Centering my barrel in a plastic stock...

[TNbillyearl]

I fully expected to be purchasing a new stock when I acquired a 30-06 Axis last month. But no matter what factory ammo I shoot at the range, I get 1.5" or less MOA. Thus the pragmatist in me says, "Why?" But the OCD in me hates that my barrel sits/touches the right side of my forearm. Is there anyway I can get my barrel to sit centered on the forearm?

TNBillyEarl

[Robinhood]

heat or other stress....

[Stumpkiller]

My M11 had a similar problem. I took a utility knife and slit away the area where it was touching and then smoothed it up with a sanding block and toned it to black again with a Sharpie marker. I now have two-business-card thickness/clearance all the way to the barrel nut. Unfortunately, the right side has about eight-card-clearance. Harumph. I'm the kind of guy a crooked picture frame annoys so that is a constant irritation. But really hurts nothing at all.

I suppose the proper thing to do would be to grind away all the contact points and use a Brownell's Accaglas Bedding Kit to lay it in centered and securely.

I wasn't thrilled with the plastic stock, but it is growing on me. Light, impervious and it actually has good lines and feel; if not beauty. I have been toying with the idea of a hot soak or heat gun and then trying to bend it and letting it cool - but I don't want to crush or crease it and go from mild irritation to irreparable damage.


MY brother is eight years older and I remember as a kid the time he figured he could add weight to a set of plastic chess pieces by filling the hollow bases with molten lead. I don't want to be the guy with the Salvador Dali Savage stock.

4440

[prdatr]

Mine was touching on the right side when I bought it. I took it apart to clean off the oil from the factory and wiped it down with Frog Lube and let it sit for a day. When I put it back together and tightened it down I was able to keep it more centered and it has stayed there. Since then I have had it apart twice and it stays centered.
This is in 243 and is a hunting rig so other than a Rifle Basix Trigger, Talley Rings and Zeiss Terra 3x9 scope I am not planning any other mods as it shoots 3/4 MOA with factory 55 gr and 100 gr ammo.
One thing I do not like is when shooting offhand is the bolt contacts the top of the mag when I grip it.

[Stumpkiller]

I was inspired (and had enough Jim Beam in me) that I put a pot of water on the stove to boil last night and played around with my stock (M11 non-AccuStock). The pot was deep enough I could immerse about 6" of the forend.

With the stock dismounted I took a straight edge and, sure enough, it was not only leaning right, but the last 4 or 5" was "hogged" and the stock dropped 1/8" off the horizontal.

I started at a 30 second count in just simmering water and, with a gloved hand, I set the stock channel down on a counter and put my weight onto the nose while holding the receiver area flat to the counter as well; and pushing as much as I could to counter the right curve. No noticeable change in shape. So I held it it the water longer and repeated.

At around 90 seconds immersion and a hold while cooling of maybe two minutes I got the horizontal about right (closed up the gap under the barrel exit to about 3/16" and the right curve better (but still 1/16" more on one side than the other. I called that good enough. No noticeable distortion or discoloration to the stock. I can now curve three business cards around the barrel and run them down to the barrel nut.

I torque the stock bolts down to 50 in-lbs. Snugging the front then rear to about half that with a hand driver and then the torque wrench front and rear. Does anyone have an "official" recommend torque on them?

[pisgah]

My unaltered .270 shot 1.25" 3-shot, 100 -yard groups with Federal 130 gr. ammo with the barrel lightly touching the left side of the forearm about 2" behind the forearm tip. I decided on a whim to trim the barrel to 18", and when I did I found it was still shooting the same. But now, for some reason that slight one-sided touch bothered me. Before I did any stock trimming, I used a piece of credit card stock glued in at the forearm tip to center the barrel and put some very slight upward pressure on the barrel.

Guess what? It now shoots .6", 3-shot, 100-yard groups with the same ammo...

[TNbillyearl]

OP here. I found a fix for me similar to prdatr's. I took out the action screws and slowly tightened them by alternating torque between the screws. I held the rifle with my left hand securing the barrel as best I could in the center of the forearm. I found as I got to the end of tightening each action screw (still alternating half turn by half turn) the barrel was almost perfectly aligned. I hope that when I pick it up again this weekend it hasn't reverted back to being off kilter. If so, I might have to follow the Stumpkiller.

[prdatr]

My unaltered .270 shot 1.25" 3-shot, 100 -yard groups with Federal 130 gr. ammo with the barrel lightly touching the left side of the forearm about 2" behind the forearm tip. I decided on a whim to trim the barrel to 18", and when I did I found it was still shooting the same. But now, for some reason that slight one-sided touch bothered me. Before I did any stock trimming, I used a piece of credit card stock glued in at the forearm tip to center the barrel and put some very slight upward pressure on the barrel.

Guess what? It now shoots .6", 3-shot, 100-yard groups with the same ammo...

That's promising.
Back in the "olden days" before synthetic stocks having a pressure point where the stock contacted the barrel was sometimes done as some guns shot better groups like that. I'm a little foggy now but I seem to remember a manufacturer that did that from the factory.

[Stumpkiller]

I recall that as well. One of them had a nylon post in the forend to put pressure on the barrel.

I do not endorse or recommend the product, but the site below offers a "Barrel Harmonic Tuner" to deliberately apply pressure to the barrel. :noidea:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oNUdHmUB3FQJ:www.stocks-rifle.com/smartstock.htm+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[pisgah]

That's promising.
Back in the "olden days" before synthetic stocks having a pressure point where the stock contacted the barrel was sometimes done as some guns shot better groups like that. I'm a little foggy now but I seem to remember a manufacturer that did that from the factory.


Some still do. The last "Weatherby" (Howa) I owned had a very prominent pressure point built in just behind the tip, and shot like a house afire. These days most folks seem to assume that barrel/stock contact is a bad thing, and I know some folks who'll free-float a barrel before even shooting the gun, Pure foolishness. Free-floating is just as liable to harm accuracy as help, and anyone who changes the relationship between barrel and stock without extensive as-is testing is asking for trouble.