Wedge bending

[Longone]

I thought I was doing a good thing by relieving the barrel channel so I would not have to squeeze the barrel and stock together with one hand while inserting the wedge with the other. The rifle shoots all over the place now as a result.
So I have read where bending the wedge pin slightly to adjust for a loose fit will tighten the stock to barrel fit, does it matter which way the pin is replaced, bend up or down?

BTW, the rifle is a T/C Hawken flinter.

Thanks in advance for your help and any other suggestions you might have.

Longone

[bubba.50]

if yer bendin' it to tighten the barrel in the channel the bend needs to go down to take up the slack.

[mooman76]

The wedge is the same facing up or down so it doesn't matter. It bends fairly easy with a hammer so tap it lightly and a little at a time until you get it where you want it.

[Longone]

Thanks bubba, that's the way I guessed but I've been wrong before.

Longone

[johnson1942]

don't bend the wedge. put a little paper under the breech plug area, enough so you have to bend the barrel down into the barrel channel to get the wedge in. all that is needed.

[Omnivore]

The answer (if you’re committed to bending the key(s)) would be "both up and down", i.e. down in the middle and up at the ends. After that of course you’d insert the key so the bow in the middle is protruding downward. Mark the key if necessary.

I would not have relieved the barrel channel, but merely filed the tops of the slots in the key escutcheons and/or slot in the wood, whichever the key is bearing upon. Actually, if I had to squeeze the barrel down a bit to get the key(s) in, I'd have been happy with it. That's exactly how I fit mine, and I did it purely by working on the key escutcheons, being as I was replacing them at the time.

Alternatively, you'd bend the barrel staples, which is an oft-recommended technique. That way you can use straight keys.

There are a lot of ways to skin that cat, also including filing the key or filing the staple, if all you need is a very slight adjustment. Altering or shimming a perfectly good barrel channel would be last on my list. Actually it wouldn't be on my list at all.

[Longone]

don't bend the wedge. put a little paper under the breech plug area, enough so you have to bend the barrel down into the barrel channel to get the wedge in. all that is needed.

Thanks johnson, that sounds like a straight forward way to go about it. In my school of thought from many years of bedding actions the barrel needs to be free floated (center fire rifles), but with a hooked breech and a wedge thats pretty tough to do 100%. The other thought I had to return to where I was would be to remove a slight amount of wood under the tang to lower the barrel and tang so I would be back to the point previous to listening to bad advice.

Sounds like a day at the range is in order.

Thanks, Longone

[koger]

On my TC ML's, I bed from the tang, to the end of the stock, skim bed the whole thing. Never did one that it did not help accuracy!

[idahoron]

Bed it with acraglas gel

[Blammer]

a LITTLE bend goes a LONG way in the wedge pin .

for my flinter I glass bedded the rifle to the stock just at the area where the pin is. Then I bent the pin 'ever so slightly' and it is really snug now. Shoots great.