tang bolts

[tnguy]

having only owned production guns today i looked at a few that were for sale a friend of mine has. one really caught my eye and fits well in both pull and drop. my only issue with it is it has a wood screw instead of a tang bolt. the rear lock bolt passes thru the breech plug lug and the barrel has 3 pins, its a 32 inch barrel. its a little 20 gauge with a swamped barrel im thinking he said made by longhammock. i was owndering if this tang set up was ok, or if i should install a bolt, the trigger plate has plenty of room for a bolt.
thanks

 

[paulvallandigham]

How well is the tang inletted? If the inletting is good, the wood screw should hold sufficiently on a small gauge gun like that, assuming reasonable loads are used.

If you are going to stuff lots of powder, and ball in that barrel, however, or the tang mortise is a bit more roomy than it needs to be, then consider putting a tang bolt in the gun. I would glass bad the "roomy " mortise, in addition to putting in a tang bolt.

I don't want movement( recoil) in the barrel cracking the stock behind the barrel because of a poor job of inletting the barrel and tang. That is my priority, and way of thinking through this problem. :surrender: :thumbsup:

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Many of the beloved semi"custom" (read semi-production) guns have that feature. It's another cost cutting operation like routed RR channels talked about recently on another thread but there are many being shot with that construction. You get what what you pay for.

 

[LaBonte]

Tangs with just a screw rather than a bolt are not just a modern cost cutting effort but in fact are found on many originals especially So Mtn rifles and guns....

 

[longcruise]

my only issue with it is it has a wood screw instead of a tang bolt. the rear lock bolt passes thru the breech plug lug and the barrel has 3 pins, its a 32 inch barrel.

The wood screw should be no problem. If nothing has split yet, it probably won't (we need a "knock on wood" smilie).

The lock bolt through the tang is typical and appropriate. Three pins in the 32" barrel? Seems like a non-issue.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Tangs with just a screw rather than a bolt are not just a modern cost cutting effort but in fact are found on many originals especially So Mtn rifles and guns....

You are absolutely correct. I had considered adding that tidbit but as you state it is associated with a limited style and not even across the board at that . It is however as I said used today as a cost cutting method in producing many guns where a tang screw is inapplicable.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Back in the middle sixties I bought a cheap 28 gauge shotgun with the tang held by a wood screw. I still use that gun on rabbits in brush and have never had any problems. Plus shooting shot I have fired a few hundred 54 caliber round balls in it with no problems. :hmm:

 

[Zonie]

Although I really prefer a tang bolt which sandwiches the wood between two pieces of metal the wood screw will probably last for years if you don't remove it often.

Even if it does become unusable it can usually be replaced with a real metal screw when it's needed.