˝ stock under rib and ram rod pipes

[smallpatch]

Ok, somehow, I got talked into building a ˝ stock, percussion rifle.
Everything up till now, has been full stock. I’ve already ruined an under rib. What is the best way to inlet the pipes, then solder it all together?
I tried filing the under rib flat, for the pipes, but it leaves a pretty good gap on either side of the pipe.

Any help appreciated.

[Justin Urbantas]

did you file the bottom of the pipe until it was almost gone?

[Frozen Run]

After fitting it,

Get a piece of steel rod 4 inches long or so and file flats at both ends for c-clamps to purchase, tin the rib and pipe with solder, clamp in place using that rod you made and apply heat from a torch until they join. It's hard to ruin a rib, save it for a future project or mail it to me for a few bucks.

Also, take a really tiny allen wrench, grind an edge on one end and harden and sharpen, glue it into a piece of wood for a handle. This makes a great tool to clean the cooled down solder out of all the tiny nooks and crannies.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Dane:  you may be able to find a tutorial on this in one of my Hawken threads.  If you cannot, I can go through my files and find the info for you. 

In short, you file a flat on the rib down to the concave.  Then you file a flat on the pipe right down until you get a gap where you break through.  When you put the pipe in the rib's filed flat, the concave groove of the rib will be continuous with the hole through the pipe, and there will be very little gap along the side joints...the pipe will look like it grew out of the sides of the rib.
I use an aluminum rod through the pipes to hold them in the concave groove of the rib without clamps...tin the pipe's flat and the rib's flat, and heat them as a unit until the solder flows.  I use electrical solder (contains 2% silver) as it flows so well, is super strong, and if easy to clean up.  This solder is only about 1/16" diameter wire and responds nicely to ordinary paste flux.
This system has worked on I don't know how many rifles, and I then use the pipes as a guide for the rod drill to create the hole in the forestock...it's practically foolproof.

[smallpatch]

Thanks Taylor,
It seems the part I missed was filing the bottom of the pipe flat. The  rounded part of the pipe was causing the gap on the sides.
Thanks for everyone’s help.

[P.W.Berkuta]

This is how I do mine: first I create a recess in the rib where the ram rod pipes will lay. I do not file a flat on the ram rod pipes.  then I silver braze the pipes onto the rib. I then clean up the braze joint and soft solder the rib assembly onto the barrel with soft solder. Once the rib assembly is on the barrel I clean everything up.