TOWs patch box release

[bob hertrich]

I am installing the TOW release in a Dickert type rifle. I am wondering if anybody has used this and could give me some tips in installing it. The instructions with it are pretty good but was wondering if there are any pitfalls.

[JohnTyg]

No real pitfalls. (?)

The spring is pretty stiff and you will need to file and polish it down until it is flexible enough to actually be compressible.

Install the patch box lid catch first, use the hole you drilled for that to drill into the stock to spot the area you will need to inlet for the catch. It's then pretty simple to expose the head of the catch from the butt plate inlet side and then locate your spring.  The release rod is done last.

I had a recent misadventure drilling a brass butt plate with a fresh drill bit.  Do this carefully with a slightly dulled bit so that it doesn't grab the brass and make a mess.

John

[JTR]

Or you could just do it the way ol' Dickert did it. Pretty simple!
And still works perfectly after all these years!

John

[JohnTyg]

John,

I'm looking at my photo and then Dickert's photo (great pic, where did you get it?).

I am wondering if Dickert knows more than me???  ( more efficient, I was wondering if I buried the catch too deep?)

John

[Acer Saccharum]

It also appears that Dickert had set his catch too deep first time. 

[JTR]

    I don't think anyone has ever accussed him of perfect workmanship. 

John, I took the pictures, thanks. I don't know that it's a better way than the setup you're using, just that it's a simple and effective way.

John

[Dennis Glazener]

It also appears that Dickert had set his catch too deep first time.  Grin

Isn't it neat to look at work by the old masters and see that they too made mistakes!
Dennis

[Acer Saccharum]

Talk about mistakes, you should see some of the rifles at the Landis Valley Museum.   

Inletting gaps, carving too high, poor stock architecture, etc.

It is actually good for everyone to see that the 200 yr old work was done by humans, not perfectionists.

[Pete G.]

....and here I've been trying to drill that stupid hole the whole time (and usually getting it not quite right). I never really thought about the fact that the buttplate holds the button captive, no matter where the hole is. I'll bet that in the time it has been taking me to set up for drilling the hole, that Ol' Jacob had the whole thing done and had moved on to the next step.

[Acer Saccharum]

There are so  any things that we over engineer. I fall prey to it all the time.

This is why I bring up the guns at the Landis show. I mean no disrespect whatsoever, but it is to point out our obsessive compulsions to 'do things right', that is clearly misguided. We'd be better off spending this energy on the artistry, for example.

It's also hard to get perspective if you don't have access to a bunch of originals to study. I am in a spot where there is a woeful lack of PA longrifles, so the web, books, and occasional trips to the motherland has to suffice. Make the best with what you have.