Final photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock.

[henry1]

I love it! Keep us updated!
Henry.

[Apache]

You are making me want to give this a try!!!


That's coming out great!!!

[mugsie]

You're my hero! I will be following this post too. You've given my something else to now work on. It's amazing how something that started out as just a "let's see if I can do this" has taken on a precious life of it's own! Good luck.

[sparky123321]

Almost done! Cut the forearm angles today and started to square everything off. I'll inlet the trigger guard and drill the first action hole tomorrow or over the weekend.

Learned a lot and having fun with this project. Thanks again for all the kind words and encouragement. Here are a few more photos.

[tyler.woodard04]

very cool. cant wait to see the finished pics.

[Balljoint]

Look's like you are a better stock maker than you give yourself credit for, If this stock go's forward to being used in a Bench rest match the front of the stock shouldn't be more than 3 inches wide and the buttock has a set size also BUT check on what they should be.

[Apache]

What size bit did you use for the receiver/barrel channel?

I assume you're gonna bed that also?

[sparky123321]

I used a 1.25" round nose bit for the barrel/action channel. I did open it up further using a piece of pipe with sandpaper wrapped around it to accommodate the 1.36" diameter of my barrel and action. Yes, I will go deeper with the router or a forstner bit in the action area and bed it with an industrial steel epoxy. Due to the weight and length of this barrel I will probably also bed the first 3" of the barrel.

I only shoot against myself, my shooting buddy and occasionally a few prairie dogs, so I'm not worried about conforming to any BR standards on the forearm width or the bottom of the butt. It wouldn't be any problem meeting the standards mentioned above, but it's not my goal. A couple more passes through the table saw and I could change any dimension.

[Smokey262]

Single shot action?

[sparky123321]

Yes, 3-bolt 4.4" single shot target action.

[barrel-nut]

That is so cool! Very nice. I'm jealous.

[sparky123321]

I meant Heavy Benchrest.

You're going to laugh when you see the router jig I used/made. It's just 4 pieces of scrape wood. You just need to make sure it perfectly centered. It wasn't hard to do. I started a shallow cut first to confirm the jig was properly aligned. After that I did the cut to the desired depth with just one slow cut. That $9 Hong Kong router bit did a great job.

I spent this morning hand sanding with a long auto body block. The forearm is dead on and perfectly flat and parallel. Still need to inlet the trigger guard, fill the voids and final sand the stock. I will probably finish it before bedding the action. We'll see. Might do it the other way around.

I dug out some wood from the action area. Nothing fancy, it's going to be full of epoxy steel anyway. I will probably go a little lower into the stock, but I'm waiting to see how the trigger looks in the trigger guard first.

Here's a couple more photos.







[img width=512 height=768]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1510.jpg[/img]

[sparky123321]

I finished inletting the trigger guard and bedding the action and the first 3" of the barrel. This is the first time I poured the pillars while doing the bedding. It's tight as a drum and I just need to backfill the trigger guard/rear action screw with epoxy and drill it through. I always use that hole to properly align the action, so I couldn't drill it down far enough to complete that pillar.

I really don't have much left to do. I have to inlet the trigger/safety area, install the buttplate and then finish the stock.

[img width=580 height=386]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1515.jpg[/img]

[img width=580 height=386]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1517.jpg[/img]

[img width=400 height=600]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1516.jpg[/img]

[GaCop]

You do great work! I'd love to try one of your stocks on a 110 (single shot).

[jrclocks]

Nice job!

Did you buy the router bits online? If so, what is the website?

Thanks,
JR

[sparky123321]

I bought the router bits on eBay. They were shipped from Hong Kong.

[jrclocks]

Thanks for the info.

Thinking of doing something similar for my 116 CF LA.

JR

[sparky123321]

Well, it's really pretty much done at this point. Unfortunately, due to the quality of the wood, I had to go with a dark stain to cover up some of the voids, dark spots and overlaps. I knew this going in though. I really want to see if I could do it first before spending any real money on it. My family and my shooting buddy hate the color of the stain, but I honestly like it(a little lighter though).

I think I'm going to buy a sheet of $100 void and overlap free plywood and make a few more of these. I figure most of the time was spent setting up the table saw cuts and the router, so I might as well do several at one time.

I'll keep this stock for measurements and just because it was my first attempt. I learned a lot, made a few mistakes and came up with better ways to do things, but had fun doing it. I’ll post a couple pictures when it’s all done with the action/barrel, trigger guard and butt plate are installed.

[sparky123321]

Even though the wood isn't perfect I couldn't take the stain as dark as it was. I decided to lighten it up this morning. You can't really tell from the photos, but it is now much lighter than it was in the first photo.

[jraney]

wow that is nice. what is the total time it took you , do you know?

[sparky123321]

It's tough to say. I did a couple hours here and a couple hours there. I'd say somewhere between 10-20 hours with the bedding and inlet. I'm pretty sure I could bang out 4-6 of these over a two too three week period part time. I think I'm going to give that a try next. It would be so much more efficient to do several at once. Setup time for the tablesaw cuts and router jig/bits would be spread out over the group instead of just the one stock.

[Smokey262]

"I learned a lot, made a few mistakes and came up with better ways to do things"

Can you flesh out that statement with pointers for fellow DIYer's?

6 in two weeks...

Waiting list ? :)

[jraney]

did you use any special type of glue or just regular wood glue? also about the wood is it something more than just regular plywood?

[memilanuk]

A couple years back PS magazine had some articles by a fellow that did his own stocks for 600yd BR. Can't recall his name, but he got on the map by setting the new 600yd group record of right around 5/8" for 5 shots with a .308 Win using an old Hart barrel...

Anyway, IIRC, he went down to the local box store (Lowes/HD) and got S4S poplar and glued up his blanks from that with Titebond... nothing super special. I've been tempted to 'prototype' an idea or two that way; just never seem to get around to it.

[jraney]

i think the hardest part would be the inletting for sure, but if i could save the money by biulding the stock myself then i could be able to send the stock to someone who knew what they were doing on the inletting. i am not looking for any record breaking type of equiptment i just want something that looks good and will aloow the gun to shoot to the best of its ability. i know i have some to do with that but as long as the stock is solid i can manage my part.