Quote:Hello Brent,
Just be very carefull of where the hole is in relation to the upper side of the pistol grip, the wood gets very, very, thin there.
Try laying the stock on the floor first, place the receiver with the stockbolt in place on the side of the stock and eyeball just how close the stockbolt gets to the upperside of the pistol grip. Then go and pour yourself a stiff one, you may need it.
The stockbolt angle is fine for the military stock which is straight, but bloody awkward when a civilian pistol grip stock is to be fitted.
Harry
Harry, it all depends upon your stock design. My own PG Borchardt has a 3/8" throughbolt hole and another 3/8" wood thickness to the top of the wrist at the thinnest portion, which I find quite sufficient for best looks and plenty of strength. IOW the top line of the wrist/grip is never closer than ~0.45/0.47" to the centerline of the throughbolt and the hole-surface-to-outer-surface distance is never less than 3/8". I
will admit that I laid it all out on a full-size piece of paneling beforehand ('cause I was scairt!), but this is the final dimension.
Unfortunately some originals and many reproduction Sharps rifles have a pistol-grip curve that's far too deep on the top of the wrist, and
does approach the throughbolt hole too closely IMO. If you are so unfortunate as to have a stock shaped thusly then you have my sympathy, as I consider this to be the most common as well as the least-fixable of all the pre-shaped stock shortcomings. Folks who shape(d) the 1877 and 1878 models appear to be the most susceptible to this design error, I hardly ever see it on the 1874 models except for the occasional Long Range type.
When I was just a chap, I thought all this full-size-layout-beforehand thing was entirely too much work for an expert such as myself, but eventually the light dawned. I generally regard stockmaking as a necessary evil but a little layout preparation makes it a lot easier.
JMO, HTH, Joe