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Inletting tangs on a levergun
dandak1
Member Posts: 450 ✭✭✭
Question for the stockmakers out there. I am building my dream gun on a Winchester 1886 lever action, cal 33 WCF. Fairly stout round, I am concerned with the tang splitting the stock if I inlet it tightly. Should I leave a gap there while inletting?? If so how much?? What brought this to my attention was a Marlin levergun a friend bought 10 years ago. New in the box it had a huge gap (maybe 0.040" to 0.050") behind the tangs. We were ticked off about it but took it out shooting. After a dozen or so 45-70 rounds we looked at the tangs again and they had seated in the wood to where there was no gap. I guess Marlin figured out to leave a gap so the gun can seat itself and not split the wood. So...stockmakers I am turning to you. Is this standard when inletting a lever gun?? I already have the entire action bedded and inletted. Looks good and I am quite proud of how it fits, should I now take my chisels and relieve the wood/bedding?
Comments
Good luck
Emmett
This is why glass bedding is a good idea. anywhere there is a gap, that leaves a chance for recoil to work on another area where the metal is contacting the wood.
When I fit stocks I try to get the wood as nicely fit as I can and then get the rest of the job done with glass bedding. Even if it is just a little bit, it really helps. I have found that bedding works best under tangs because sometimes it is hard to get the depth of the inletting perfect, especially if the tang is tapered in thickness.
The only time I do not use glass bedding is if the wood is very dark in color or very light where the bedding will not blend in, but you can do some things to darken or lightedn the bedding too.