drilling question

[George Gibeau]

Greetings all,

I am working on a small project for my neighbor, and am stumped. He inherited an old shotgun from his grandfather, and the butt piece was broken. I am making him a new one and need advice. I already have the shape roughed out and detailed, however the part that has me scratching my head is that the butt piece connects to the trigger mechanism via a long step screw (~3-4 inches) that goes from about halfway inside the butt plate end and into the trigger mechanism. The angle that the hole needs to be drilled, as well as the stepped diameter, appears to be very precise in order to align with the inlay ears of the trigger mechanism. The butt piece is a traditional shape, but I am having a devil of a time trying to figure out the best way to drill that long of a hole, and get the angle needed for proper alignment to the rest of the shotgun.

Does anyone in this group work on older guns that might be able to offer some sage advice?

Thank you in advance for your time.

George

[tom]

[Tanus]

How about fixing the hard part first and then working the easy part into it?

By that, I mean get the piece of wood that you intend to use for the stock and leave it as a chunk of wood. No forming. Oops, I just reread. You've roughed the wood out but it may still work.

Line up the hole approximately, and drill it.

Then form the rest of the stock. Or am I way off base here?

Tanus

[John Grossbohlin]

snip

That's not far off conceptually from the way we did things in the Gunsmith Shop at Colonial Williamsburg, VA when I worked there... For example, when we made gun barrels we started out with the hole that was created when the barrel was forge welded around a mandrel. The barrel was also forged roughly (though not crudely!) octagonal as it was welded up. Then the barrel was reamed out. After the bore was reamed the outside of the barrel was filed so that the hole was in the middle at the muzzle and breech.

When it came to stocks, the barrel was inlet, then the ram rod channel, lock, butt plate, etc., were fitted relative to the position of the barrel. Finally the stock was shaped to line up with the barrel, lock, and brass furniture.

John

[Mike Marlow]

Actually Tanus, you're right on the money... except as you noted, George already got past this point. When building gun stocks the first thing you do is get the mounts done... precisely. Only after the mounts are done do you start taking away everything that's not a gunstock.

[Hedley]

I truly dread those moments when you find out you've just done something that should not have been done.

[Tanus]

Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how far the OP got on "roughing" out the stock. Maybe he can still use that idea.

Or maybe he can do what I'd do to save face. I'd say "Ok, this is a good stock that doesn't fit. GREAT practice. "

I use this technique just about any time I make sawdust. SWMBO almost believes me at times.

Tanus