Author Topic: Tang thickness (Read 10759 times)

Berks Liberty · « **on:** October 19, 2009, 02:28:03 PM »

I was looking at the tang thickness on my current build. I got it from Colerain. I was looking at filing it down to make it a little thinner but not alot. It is currently at 5/16. I was looking at filing it down to an 1/8 to 3/16. What are your feelings on this. My main plan is to shape the end of the tang to a point to match the period of the Berks style rifle I'm trying to match. A thinner tang would make it easier and less wood to take out of the stock. What's your thoughts. Thanks

Jason

Birddog6 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 19, 2009, 02:34:34 PM »

I never make them thinner. Some do but I don't. Easy to bend just like it is, substantial & plenty of meat to work with. I bend it to the shape of the tang wood area, grind it to the shape required for that particular rifle, bevel it & after I have the barrel inlet to the proper place to align the vent liner with the flashpan, install the breechplug & inlet the tang, file to shape on the top.

flehto · « **Reply #2 on:** October 19, 2009, 03:18:50 PM »

My preferred tang thickness is 5/32" and the large radius at the juncture of the plug bolster and underside of the tang is reduced to 1/32". The 1/32" radius allows a more uniform tang bend.....Fred

northmn · « **Reply #3 on:** October 19, 2009, 03:28:35 PM »

Most commercial tangs are too thick. All they have to do is hold the barrel down and keep it in place. As I make my own breechplugs I usually use 1/4 inch stock to make a tang and thin from there.

DP

Ed Wenger · « **Reply #4 on:** October 19, 2009, 03:29:24 PM »

I also reduce the thickness somewhat. I don't know if it really matters, but my thinking is to keep as much wood as possible through the tang/lock/wrist area, since it's kinda weak to begin with.

Ed

rtadams · « **Reply #5 on:** October 19, 2009, 05:29:38 PM »

10-19-09

When I designed and manufactured the first Jaeger tapered and flared rifle barrels for John Bivins in 1976, the breech plugs were manufactured with a tang thickness of .200". I found this to be substantial in all applications. The .200" tang thickness, with few exceptions, was the standard used in all the design and manufacturing work for all types of muzzleloading rifle barrels.

Stophel · « **Reply #6 on:** October 19, 2009, 05:35:38 PM »

First thing I do with the tang is saw it down to about half its thickness.

stuart cee dub · « **Reply #7 on:** October 19, 2009, 05:47:04 PM »

There is one reason to leave them on the thicker side (imho)which has to do with how you clean your guns .
If you pull your barrel to clean it in a bucket you would want a thicker tang and one with out sharp edges to resist bending during the cleaning operation . I build my halfstocks with short rounded thick tangs and key the barrels because that is how I prefer to clean my rifles .It is not traditional by any means.Banded muskets are also readily cleaned in a similar fashion.
Certainly southern mountain guns with their lovely thin lollipop tangs never left the stock for cleaning. Pinned barrels really should be left in the stock anyway.

Berks Liberty · « **Reply #8 on:** October 19, 2009, 11:56:47 PM »

I was looking through the new book Berks County Longrifles and Gunmakers and there is a photo of some barrels with their tangs which are also in the exhibit at the Berks County Historical Society. The tangs look to be pretty thin. Probably half of what mine is right now.

Acer Saccharum · « **Reply #9 on:** October 20, 2009, 12:57:14 AM »

Most original tangs seem to be pretty thin to me. Maybe 3/32 to 1/8.

If you make them too sharp, they will make a hole in the cleaning bucket every durn time you clean the barrel.

Berks Liberty · « **Reply #10 on:** October 20, 2009, 02:09:31 AM »

Quote from: Acer Saccharum on October 20, 2009, 12:57:14 AM

Most original tangs seem to be pretty thin to me. Maybe 3/32 to 1/8.

If you make them too sharp, they will make a hole in the cleaning bucket every durn time you clean the barrel.

Now that's funny, you just have to make sure you don't drop it right!?

Roger Fisher · « **Reply #11 on:** October 20, 2009, 02:25:56 AM »

Quote from: Berks Liberty on October 20, 2009, 02:09:31 AM

Quote from: Acer Saccharum on October 20, 2009, 12:57:14 AM
Most original tangs seem to be pretty thin to me. Maybe 3/32 to 1/8.

If you make them too sharp, they will make a hole in the cleaning bucket every durn time you clean the barrel.

Now that's funny, you just have to make sure you don't drop it right!?

Oh what the 'hey' Get yourself a thicker bucket

Lucky R A · « **Reply #12 on:** October 20, 2009, 03:03:12 AM »

If you are going to be using a P.C. tang you might as well get a wooden bucket , but then you would't be removing the barrel to clean it if you were P.C.

alex e. · « **Reply #13 on:** October 20, 2009, 03:29:36 AM »

Quote from: Lucky R A on October 20, 2009, 03:03:12 AM

If you are going to be using a P.C. tang you might as well get a wooden bucket , but then you would't be removing the barrel to clean it if you were P.C.

stuart cee dub · « **Reply #14 on:** October 20, 2009, 10:32:36 AM »

There is documentation for this problem of bucket holes.
There was an old frontier song
we sang in grade school....

There is a hole on my bucket dear Lysa,dear Lysa ,
there is a hole in my bucket dear Lysa a hole
Then plug it dear Willie dear Willie dear Willie.

So this obviously isn't a new problem

.

Anyway those sharp tangs make dandy bits for bow drills for you experimental archaeologists,smart alecks ,
living history types and old school builders.
All of whom probably have dirty barrels and thin, bent- once- then- straightened tangs.
If you simply cover your plastic 5 gallon pickle bucket with waxed canvas and paint it ''HB'' ,and don't say anything ,no one will be the wiser.
Not everything done two hundred years ago was such a great idea.Burning witches and phlogiston come to mind.
Geez Louise.
Mr Moderator, they are picking on me for my fat round tangs.

Acer Saccharum · « **Reply #15 on:** October 20, 2009, 05:16:01 PM »

Many bent tangs come from forgetting to take the tang screw out before you pull the barrel. Many cracked stocks come from leaving the top lockbolt in while trying to pull the barrel. I don't like taking the barrel out of the stock for any reason. I guess once in a while is good, to wax the steel, make sure everything is OK between wood and iron.

Countless reasons for holes in buckets. Target practice, breaking the ice with a breaker bar, dropping a red hot piece of steel into a plastic bucket, leaving water in a bucket overnight in mid winter....

Dave B · « **Reply #16 on:** October 20, 2009, 05:44:53 PM »

Most of the original tangs I have on the barrels I have are tapered in thickness. The heaviest part at the bolster thinning out towards the end. The tangs on the last couple of rifles I have built I have kept thinner than when I first started building, more from not wanting to have to dig so deeply to seat the thick metal than from being PC.

Berks Liberty · « **Reply #17 on:** October 20, 2009, 10:36:56 PM »

Wow, there must have been a lot of buckets with holes in them around here!

I think I'll thin my out a little before putting into wood.

Larry Luck · « **Reply #18 on:** October 23, 2009, 02:44:15 AM »

I have read this thread a couple times and can't seem to understand the issue.

When I inlet a tang, it starts out with the top parallel to the bottom and bent to the approximate profile of the wrist. As I inlet it, the bottom sinks down into the wood. At some point, with a 3/32 or 1/16 or so proud of the wood, I file the tang flat with the wood. That results in a tapered tang.

Once I get enough meat in the wood to make me feel the tang should be secure, I take off the remainder. No sense in inletting deeper than necessary.

I just finished feeding dinner to the kids (9 and 6) so please forgive me if I'm particularly dense right now.

Larry Luck

bama · « **Reply #19 on:** October 23, 2009, 03:41:42 AM »

This is a picture of a tang from a early Virginia rifle

This the tang of RCA rifle No. 42

Berks Liberty · « **Reply #20 on:** October 23, 2009, 05:25:01 PM »

Bama,

That's what I'm talk'n about! Thanks for posting pictures. I think I'm going to thin mine out a little before I put it into wood. Thanks again.

Jason

Acer Saccharum · « **Reply #21 on:** October 23, 2009, 05:31:29 PM »

Another original, ca 1760, American rifle.

Acer Saccharum · « **Reply #22 on:** October 23, 2009, 05:32:47 PM »

This thinning of the tang leaves more wood for the cross section of the stock, where it's needed.

Dave B · « **Reply #23 on:** October 23, 2009, 10:59:39 PM »

Here are a couple more breach views showing the bucket piercing tangs. The two barrels on top are from pre-rev pieces the other two are from golden age pieces.

Stophel · « **Reply #24 on:** October 23, 2009, 11:23:47 PM »

"Don't inlet any more than you have to" - Ron Ehlert.

Inletting that monster quarter-inch thick tang is just a lot of unnecessary work.

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Author Topic: Tang thickness (Read 10759 times)

Berks Liberty

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Berks Liberty

Berks Liberty

Berks Liberty

Berks Liberty