Side Plate Thickness; What Size Is Best

[yip]

 what size do you guys use for a side plate? some say .125 and some say .080 planning on making my own side plate and just wondering. i've used both and want to  know whats best.

[rich pierce]

I use 1/8” I have on hand but think many originals show in the 0.080-0.100 range.

[ron w]

 there's really no "best"......just use something that is thick enough to not bend under the pressure of a sngged lock screw and make your mortice a depth that reveals some of the plates edge. obviously,...the thicker plates will be easier to sink and still leaves some edge exposed. it might be better to think in terms of,..." what is the minimum thickness " rather than "how thick", because plate thickness can vary some from plate to plate,, as long as some exposure is kept, without being detrimental to the gun's architecture.  that said,...later guns show no reveal, so a lot depends on what era the build is from. and even then, nothing is set in stone.

[rich pierce]

Many original musket sideplates were concave on the inside.

[Lucky R A]

          The period and school of the gun you are building will dictate the thickness of the material used on the sideplate.  Usually the earlier guns used thicker material for the sideplate.  These sideplates are usually heavily beveled around the edges.   Berks Co. and Lancaster  rifles many times used heavily beveled sideplates. Later period rifles like those built in Western PA , i.e. Fleeger, Allison McCosh etc. often used flush mounted sideplates and thus used much thinner material.   

Ron

[Blacksmoke]

Most side plates that I've seen on old originals were sand cast and at least 1/8" thick.  I use 1/8" brass plate for all of my side plates.      Hugh Toenjes

[JTR]

What Lucky RA said.
The Dickert I had was about 1/8" and beveled.
A John Park Sr. upper river rifle I have is flush, and .055" thick.

What are you building?

[Hungry Horse]

My antique Lehigh longrifle circa 1815, has a side plate made of engraved sheet brass about a sixteenth thick. It’s nailed onto  the stock with brass nails, and engraved right over the nail heads.

  Hungry Horse

[WKevinD]

Another great question that is easily answered by   "it depends"

Kevin

[M. E. Pering]

Lately I have been building late Colonial period York County rifles.  I always use 1/8" brass for these.  Though I could use a cast brass side plate, I think that those made from sheet brass were much more prevalent in this area and period.  And yes... They are beveled, engraved and half inlet.

Matt

[yip]

 i'm building a Bucks County and was just wondering the best, have to order a piece of brass to do this.

[Lucky R A]

Yip,   
        You will be fine with the .080 material.  I have examined a fair number of originals and this thickness will be fine.  A 45 degree or a little steeper will be fine for the bevel.   There are about three basic styles used in that school, so check the books for the style you want. 
         Try placing a piece of clear acetate plastic over your sideplate panel.  Punch holes where your lock bolts are, and then you can draw out your sideplate to get perfect alignment.  Cut out your pattern from the acetate and transfer the pattern to your brass.

Ron
 

[flehto]

I mainly build Bucks County  LRs and really don't know the thickness of the sideplates  on originals , so decided on 1/8" thick because it's readily available and looks good.   The dim for the inletting is slightly less than 1/16" and the bevel, although I never check it,  is around a 45 degree angle......Fred

[rich pierce]

Thanks, John. Stain and finish in the inlets!

[ron w]

Many original musket sideplates were concave on the inside.

   

         brass was a pretty sacred metal in the years prior to the revolutionary war.  it all came from England and they didn't want the Colonials to have any for the sake of building an arsenal and just plain restricting their colonization. it was during this period that all wood clock movements were developed that didn't use any brass, or certainly the very minimal amount possible. I would suspect that the side plates made that way were made as such to conserve the use of what small amounts of brass they were fortunate enough to get ahold of and/or recycle.