Main Discussion Area > Muzzleloaders
TC stock makeover
Eric Krewson:
SO, I am thinking how could I miss with something I had done before and hit a blind socket on an L&R RPL lock on the first try.
I was measuring the TC lock bolt to pick a closer tolerance clearance bit and noticed something odd, the dang bolt was bent, that is why it didn't hit the threaded hole, dang, I have already plugged the hole with another dowel to re-drill.
Eric Krewson:
OK, round two on lock bolt drilling; first I straightened the bent lock bolt, picked a .1645 clearance bit instead of the suggested .1770 which was a sloppy fit, increased up my drill press speed to 2100rpm from the 550 it was set on which was way too slow for hardwoods, next I sharpened my drill bit on my drill doctor, marked the holes with a punch and proceeded.
One shot and I had a perfect hit into the threaded hole in the lock plate.
Another thing I did before I started marking the new hole location was re-inlet the lock plate, the plate fit in so tightly that I had to knock it out with a hammer from the back side. I blackened the edges with an oil lamp and sanded off the black spots with a a piece of 220 wrapped around a 5/16" dowel. I went slowly and probably spent an hour sanding. When I felt like I had it just right the lock plate would fall out when I tilted the stock upside down plus there were no visible gaps around the plate.
Eric Krewson:
Next I have to address this damaged and splintered wood. I have a gunsmith friend who lives nearby who probably has some fresh accu-glass. I will give him a call to see if he can give me a teaspoon or so to glass bed the bad wood area.
Eric Krewson:
When I drilled the hole for the hickory dowel some of the cracked wood broke out of the lock inlet, this was totally unnecessary wood but I didn't like the look so I glued in new wood and shaped like it came from the factory to improve the appearance.
The wood under the hooked breech was in bad shape and splintered out in hunks when I drilled for the dowel. I decided to fix the damage myself and not go see my gunsmith friend.
I dug out the cracked and splintered wood and cut a neat square mortise, I first filled the cracked area with superglue and let it soak in, next I sprinkled sawdust on the puddle of super glue and packed into the cutout tightly. I left enough room above the superglue and sawdust to inlet a nice piece of walnut to cover the mess the superglue and sawdust made. I put this piece of walnut in while the superglue and sawdust were still wet so it would bond with the sawdust and superglue.
I put in an oversized piece of wood and trimmed it down to match the existing barrel inlet.
Looks pretty good, I tried to dye the patch with leather dye to match the surrounding wood but my dye was too light.
I would imagine many of you are wondering why I am going to so much trouble on this project, the answer is just to see if I can take a mess of a stock and make it strong and dependable, plus I am out of other gun projects until my bear pistol barrel gets here.
Eric Krewson:
My next project is to replace the tang screws with tang bolts and threaded inserts. I went with 10-32, these will fit in the trigger plate inlet but just barely, I should have gone with 8-32. I can get some 8-32 threaded inserts in a couple of days and may change my plans.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version