Trigger Guard Tab - Does Size matter?

[Kingsburyarms]

Fun title but a question I would like to ask the group. Making a Haines rifle, does the front trigger guard tab need to be "large and strong" to support the guard, or can it be thinned down a little to prevent more wood being removed? Inletting a large tab removes a good amount of wood.

I do not have access to original guards, but I would assume that the front tab also acts as a strong support for the guard.  (left and right strength, as well as support for the guard itself).

Thoughts?

 

[rich pierce]

I’ve seen original fowler guards with tabs about 3/8”-1/2” high and similar width at the base.

[David Rase]

I think more important than the size of the tab is the fit of the tab into the stock.  If there is a lot of side to side space between the tab and the stock, the pin that you use to hold the guard in place is more likely to bend under stress.  If the side to side fit of the tab is snug in the wood the pin is less likely to bend thus giving you a more solid mount.  Now back to the original question, if that guard were mine I would cut off the front half of the tab.  I try leave front to back dimension of my mounting lugs between 1/4" to 5/16" and I file the width down to about 3/32". 
David

[T*O*F]

That's not a tab, it's a casting sprue.  You have to shape it into a tab based on the dimensions of the rifle you are building.  Usually they are about 1/2 the size and rounded, rather than square on top.

[Kingsburyarms]

I thought it may be a sprue/tab although no cut off on the top, so the whole thing was cast that way, I already filed off the other sprue cuts.  - and thanks David - good note on dimensions and a tight fit. As is, it's too large to dig a cavern into the stock to make it fit.

Thanks

Jon

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

It may also be too high, as well as wide and thick.  Be sure it doesn't hit the bottom flat of the barrel when inlet.  Even so, I like to drill the retaining pin hole in the lock mortise rather than through the lock panel, though I have done it both ways.

[alex e.]

Location is another consideration. Too far forward you will hit into the rr channel, preventing the rod from seating full length of the barrel. I have had to move the lug on a few occasions.

[Kingsburyarms]

Thanks all - do I dare ask: Is a screw from the lock mortise side historically accurate or is it a pin between the lock mortise and the side plate? A Screw can tighten up the trigger guard.

(Insert Brooks squeamish comments here)

Jon

[54ball]

Thanks all - do I dare ask: Is a screw from the lock mortise side historically accurate or is it a pin between the lock mortise and the side plate? A Screw can tighten up the trigger guard.

(Insert Brooks squeamish comments here)

Jon

 Concerning originals.....you are likely to see anything. This is reply is not school specific but concerns originals as a whole.
 The pinned guard is efficient and it's pretty simple. When you start with trigger plates and guards as a unit....the work gets really teduis, doubly so with long set trigger plates.
 So IMHO....there's no trade off.