I've reached the point of inletting the tang on my Chambers York rifle, and am wondering what shape is best. To begin with I assumed I'd be cutting and filing the tang to one of the shapes in the Turpin video, or similar. Then I began looking at finished rifles with the full uncut flared tang (mine is a Rice barrel with a 2 3/16" tang), e.g. The John Bivens Lancaster kit by Michael Hayes currently on the TOTW website, and decided I probably liked the look of that even more (and not just because it involves less work, I promise!).
I'm really just curious to know what others do. I probably need to look at a lot more period rifles to see what's more correct.
Elsewhere on the forum I've read about the need to leave a tiny gap at the back of the tang inlet, 015 or so, to prevent the barrel recoil splitting the wrist. Is this common practice? Should I be more worried about this with a tang shaped to a point, i.e. that might act as a wedge, rather than the flat flared end of the uncut tang?
I'm really just curious to know what others do. I probably need to look at a lot more period rifles to see what's more correct.
Elsewhere on the forum I've read about the need to leave a tiny gap at the back of the tang inlet, 015 or so, to prevent the barrel recoil splitting the wrist. Is this common practice? Should I be more worried about this with a tang shaped to a point, i.e. that might act as a wedge, rather than the flat flared end of the uncut tang?