A Unique Stock Bolt Design

A sign on Thomas Edison’s desk read, "There’s a better way to do it. Find it." Those words rang true as I examined a Winchester Low Wall fully restored by my friend, single shot aficionado Stephen De Hart. The first thing that caught my eye were the blind upper and lower tang screws.

They were hard to miss, being brightly polished with nary a screw slot or any other opening to enable removal. "What’s with the blind screw heads," I said. "How do you remove them and the butt stock?" De Hart’s answer was measured, as though he anticipated the question. He told me the blind screw heads were designed to get the attention of anyone attempting to remove the butt stock to stop and think!

With that, he opened the trap door built into the Zischanginspired butt plate, inserted a screw driver with an Allen head bit and removed what turned out to be the stock bolt. Rifle buffs have noted for years that the major weakness of two piece single shot rifles is the lack of a stock bolt to firmly and positively secure the butt to the frame. There are a number of exceptions. Two that come immediately to mind are the Ballard and the Fraser, but there are probably oth- The brass screw keeps it secured.

Once started the screw may be removed by hand, necessary only if one wants to remove the stock bolt block.

You must know that you’re doing to disassemble to this point. ers. Among more contemporary single shot rifles, the Ruger #1 and #3 feature stock bolts. The new line Winchester Low Walls made in Japan by Moruko also feature a stock bolt, but this new Winchester reproduction single shot rifle is another situation altogether. While the exterior looks like a Low Wall, save for the lack of a lower tang, the internals are completely different. I am not certain that John Browning would approve, but I digress.

I am positive that all single shot buffs have at one time or other given thought to a better way to attach the butt stock to the frame in a more secure manner. The stock bolt is the obvious answer. I am also equally certain that they have seen some of the efforts to accomplish this. From my own experience I have seen several, all with the same premise, which is to attach a holding block between the upper and lower tangs.

Most often the holding block is held in place with machine screws, replacing the original wood screws, using the already present screw holes in the tangs. The problem with this solution is that, unless you know a stock bolt is the attachment device, you are apt to remove the screws as usual and then proceed to try to remove the stock by wrenching it off. Bad idea! Thus, the genius behind the blind screws.

By now you must be thinking, "So how do you release the blind screws attached to the holding block?" Good question, because as I examined the holding block it wasn’t evident to me, either. At least until I spied what appeared to be the end of an Allen wrench. De Hart slipped the Allen wrench out of its receptacle, inserted it into the end of the tang machine screw and proceeded to loosen the screw which held the holding bock in place. Truly amazing—and for me—a better way to do it. AG