Wow
Looks good
99% DONE!!!! a little dulling of the finish with pumice and a minor lock tuning issue to work out and it's shooting time.
Supercracker, I'm enjoying following your work. You are a "super" craftsman as well as a Supercracker! Leaving the block of wood under the forend makes a lot of sense while shaping and inletting, etc.. One question about the stock and the grain in the area that we call the "pistol grip" or wrist, it seems it might be a weak spot as there quite a bit of drop at the comb and so much wood is below that point? I noticed the long tang of the trigger guard, does it help stabilize that point or am I reading too much into the thought about the grain? Was just reading an article in the American Rifleman about rifles of this era and some were very fragile according to the author. No criticism on my part, it's is a beautiful rifle but just wondering about the strength of the stock.
Treefarmer
you're right. That is a weak spot in these guns and that is not a great grain layout. However, I didn't chose it. The stock came rough shaped, so we were already locked into it.
That said, the barrel is not exactly a lightweight barrel and traditional MLrs don't really have that much recoil compared to modern guns. So I think it will be fine. If it ever did decide to start to develop a crack I could glue a dowel through the wrist and it will be strong enough to handle anything.
The long tangs like this probably realistically add zero strength to the wrist. In the 18th century they might have thought they did, but it would be negligible at best. However, you're on the right track. One of the big things that the Hawkens came up with was to use a longer trigger plate and barrel tang and have two bolts through it with the rearmost bolt acting as a bearing surface to transfer some of the recoil back into the butt behind the wrist. Effectively bypassing the wrist area.
I really liked the figure in the wood when I saw it at Dixon's, even the bit in the wrist. I really doubt that it will be weak enough so as to have any sort of failure. I'm not planning on clubbing anything with it and like Shane mentioned, the BP loads are more of a push than a kick. Worst case, one day a small crack develops and I have to put a historically correct rawhide repair on it...:)
