Swamped barrel inlet question

[verbrugen]

OK,  so I have finally decided to go the purest route and build from a nice quarter sawn plank of figured sugar maple instead of a pre-carve or pre-inlet stock.  The barrel of choice is a Colerain 50 cal. B weight, 42" length.   I have hand inlet the barrel and have what I feel is an excellent fit. Used a band saw to trim down top of stock along length of barrel.  Now here is the question:  maybe my eyes are getting bad or maybe it is an optical illusion but at the narrow part of the barrel to the muzzle it appears that the barrel is tweaked (not symmetrical) or bent slightly to the right.  When I remove the barrel from the stock it shows no sign of being bent.  Is it possible that the barrel is bending when I clamp it into the inlet in the stock blank?  I have a very tight fit and have not trimmed the wood of the forestock so it is still very rigid but I have a hard time believing I am flexing the barrel.  Any comments or observations from the group would be greatly appreciated.

JAS

[Dale Campbell]

Yes, very likely what you are seeing is real.  You can check by stretching a string from the center of the breech flat to the center of the muzzle flat. When you trim the forearm closer to size this will correct itself.  How soon you want to do that is another question.

[billd]

You may have a flat that's a little larger or smaller than the other flats. This will give you the illusion of a bent barrel.

Bill

[Jerry V Lape]

How tight is your barrel to wood fit?  At this stage you should have a slight clearance full length on the barrel.  I asked Jerry Huddleston once how much that clearance should be.  His reply was to inlet the barrel with one thickness of scotch tape on the flats.  If it is inletted with that clearance the wood should not be moving the barrel around enough to bend it.  However once your wood is thinned down to the final dimensions it will certainly lack the strength to bend the barrel - as Dale stated above.  I had trouble inletting it that closely until I tried a small steel scraper (about 7/16" x 1 3/4") just big enough to hold in fingers and angled across the curl to keep the inlet flat.  Works for me - but requires patience. 

[verbrugen]

The clearance is very tight I don't think I could get it into the inlet if tape was applied on the flats.  I have been using a scraper but am a little nervous about removing too much material.  I will try and post a couple images when I get time.

Thanks All

[Rasch Chronicles]

Get some thin string as Dale suggests, and try that first.

I think the expression is to take wood off until your nervous, and take off a little more!

Best regards,
Albert “Matamoro” Rasch
Real Men Hunt
ΜOΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

[VirginiaSmokepole]

I was wondering the same thing.  I am inletting a 44" .50 Rice "B" profile barrel and it seems to "bend" once I press it into the stock.  Not much but very slightly.  It's nice to know that it should correct itself once I get more wood off the forestock.    

[blunderbuss]

 If your working with a plank then the plank could be forcing the barrel over into a bend because of it's mass ,when the majority of the wood is removed ,as in close to being finished, then the wood will bend to the barrel