Making your own simple wood stock?

[rick3]

Yes, I know that several companies now make wood/laminated stocks for the Axis.

But I was looking over some of the older posts, from BEFORE those stocks were available, and seeing that several people had tried (with varying degrees of success) to make their own wood/laminated stock. Their success seemed to depend on their experience/skill, as well as the tools available to them for the inletting. In fact, the inletting seemed to be the sticking point for success or failure.

Now, I was also reading thru some generic "stock-making" threads on another board, and someone (can't remember who now) had made some rimfire stocks by inletting a simple "box" shape into the action area (without all the nooks and crannies, depth changes, and fiddly little bits that make up the challenging parts), then using bedding compound to seat the action. He basically used the bedding compound to "stand in" for the finely fitted wood areas.

Granted, this was for a .22LR gun...but could the same principle be applied to a moderate power centerfire (.223, .243, .270, .308)? Wouldn't that make creating your own stock simple? And, using this principle, wouldn't a laminated stock be VERY simple by pre-cutting the interior layers with both the barrel groove and the inletted box?

Of course, I could be totally wrong...

[sixonetonoffun]

Youtube has a couple of good examples. I haven't the patience. Not with Boyds prices.

[DrThunder88]

Fiberglass stocks would have interior surfaces made primarily of epoxy and fiberglass (if they don't have aluminum bedding blocks). Whether the internal structure is laid-up fabric or cast with chopped strands, I don't know, but it strikes me as feasible. Fiberglass stocks are probably a good comparison, since they're made in halves. A few crossbolts in vital sections would be good for reinforcement.

I have made a forend and buttstock for a Rossi single shot, but that's a completely different animal.

Edit: My mistake, it looks like McMillan at least fills the hulk with an epoxy putty which is then has the inletting milled out on a CNC machine.

[sharpshooter]

If one was limited to few tools, that approach would be one of the simpler ways. Imagine a stock sliced into 12 pieces. Most of the slices could be cut on a band saw for the more complicated parts of the inlet. The slices could be fit to the barreled action 1 at a time before the glue up, for minimal inletting.

[BillPa]

Fiberglass stocks would have interior surfaces made primarily of epoxy and fiberglass (if they don't have aluminum bedding blocks). Whether the internal structure is laid-up fabric or cast with chopped strands, I don't know, but it strikes me as feasible.

One of my rifles, a Mauser 98 in 280Imp is in what was a MPI Ruger 77 stock. A guy had ordered it, paid the $100 deposit then changed his mind choosing to stay with the original wood stock. It laid around the shop for about year then for whatever reason one evening while having a '98 action on the bench I remembered it on the rack. Hummmm.........

The center section of MPI stocks are a solid molded mass from the wrist out past the lug area. A few minutes in a mill the 98 dropped (fell?) in. Next I mixed polyester resin and cabosil into a peanut butter consistency and rough bedded the action.

It was inletted for the Ruger hinged floor plate so to make my life easier I converted it to a blind mag by closing the inlet with 6oz 'glass cloth, cutting the liner portion off the 98 floorplate assembly and attached it to the action 700ADL style with two tabs-screws. I used a 700 ADL trigger guard and made an escutcheon for the front action screw.

All that was left to do, fit the barrel channel, bed it with Devcon F-F2 and paint it with Illinois Bronze wrinkle paint, what I used at time to paint the stocks.

Bill

[sharpshooter]

Illinois Bronze wrinkle paint......is that anything like Kentucky Chrome?