Stock project

[J A XSP]

Every now and then when I'm messing with Contenders, I think "I have wood. I have tools. I know how to do stuff...Why am I not making my own dang Contender stocks?!?"

I'm always a little stymied by the odd geometry involved in the otherwise simple milling and inletting for a Contender frame. Or rather I should say I'm always a little too lazy to reverse engineer to the point of making a couple of jigs. Over the last couple of days I got a little obsessed and dug further than I have in the past. I was able to get a close enough measurement on some of the angles to lay out a couple of simple jigs for running the blank over the table saw and holding on the drill press. and was able to get far enough to actually hang a hunk of wood on a frame. I used a piece of scrap as a crash test dummy but it went right in place. :) It's still early in the process but with a few tweaks and a little work refining the profile, I'll be ready to prep a piece decent wood and make something usable. :)

I have an old factory stock that has a nice palm grip area and nice general profile but I wanted to get the cheek rise a little closer to the High Plains Pegasus shape. That's the most comfortable and stock I've shot.

We'll see how this one shapes up but the initial geometry seems to get a nice cheek weld and put me right on a good scope picture. That forend is one that I threw together last week out of a mahogany scrap I had laying around.

[Bobby Tomek]

Looking good! I can't wait to see the fully-finished set.

This reminds me: Anyone who is thinking of buying a Contender stock through Haus Of Arms should call first. Virtually all of the laminates from HOA in the past have been Revolution stocks. So naturally, that's what one expects when ordering. But now, other than the walnut, you'll wind up getting a Boyd's instead of a Revolution. I like the Boyd's OK but like the Revolution much better due to the height of the comb. Back on the old SP board, I had even posted a photo showing the difference between the two.

[J A XSP]

Are the HOA stocks not the ones pictured? I didn't think they looked like Boyd's stocks.
I've been waiting for my funds to catch up so I can order a stock set from Marty.
The catching up has been slow with frames finally being available and those Van Horn barrels calling my name. :)

[Bobby Tomek]

When I ordered, the photo on the website still depicted the Revolution stock. But that is not what I received. I'm keeping it but was not thrilled. Had I known it was a Boyd's, I would not have ordered. The coloration doesn't even match my existing Revolution forend.

In fact, I wasn't even offered the option of a return when I inquired.

Here's Marty's response to my question as to whether all of their stocks are now Boyd's: "RH and LH walnut are revolution, we are in the process of shifting
more rifle sets back to Revolution."

[Bobby Tomek]

Here's the Boyd's buttstock with the Revolution forend.

https://i.postimg.cc/kg8cQwSd/mismatch-boyds-revolution.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[J A XSP]

You must have gotten the last of those Camo lam stocks...I'd been wanting to order that color but now he's out. I don't mind the Java lam color, though. I'm curious about the comb height. Off the frame, the stock looks pretty high-combed but in your pic it seems to droop a little. I'll give you a call next week and we can catch up and talk stocks. :)

[Bobby Tomek]

Sounds good. And yes, they Boyd's are definitely lower in height when it comes to check placement/eye alignment with the scope. The Revolutions are superior in that regard.

[J A XSP]

Well, that got out of hand in a hurry!! :D :D :D
I decided that rather than using the mahogany I have laying around, I'd get a piece of walnut. The smallest board I could find at my local hardwood supplier was way more than I needed but I figured that I can either make a lot of stocks or sell off inletted blanks. :)
It was all clean and nicely grained so there was enough in the board for 8 matched stock/forend sets with virtually no waste.
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[Steve The Chimney Sweep]

How did you you set up for drilling and inletting to connect to the frame? I would like to try this, in pine first, so I don't ruin a nice piece of wood.

[J A XSP]

I made several jigs to hold the raw blank at an angle. One for running the stock blank over a dado blade for the frame and another for running the forend over the dado blade. Then another for holding the stock blank at the correct angle on the drill press and a router jig for running the barrel channel in the forends. I made sort of quick and dirty jigs and used pony clamps go hold the blank in place. It was a little tricky but it worked well. I had trouble keeping a long 1/4" bit from drifting when finishing out the draw-bolt hole but mostly that worked pretty well, also. I didn't get any pics of the process but I'll see if I can stage things to get some pics to demo my process.
I realized that I should try to make a few blanks for grip sets while I'm messing with it so I may turn one of the stock blanks into a couple of grip sets.
For what it's worth, I'll probably have extra blanks to sell off, just square hunks inletted. I don't think I want to try to shape and finish all of these, though I could probably sell them once they're done. :)

[Steve The Chimney Sweep]

Thanks, the pics would be great. I love these little guns and am just getting back into them. Family duties took me away from shooting for a while, but now that the kids are older (11 and 9) we can start shooting together. My youngest is small for her age, a little peanut, can't even get behind my old Daisy 880 and needs to use my Crossman 1322. My boy is tall and has no problem with a bb gun or a 22. But, for the stock, i just like making things.

[J A XSP]

Took me a while to work out the shape from a raw blank but I've got it pretty close to what I want. I realized too late that I'd drawn the template with not enough wood at the back of the frame so this stock looks a little skimpy. It'll still work just fine but I'll make some improvements in the shaping on the next one. I'm particularly pleased with the shape and height of the comb, not to mention being able to control the LOP and get it just right. It comes up really naturally and the cheek weld and eye relief are perfect. :)
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[Bobby Tomek]

WOW! I love that! If you decide to make and sell these, they'd move in a hurry.

[J A XSP]

I hope to have an extra at some point that I can send down your way, Bobby.
I'll get this set sanded and finished and see how it feels at the bench and then I'll get a start on the beta version.
It'll take a little time to work out the kinks but if I get a shape that seems to work really well, I'll rig up a duplicator router so I won't have to sculpt it all by hand. That'd be the only way I could come close to making anything on the time expended. :)

[BT]

Impressive! You’re moving right along.

[BobT]

I don't see anything that looks skimpy about that stock. I think it looks great!

[J A XSP]

I don't see anything that looks skimpy about that stock. I think it looks great!

That area right behind the top/back of the frame is cut too close to the slot. It makes it hard to get a good shape around the corners of it. It needs a little meat behind the slot so the corner areas can be rounded into the wings and give it a good feel.

[Steve The Chimney Sweep]

That came out fantastic, you have a lot of talent.

[J A XSP]

Thanks!
That particular stock will definitely work and I'll need to finish it out pretty quickly because I have a Lynx SSK frame inbound as well as a new barrel that should be here next week. I've got another one ready for shaping and I should be able to rough it out quicker and refine a few lines based on what I did with the first one. Fun project but my shop is really, really full of walnut chips and sanding dust right now. :)

[J A XSP]

I got a few coats of finish on just in time to pick up my new Lynx frame from my FFL. :) I like the feel of the stock. This one is definitely a bit of a rough prototype and I'll make some refinements but it's fully functional. :)
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