard

[Jim Kibler]

That sure looks to be a neat gun.  Anymore pictures?

[T*O*F]

I have used that method to inlet screwless trigger plates in the past.  Had never seen it done anywhere, the methodology just seemed obvious.

[Mattox Forge]

Thanks for postingbthis Rich. It functions in the same way as some of the later butt plates the English did with a small L shaped lug brazed onto the underside of the tang that set into a motice in the stock.

Mike

[rich pierce]

Very cool. I never saw a tang like that before.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Wowee, that's a new one for me too, and it is SUPER cool!  And it looks to be very practical from the perspective of the stocker.

[Jim Kibler]

I think it's pretty common for the thickness to inversely scale with the width of the long tang.  This keeps things from bending so easily.  I'll pull out a wax from another gun from this time frame that has a dragon finial, but increases in thickness as well.

[Jim Kibler]

[Jim Kibler]

If I recall, they just put a pin right through this buttplate extension to hold it in place.

[Pukka Bundook]

In the buttplate in the OP, there was no need of a pin.
That is what I like about it.



Jim, I will look out more photos ASAP.

Best,
Rich.

[Daryl]

With the extra long toe on this butt plate, due to it's thickness, a pin wouldn't be necessary.

[flatsguide]

Jim, can we see a top view on that wax BP?
Thanks Richard

[Pukka Bundook]

It appears I am a bit short of photos of this gun Jim, but here are a few.






The very thin iron sideplate is a very ugly replacement.
In the next picture, you can see the remains of the inlet for the original.
I do not know what to do about this, if I should attempt to replace this piece of tin!












Pipes are folded around a mandrel into a tab.



One very charming feature, is the caricature on the wrist.
According to W Keith Neil, this feature was popular in the 1690's and did not last long.




A Chambers cock looks like it would fit right on, even if a little later in time period.
It looks better than the old broken /weded remnant that was on!




another early feature, is the off set trigger. V common in the late 17th /earlier 18th C.


Best,
R.



PS,
Also of note, trigger guards at this time were often attached with screws, and there is no evidence of there ever being a tang inlet into this stock.

[helwood]

Greetings Rich,
Thanks much for the Photos they will definitely go into my library.    Hank

[Daryl]

Now THAT's a cool gun, Richard.