Ramrod drill came thru bottom of stock

[Nhgrants]

The drill just barely came thru the bottom of the stock.
The style of gun is  north west trade gun.  The front of the trigger guard will cover most of
This But the hole extends about 2 inches in front of the guard.
Has any one done a wood repair for one of these?

[Mike Brooks]

I hate it when that happens.

[Huntschool]

How about working out a steel wear plate.  They were common on western guns of all types as wear from riding the gun across the saddle pommel would wear the wood through.  It might be easier then to try and patch that with wood....

Just a thought......

[PPatch]

Relax, it happens and I've done it too - there are fixes. If you are at the ramrod drilling stage then you must not be too far along with the build. So, don't do anything just now while you ponder the following...

Consider going ahead with your stock shaping before returning to the RR breakout problem because by then you'll really know how far off the hole is. Also; in the barrel channel you can drill some 1/16th holes to check where the RR hole is in relation to the barrel.

Options; One - adjust your ramrod channel now and drill the hole to an acceptable depth. Two - eventually dig out, expose, the RR hole, deepen it, and glue a length of wood into the forearm (try and match the grain with some scrap from your profile cutting), or, three - plan on a wear plate, which is something you'll want to inlet toward the end of the build. If you decide on a wear plate remember that it too will be inlet so allow for that in your calculations; in other words you may have to excavate the RR channel a bit under the plate.

This is a learning opportunity, so have all the fun you can.

dave

[Elnathan]

Another option complete the gun and then age it heavily so that the run-out looks like saddle-wear, or wrap some rawhide around it at that point.

NW Guns weren't typically fitted with wear plates, and I'm not sure how plausible the idea of a retro-fitted plate would be on such a gun.

[rich pierce]

I like Elnathan’s idea.  That or get a new blank.

I always leave the forearm completely untrimmed and buttstock completely untrimmed when drilling a ramrod hole.  Just the barrel inlet, groove made, and hole drilled. That way I can adjust after figuring out web thickness.