I bought “commercial” bottom metal from gunparts corp for my 35 Whelen project. The kind that has a release in the front of the bow like an Argentine Mauser. It was really rough and required a lot of fileing and stoning to get it to look ok. I have installed it on the gun and it works fine except for one little issue. Upon fireing the floorplate opens up. I put some tape on the release lever in the bow as a test and it stays shut. I suspect that a stronger spring might solve this isssue. Has anyone had a similar issue with this type of bottom metal?

Here is a picture of the bottom metal (the best that I had)

Yep I fixed more than a few of those. Start with a tighter spring in the latch. That fixes tham most of the time. Ideally you need to weld the plate up to extend the part that engages the latch. Also if it is your finger hitting it, file down the button, you should have to push it down until it is level with the bow or just a little proud. Usually the fix was a combo of shortening the button and a heavier spring. But 2 of them I did needed welding.
Don

And if I may ask, where did that stunning piece of wood come from?

quote:

And if I may ask, where did that stunning piece of wood come from

I have a piece of Bastogne that looks like it came from the same slab

Thanks for the feedback, I will give it a try and see if the spring will fix it.

The wood came from Great American Gunstocks as a semi inletted blank. They had several shown on their website and my wife picked this one. She really liked the fiddleback in it. It was a little difficult to inlet with all the alternating grain. But I think that it came out nice.

Thanks for the kind words.