Opening up barrel channel... on a 'glass stock

[memilanuk]

I have a Stockade Prairie Dog Special that is on my wife's F-Class rig. It's previous incarnation was as a .223 Rem with a 24" Lothar-Walther medium varmint taper barrel - shot very well and she did pretty good with it. For something different, we opted to change to a 6mm BR - 28", Brux 1-8" tw .272" nk, medium varmint taper. Unfortunately, while the new barrel looks pretty good and I have every confidence it'll shoot fine, it seems to have some clearance problems in the barrel channel. Not side to side, but along the bottom. Seems like it's a bit thicker further down the length, and is contacting the forearm near the end. The stock has a couple coats of primer and paint on it, so I can sand through that okay, but after that... what happens when I'm down to the fiberglass? I've heard very bad things about cutting through the 'glass and compromising the structural integrity of fiberglass stocks. I'm almost considering whether it would be better to bed the action 'up' a little to give it a touch more clearance rather than fool around with the barrel channel?

Any suggestions?

TIA,

Monte

[Tightgroups]

I sanded one down once, but it wasn't quite enough, so I wrapped masking tape around the barrel where it touched the stock, and bedded the action up a little, it doesnt take much.
Mike.

[sharpshooter]

There's not much fiberglas if any in the barrel channel, just a thin layer of gelcoat. Once you get through that, you're into foam. Not a big deal though, the gelcoat in the barrel channel doesn't give it any rigidity, just a smooth appearance. I'd just sand it out for clearance and give it a coat of paint.

[pdog06]

There's not much fiberglas if any in the barrel channel, just a thin layer of gelcoat. Once you get through that, you're into foam. Not a big deal though, the gelcoat in the barrel channel doesn't give it any rigidity, just a smooth appearance. I'd just sand it out for clearance and give it a coat of paint.


+1, and if you dont like the look of the foam in the channel lay a little layer of epoxy to smooth it out then paint it. It leaves a nice smooth channel when it is done.

If you are planning on bedding it anyway then you could kill 2 birds with 1 stone though.

[memilanuk]

Hmmm... well, I'll try a little discreet sanding first as that seems to be the simplest and most direct approach. I really didn't *want* to have to fiddle with bedding this stock... its the second Stockade stock that I've had that just shoots itty-bitty groups with no bedding, nothing. Just drop it in and go. Until, that is, I went fooling around with the barrel contour ::) That was kind of my first indication that something was not right... the gun shot 'okay' but not 'great', and I've shot a few rounds of 6mm BR over the past few years - enough to know that I should have been getting better groups than I was. Went home and started to take it apart to check things over and was surprised to find the barreled action 'sproing' out of the stock when I loosened the stock bolts. After going through more slowly I realized the stock was hitting the underside of the barrel and then when I tightened the bolts fully, put everything under tension. Oops :-[