John, is this a piano hinge or a butt hinge? Without seeing it, I'm having a difficult time picturing the assembly and process (don't own a camera like yours and not sure I'm looking at it correctly). Is there any way you could post an image of this so we can take a look?
That having been said, there are one or two tricks you can use on a piano-type hinge to tighten it up if necessary, before drilling pilot holes for the wood for screws. Remember the old end cutters? They nip parallel to the hinge axis, not perpendicular as would a wire cutter or dikes. If you have an old dull pair, you can grind a little bit out of them so that a flat results where each cutting edge is, the width and thickness of a hinge lobe. First, remove any extra width of the cutter's edge which would hit adjacent lobes, with a die grinder or bench grinder, carefully. Keep the ground-down flats as close to parallel as possible and the exact width of the hinge lobe. Once this is done, use the nipper as a tightening tool to crimp the hinge lobe gently onto the wire. Not too tight, but enough to take out any slop which will result in a wiggly tail board connection. Then position things to pre-drill pilot holes.
One trick we used for piano hinges and a snug fit for small cabinet doors was double back tape, the good stuff. Clean off the wood so no residue or dust is there. Use double back tape on the hinge face and locate the hinge on both parts. Look at it and gently move things around to make sure everything is in place. If things are good, use a pilot bit to do the 4 outboard holes first. Fasten with screws and then see what you have. It is easy to move things a tad by off-setting the next hole if it needs just a "fartskin" of adjustment (sorry, this is an exceedingly fine increment of measurement, don't have a better one). Allow a little bit for the thickness of the two layers of tape.
Hopefully this is an answer to your question and not a wild goose chase, eh? tim