Ok , lets start from the top .
First issue is the curvature of the trigger plate. As you can see in the photo below, the depth of the trigger plate is quite-a-bit deeper at the ends than it is at the center near the triggers. The center is just a hair below flush. I've tried bending the plate a little and it helped slightly, but there's only so much that I want to bend it before I start messing up the mechanics of the trigger. So I guess I'm unsure on how to properly correct this.
. What you did is, for the most parts how I do it . Remember your working on a pre-carve. As such your going to take a lot of wood off of the surface. Frankly though it looks fine IMO . A little shaping of the lines on the bottom of the stock which will be needed anyway and it will come out perfect .
Your trigger guard is not going to set on the surface. It will also be inlet . As such the front of your trigger plate looks to be about right as your TG will be inlet to the point the sides of the casting are in the wood . IE the your angled flats should start on the wood surface. Done forget that your going to eventually be taking some wood of the belly of the stock .
When it comes to the back being low at the nose and tail of the trigger plate . Again that’s something you have to deal with a pre-carve that you shouldn’t have to when working from a plank .IE because the profile of the pre-carved stock has already been defined , there will be only a small area where the trigger plate will match the bottom curve of the stock . As such if your pull is not the same as defined in the original layout you end up with what you have and then have to make some adjustments
your rear tab of the TG will be inlet . As such the trigger plate must be below the wood to allow for that . If its still way lower then you can look at thinning the wood down alittle .
BUT!!!!! Before you do anything . Let me ask you this . When you inlet the trigger and took the photo , was the trigger set or unset ?. It looks to me that it maybe set , but
The reason it make a difference is that when you set the trigger , the main spring is going to need have more room then it does when inlet unset .. So when you pull the back trigger , the main spring is forced up so as to apply pressure . If you did not plan for that and simply inlet the trigger , un set , then your plate is actually going to move up in the inlet as the spring moves . Which is ok because you can simply shim the back of the plate.
Second issue:
During the settling in of the trigger plate, somehow a gap was created at each end of the trigger plate. I outlined the trigger plate with an exactoknife and started chiseling away within the outline. As it was going down it seemed very tight at the ends of the plate, so much so that it was difficult to get the plate in and out and I was afraid that it might be so tight that it would peel a piece of wood off when taking it out. So I took a chisel and took a hair off of each end. This seemed to help, but the further I settled the plate in the wider the gap on the ends widened. I'm not exactly sure how this happened, but it happened. I guess there could no better place to mess up the inletting than on the ends of the trigger plate because the flaw will mostly be covered by the trigger guard.
Frankly it’s a non issue unless your working with a trigger plate that’s not going to be covered by the guard .
There however is a few rules which keep one from doing what you did .
a) as you inlet , your inlet must be tight . that’s a given but its should not be so tight you have to drive the part down into the inlet . While one would think do so woul produce a proper inlet . It doesn’t for parts that may need removed. What will happen is the stock is going to swell alittle in the finishing process and you wont be able to get the parts back in or out . Proper inletting is slow business . Sometimes it seems like what’s being removed is nothing at all
b) think about what you have been given and how that can be used without taking away anything .
Now this may at first not make since . But what it means is that your trigger plate is giving you all you need to inlet it without doing what you did so as to be able to pry the trigger plate out .
So look at your photos of the triggers as they are inlet . What do you see that can be used ?
Take note that when you remove the main spring screw , you now have a threaded hole . Simply take another bolt of the same thread and screw it into the Trigger plate . Not only will this help you lift the plate in and out ,but if you cant lift it you can turn the screw in , thus applying upward force that pushes the plate out .
Next is that your missing your back screw hole in the trigger plate . You can drill that hole in the plate and thus give you another point that you can apple leverage .
c) later down the road when you have drilled and tapped the Tang screw , that tang scre can then be screwed into the trigger plate from the bottom so as to help you get the plate out . But again if your inletting of this part is correct , the fit will be clean and the part will be able to be removed with very little pressure
Which leads me to the third issue.
As you can see I didn't properly plan ahead the trigger guard. The front of the trigger plate is right where the front lug of the trigger guard needs to be. What I should have done was while laying out the outline of the trigger plate I should have checked the placement of the trigger guard, but I didn't do that so now I have to deal with it. I'm just not sure how to do that. I could cut off the trigger plate so it doesnt interfere with the trigger guard lug and plug the inletted space with a piece of maple that I don't have, or since the area will be covered with the trigger guard, I could glass bed it, which I do have. I am definitely open to other suggestions..
first let me say this . NO GLASS BEADING . don’t even for one second think of it as an option . IMO glass bedding should only be considered as a final consequence of accepting defeat for a very bad mistake .
But then one also needs to be able to realize when they made a mistake
What makes you think you made a mistake ?
Should you have planned it out and cut the trigger plate back alittle ?
Yes .
But you did not . But I submit to you that what you did was not a mistake in that its something that needs to be fixed all you did was make alittle more work for yourself . Which IMO isn’t a mistake
Think of it like this . You were given a map to drive to a location you had never been before . So you follow the map and its directions and thus get to your destination . Once your there you then see that it would have been a lot faster if you just followed one road . Thus drove strait to the location without having to take all the side roads .
Did you make a mistake ? NOPE . Not yet anyway . What you did was gain experience from looking at the over all picture from a different point of view . Which in turn will benefit you the next time your driving to that location .
This is the same thing
The only thing that’s changed in this situation is that instead of inletting the pin tab of your trigger guard down into wood , your now going to have to inlet it through the Trigger plate and carry it on down into the wood .
IE no mistake , just a change in the make up of the situation .
The only real mistake you may have made is if you did not consider how your tang bolt is going to come through . Double check that to insure it will miss the trigger and the front trigger spring . If it will your then fine
So what I would do is mark the mounting tab location on the metal of the trigger plate . Make sure that the trigger will set center just as you other wise . Scribe closely around the tab. Now take a small drill bit that’s smaller then the width of the table and drill out the inside of the area . Once that’s done , come back with a needle file and square up the hole to the point that the TG mounting tab fits nicely through the plate .
If you have a jewelers saw you can also just drill a small hole at each end and then cut out the area . Then clean up with a file so that the TG tab will slip nicely through
Now in some cases the tab will split the plate . IE 1/2 In the plate , ½ in the stock . In that case you make a nice notch to allow the tab to fit through .
Also Note that for the most part , these tabs are a lot bigger then they need to be . What they are is casting spurs’ that are located so they can be used as mounting tabs. They don’t really ne to be more then about an 1/8 inch thick and ¼ wide . As such in some cases they can be trimmed down so as to clear a trigger plate
