I can’t tell you why there is a hole in the mag plug. Mine has no hole. But I will say that my east Taylor heat shield had flats between the rows of holes. Makes sense as the weaker steel [where the holes are] will bend before the solid steel will. I made an anvil out of a piece of oak board and used a socket and rubber mallet to round out my heat shield. Used my table saw and fed the wood into it at an angle to get a long half circle. Sanded it a little. Then used the socket to gently round it by forming it to the curve I’d cut.
I can’t tell you why there is a hole in the mag plug. Mine has no hole. But I will say that my east Taylor heat shield had flats between the rows of holes. Makes sense as the weaker steel [where the holes are] will bend before the solid steel will. I made an anvil out of a piece of oak board and used a socket and rubber mallet to round out my heat shield. Used my table saw and fed the wood into it at an angle to get a long half circle. Sanded it a little. Then used the socket to gently round it by forming it to the curve I’d cut.
There are several other examples of online of plugs with holes but I can't find any function for it anywhere so far. I have an east Taylor heat shield on order but not clear what you mean about having to round your heat shield - I thought they were suppose to fit with minimum adjustment. Can you post any photos of what you mentioned above?
Did you cut the rear of your stock for the swivel - from I what I could research the distance is 3-1/2" from the rear of the stock, buttplate removed.
Heres a pix of my unblued shield, the solid steel between the rows of holes was flatter [see where I’ve circled]. Using my homemade anvil I put a nice curve in it. And the finished product. I also cut the inlet for the lower swivel. I believe I cut this one by hand but on later swivels I used my mini mill. As this stock was shortened I added a block and covered it with the lace on buttstock cover.
Last edited by baltimoreed; 03-08-2022 at 07:11 PM.
Thanks for posting the photos. The heat shield looks like it came out great....did you have it blued or do it yourself?
How long has it been since you received the adapter and shield from East Taylor? I'm wondering if he makes them all flat between the holes. Seems like they should be made with the proper radius to start with. I think he would use the same gauge as the originals and same process to bend them. It'll be whatever when it shows up and I'll deal with it then.
I took the flat shields over to a couple shops today but they couldn't do anything. There's one more shop that was recommended but if he can't round them then I'll need to come up with my own method.
Right now I need to rout out the inlet for the rear sling swivel. The center is layed out but I need to confirm the measurement from the end of the stock with the buttplate removed.
Somebody I read said it was 3-1/2" then another said 4"....I'd like to be certain.
What did you cut yours at? If you or anyone else could confirm the correct measurement please let me know. I was going to use a 3/8" router bit and then cut the finished edge with a razor knife or X-Acto blade.
This is what a poster on machinegunboards said to my M12 build thread there. He says 2 3/8 inches from the stock toe [not including the buttplate]. I blued my shield as it came in the white. I also replaced the supplied soft screws with nice Brownells filister screws. I built my gun about 6 years ago.
Last edited by baltimoreed; 03-09-2022 at 08:31 AM.
Attachment 124767
This is what a poster on machinegunboards said to my M12 build thread there. He says 2 3/8 inches from the stock toe [not including the buttplate]. I blued my shield as it came in the white. I also replaced the supplied soft screws with nice Brownells filister screws. I built my gun about 6 years ago.
Thanks for the info - looks like exactly what I was hoping to find. Is the 2 3/8 inches from the toe measured from the end of the swivel or the rear screw hole? If so that locates the front screw hole exactly 3 1/2inches from the toe of the stock....maybe that's where the original measurement I found came from. However not to be contrary, I resized three different original M12's to full scale and they all indicated the rear end of the swivel at 3 1/2 inches.....(?)
If you cold blued your shield yourself it looks like it matches very well.
The swivel on my Model 12 trench gun is exactly 3-1/2 inches from the end of the buttstock wood to the edge of the swivel base. The muzzle is flush with the end of the bayonet adaptor (there is no protrusion of the barrel beyond the end of the adaptor).
Although a Thompson submachine gun swivel will work, it is not what was used on the Winchester trench guns. Winchester used its own proprietary swivel. It's the same one used on some of the other Winchester firearms.
As an example the photo is one of three original M12 Trench photos that was full scaled that indicates 31/2" was the measurement from the stock toe to the rear base of the swivel. Unless something else comes to light I'll go with 3 1/2 inches. If the image is expanded to "actual size" it's more clear.
Any further comments or suggestions are welcome...it's appreciated.
Thank you Tom - I'm not sure what my swivel was for. It came with the original adapter several years ago and it's parkerized. I'll probably use it but now I'm curious what the original Winchester swivels look like - I think they were blued.
PM
Originally Posted by baltimoreed
