LE butt plate question...

[Dark Alley Dan]

Hey, folks. Quick couple of questions:

I understand the non-reflective grey buttplates that some LE were blessed with are made of a material referred to as "Tombac". According to Wikipedia, Tombac is a copper/zinc mixture that comes out looking more bronze than the flat grey colour I've seen in the buttplates (or late-war nickles) we think of as "tombac".

I'm working on a project with Lou - one of those stubby 45 ACP enfields - and have a Boyd's laminate stock in mind. If I go nutmeg laminate, the buttplate will be polished brass. But if I go pepper laminate, I'm leaning toward the Tombac.

Two questions, then:

1) Is the buttplate actually Tombac, or some sort of zinc-heavy alternative?

2) Will these buttplates take a polish? I have to think a pepper laminate stock with a shiny silver buttplate would look kinda awesome...

And before someone organizes a pitchfork and torch party for my bastardization of an Enfield, she was pretty far gone when I bought her. Some tool had hacked the last half-inch off her muzzle for reasons too perverse to understand. This is the highest use I could think of for her.

Thanks much,

Dan

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

OK, did a bit more research and re-learned that it's not Tombac, but ZAMAK - zinc, magnesium, copper.

Question #2 still stands - can you polish one of these up? Considering the magnesium content, I think I'd want to polish very gently...

 

[smellie]

ZAMAK it is, friend.

It is made of 99.99% pure Zink with several additives alloyed into the basic metal to get around/away from several nasty things which Zinc likes to do when cast/spincast/injection moulded.

Of the alloying materials, the greatest is Aluminum and even it runs only around 4 to 5%, with less Copper and even less Magnesium (around 1/2 of 1%). No great troubles there.

Only thing I would ask would be regarding the utility of polishing one. It would LOOK good, sure, but it would be relatively a fragile polishing job if the rifle actually were to be USED.

I have seen a couple which have been polished and they were pretty, but the fact remains that Zamak is NOT as strong as Steel.

For shooting, I am not at all convinced that a polished-shiny buttplate is a Good Idea. When the rifle comes up to your shoulder, you want t to STAY where it's put, right on that muscle pad. You do NOT want the thing slipping off and giving you a good, solid crack on the collarbone. That really hurts!

But no fears polishing if that's your bag. Nothing nasty can happen so long as it is still holdable, so judicious use of a wheel is okay.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Thanks, Smellie - I was hoping you'd weigh in on this!

I've never seen a ZAMAK buttplate shined up, but every one of them has been at least 20 years old when I've seen it. Is it particularly susceptible to oxidization? When they're not shined up, I find them serviceable, but lacking in aesthetic virtue, if you know what I mean. If this is going to be a constant festival of butt polishing (more of a Navy thing, from what I've heard) I'll go with brass and be done with it.

Not too worried about recoil in this specific application - even with a 12.5" barrel, 45ACP seems unlikely to beat me up much if at all. Good point, though, with the sterner calibers. That thump on the collarbone is pretty exciting.

 

[louthepou]

Just for the fun of it, I hand-rubbed a bit of polishing compound on one of the Zamak plates I have here; could be nice, it's similar to aluminum only a bit darker. Now the surface of the Zamak plates I have are somewhat rough, with dents etc. It could be nice in the end but I'd try to find a plate which would have seen less gravel and other foreign material leaving their mark on the butt plate.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Hey, Lou. Thanks for checking into this.

I pondered the zamak plate, and figured that for this one, we might as well go brass. It's classy, polishes up well, and will look spiffy as all get-out on the nutmeg laminate I ordered this morning. Boyd's will be delivering straight to you. The stock comes with a plastic buttplate, which is anathema to the classy rig we're putting together here.

Just couldn't shake the feeling that we'd end up with something that looked more like polished aluminum than chrome plate. Plus, the whole oxidation thing, and the inherent softness of the material (I know brass isn't known for being overly scratch-resistant, but it does take and keep a polish well).

The next one gets Duracoated Elvis Presley White, with a pepper laminate stock and a polished Zamak plate. It'll be my winter squirrel gun.

 

[louthepou]

He's out of control!!!!!

 

[x westie]

You can always tell if your rifle had lots of parade ground use, the Zamak butt plate will be bruised and beaten, but the rest of the rifle will be pristine condition..!

 

[9.3mauser]

Hey, Lou. Thanks for checking into this.

Just couldn't shake the feeling that we'd end up with something that looked more like polished aluminum than chrome plate. Plus, the whole oxidation thing, and the inherent softness of the material (I know brass isn't known for being overly scratch-resistant, but it does take and keep a polish well)

Well, you actually could have it chromed... I've worked in diecast with zamak and it will polish up, but it tarnishes quite easily. We would have it chromed all the time for the automotive industry.

 

[vinver]

I've polished Carburettor bodies on British motorcycles with Solvol Autosol polish, comes up very shiny fairly easily, but tarnishes back to a dull gray fairly quickly. Very fine water paper (600 grit) first will take out minor scratches and dings, then finishing with the Autosol. Expect to be doing it on a regular basis.