Phil;
With all due respect I think you have misinterpreted their reason for the cutting of the breech face tilted forward 1.5° (90-88.5). The pivot point upon opening the bbls is the center of the hinge pin, which lies some distance below the watertable. If one connects a line from the pivot to the lowest point of contact between the bbls & the breech & then extends a tangent upward & forward, then any point on the bbls which does not cross this tangent line will move away from the breech upon opening. I rough scaled the distance form pivot to breech on one gun & came up with a length of 2 3/4" & ½" below watertable. Figuring the tangent for this triangle gives 10.3°. Thus for a hinge located to these dimensions one could say with certainty that any breech cut to an angle with the watertable of 80° or "Greater" the bbls would open with no interference. It is quite patently obivious that "Journel of the Custom Gunmakers Guild" notwithstanding, tilting the breech forward to an angle of less than 90°, decreases rather than increases opening clearence. Incidently the above measurements were taken from a 16ga Lefever which is quite tight & on face. The corner of an ordinary .0035" piece of paper inserted in just above radius on either side of bar is gripped very tight & lever stops farther to right than mormal. A square with blade which can be set to clear radius shows standing breech is cut to a lesser angle than 90° with watertable, but have not yet put the precision protractor on it to determine exact angle. It is however "Not" cut this way to aid in opening the gun. It could be cut square or tilted Back to the same amount & open with equal ease in any case.
Last edited by 2-piper; 12/17/07 05:14 PM.
