Gentlemens:

There is, finally, some news on the mythical buttplates you have heard about. We have been working on them all along, but it has been a bit of an uphill battle. We were trying to do some things that apparently cannot be done, and were forced to add a couple of steps and some hand work to the process. I now understand why they cost as much as they do...

In any event, we have a real live prototype done. This is the standard design. We intend to make one with scalloped points top and bottom as well.

We have been asked about a solid plate, which is possible. How much of a demand is there for a solid plate? Should it have all four holes or only the top and bottom?

Our thanks to all who have offered encouragement and advice, and for the patience of those who were told the plates would be ready months ago. Any further comments and advice is welcome. It is not too late to change a few things, but it is getting close.

Respectfully,

Glenn Fewless

Hey Glenn, it looks great! I see you wiped off my blood from when I didn't want to give it back on Sunday. I also see the screws made their appearance - life is good. Are you going to bring some to Northbrook huh, huh, huh?

Superb work-Everything Hurst says about you is true! Dr. Dozier sends with much admiration I covet that buttplate(a cardinal sin if eever there was one)

I think a solid buttplate should have two screws.

Glenn, may I suggest the screw slots be a lot shallower so when fit a new clocked slot can be cut? That would make it a lot nicer. Good looking plate though.

Beautiful work! If I may ask, how proud are the supplied screw heads .. or am I missing something?

Glenn;

Thanks for the update. My order still stands.....right? A solid plate should have only two screws in my opinion. I have need of two now...for what it is worth.

Glenn,

Very nice indeed! When will you begin to take orders?

As for a solid plate, actually I was thinking that I would prefer if you cut the sides off to make a heel & toe plate. But I am sure you would find a market for a solid plate as well.

Pete

Joe, I think the screws and the "bottoms" are square cut so indexing can be done by removing metal from the base, then dressing the head flush with the plate. I am not familiar with a method of screw indexing that includes seating screws with shallow slots and reslotting them once tightened. What method do most gunmakers use?

Oh, that's nice. I know where there is an early Parker lifter sans skeleton buttplate that may suddenly become a viable purchase. You figured out what the price tag is going to read yet? Best regards, Jack

Glen, I admire your efforts to bring onto the "Market' a Good Skeleton Butt Protector" I know full well the 'Hours" that you have spent from the 1st Sketch' to this point . Have you fitted one onto,(In-to?) a stock? Over the years, I have made 'From Scratch, many"Skels" and "Full Butt-Plates" (A real Pain in the Butt!!!If I could make one small comment, I would give an Option on the screw heads,slotted or 'UN-slotted'.For some of us that came up in the Trade , Its quicker &cleaner to work with a 'Raw-Head' than aPre cut slot', Are you making the 1 Depth size (top to toe)???I wish you'Good-Sales', Trevallion @ C/C.

Hi, Glenn:
I've been in the market for some of these for the past couple of years, yours looks super. Please let me know price and delivery. Do you plan to make heel-and-toe clips also?

P.S. How's the BPCS season going?
Craig Libhart

Gentlemens:

Thanks for your interest and ideas. I will try to answer a few the questions.

The screws heads are tall. If I recall correctly they will be about .050" proud when seated. The thinking was that the shoulder could be set back to clock the screws, and then file them down flush with the plate.

The angled screw head is an interesting idea. I can see some difficulties but it could make the edge of the screw all but invisible. We will have a look at this.

Mr. T., next time we make the screws we can certainly take the slots out of some of them. But you know how much work it is going to be removing them slots. It's gonna cost ya'.

Craig: Heel and toe clips are certainly a possibility, but we will have to build some fixturing to make them. As for the shooting it, like everything else, was set back a couple months by my shoulder issues. Things are pretty much back in order now and I have just begun to shoot again.

Doug: I will bring the prototype to Northbrook but I don't expect to have any production pieces there. I think it will take about a week longer as I have a client who wants me to spend next week putting his rifle together so it is done in time for that show.




As for the price, there's the rub. We were originally quoting $100 for the plate but have discovered considerable more work in it than we originally thought. Therefore we have had to raise the price to $115. We will re-evaluate this after we have made batch or two of them, but this should be a workable figure.

In regards to ordering, we already have some orders and will fill them first. (Yes Dennis, your name is on the list) If you are interested in placing an order please write me at gfewless@tds.net and put something about butt plates in the subject line. Send no money, we will work out the billing when we have a product to ship. The Customer Satisfaction Policy will be pretty simple: if you are not happy with our product then we are not happy with your money and will trade you back even up.


Regards to all,

Glenn

[quote=Glenn Fewless]The screws heads are tall. If I recall correctly they will be about .050" proud when seated. The thinking was that the shoulder could be set back to clock the screws, and then file them down flush with the plate.

Glenn,
I was thinking similarly, but then noted the slots were very deep and not much material left between the bottom of the slot and shoulder. If this were to be the technique, it would require nearly half the screw thread pitch to be removed on the shoulder in worse case fits where a slot was clocked just past the desired alignment and required nearly half a turn to correct. I'm beginning to think along the lines of Doctor T. Big long heads about 1/2" long without slots or with slots.

The pictures look as if Chuck is right about the slot depth being a little deep for a full half turn relief of the shoulder, but I'm sure the designers will take care of that on the production models. It sure is nice to have someone else take care of the slotting and just leave the dressing of the screw heads for the fitters. I'm not good at any of it so welcome all assistance. I love those square edges.

Gentlemens:

The slot depth is a Catch-22 thing. The trouble is that the plate is only .100" thick. (we experimented with different thicknesses and it was thought that thicker stock made for a less attractive plate.) Therefore counterbores are only .065" deep. It is a pretty fine line between having a slot deep enough to be usable and having enough stock under the slot to hold everything together. This is unavoidably a compromise and there is no complete answer to the problem other than un- or shallow- slotted screws.

Glenn

I have always drilled the holes for the screws oversized. Coated the screws and skel with release agent and glassed the screws in clocked perfectly. Ken

The thinness of the plate (a desired effect) is the engineer's reason to have countersunk holes instead of flat bottom holes. Don't get me wrong, I like the flat bottom holes, but as Glenn suggests, it limits the versatility of screw slot depth. It also makes perfect screw head fitting more difficult. I'm glad it's not me doing the final design. I like to sleep a few hours every night. Murphy

Go to a finer pitch thread on the screw. It will hold just as well in dense stock wood and allow for minimal removal of material from the shoulder of the screw when adjusting the slots for the 'north/south' fit.

Well Glenn, here's what I think. Why not just forget the screws or the holes and let everyone drill their own holes and make their own screws. That way everybody's happy!

Please do not go with finer threads on the screws! I find it is too easy the strip the treads in the wood by over tightening when you have a finer tread. But us amateurs still need the holes and the screws. It's easier for you to drill them properly in a jig.

A scary prospect for some of us of low talent level!

Eightbore, Try it you'll like it! It's not a walk in the park but it's not all that hard. I have done one skel. plate and several solid plates like Parkers and Neidner.

Ken, I like your "clocking" solution. Thanks for the idea.

JC(AL)

Al ---- I found this not only to be fast But, you never have to worry about chewing up the wood threads. I would suggest you flatten one screw tip as an indicator so you will always know which hole it belongs to. FWIW, Ken

Gee Ken, why haven't you told me that a LONG time ago!

FWIW, I have an alternative method you may find useful if you are like me and need to take the buttplate off 27 million times w/o wearing out the screw holes. Install anchors and use bolts. Works - even for a dunderhead like me.

Brent