Machined Stocks In Classic Custom Rifles, Part 2

In part one of this series I explained how I shortened the cheek piece in order to have the stock conform to my idea of an ideal stock in the American custom classic style. If you don’t recall, the original cheek piece was way too long for my taste, measuring something in excess of 12 inches from the trigger. I prefer the edge the cheek piece to be 10 inches from the trigger. With that addressed, it’s time to shape the rest of the machined stock to conform to this classic ideal. A quick note on pre-inletted stocks.

Many firms advertise 95% inletted stocks, which sounds like it might be a snap to fit a barreled action in them. WRONG. The last 5% of the work involved in inletting a barreled action can be the most trying and frustrating—not to mention that’s exactly when any mistakes will show in the finished product. The first thing we’ll do is to attach an ebony tip to the forend of the stock. Experience tells me that the ideal forend length is ten inches, give or take.

I cut the forend off at eight inches in front of where the receiver will be fitted. Next, I cut my ebony to two or more inches in length. There are two types of ebony commonly available to use: Gabon, which is very black in appearance, and Macassar, which has a sprinkling of brown streaking throughout the wood. I prefer Macassar because Gabon looks too much like plastic when the stock is fully finished.

I begin by drilling a hole in the ebony using the drill press, making certain everything is square and being careful to drill it in the correct location. I use either a 1/4 or 3/8 inch dowel, whichever is available, about one inch deep. Once drilled, I drip a bit of glue in the hole and tap the dowel in place and wipe off any excess glue that oozes out. With that complete, I drill a hole in the corresponding forend of the stock using the next larger sized bit.

Because this hole is drilled using a hand held drill it is impossible to be perfectly squared up, use the next larger size bit (e.g. a 3/8 inch bit for 1/4 inch dowel) and Brownells Acraglas epoxy to fill in any slop of the dowelto-forend fit. The only thing left is to clamp up the ebony and forend, being sure to squeeze out any excess epoxy. Drill relief holes in the ebony tip and stock forend to relieve any trapped air and glue. I prefer to use dowel that is striated for this purpose.

Everything is set aside to cure overnight. It’s important not to rush and to plan ahead. I do a bit of dry fitting to calculate how much work is involved. Most machined stocks are machine inletted, so a certain amount of wood must be removed in order to fit the barreled action. I don’t have any particular carving or wood working skill that allows me to stand out except one—patience. The rule is take your time.

If the barreled action has a one piece bottom metal unit (trigger guard and floor plate assembly) most of the experts call for inletting this first. I agree with that approach as it helps you to properly align the top metal (barrel and receiver) later. In the event you have a barreled action with two piece bottom metal you have no choice but to inlet the top metal first. Pre 64 Winchester 70’s are in this classification. This is where I depart from the experts.

Experience has taught me that I can inlet the two piece bottom metal found on the Winchester M-70 model as well as if I had a one piece unit to work with. I find it’s most helpful to acquire several tools to enable you to accomplish this. Inletting pins area must for me as well as Tee handles, available from Brownells or other gun tool supplier.

The inletting pins are useful for aligning the barreled action with the machined stock and the Tee handles during the later stages of inletting as they allow you to pull the bottom metal and top metal together quickly and easily. You can, of course, use the forward and rear tang screws, but as many times as you’ll need to "try and fit" they are bound to be seriously damaged. Initial Fitting I begin by fitting the bottom metal.

Insert the Tee handles in the forward and rear tangs and fit them into the screw holes in the machined stock to correctly align the parts. Likely the bottom metal will be a bit over sized compared to the machined inletting. I take a sharp scribe and carefully scribe an outline of the tangs. This is my starting point. Remove the bottom metal and begin to cut away excess wood, staying inside the lines just scribed.

I use a Dremel tool with a medium course burr and begin to remove excess wood from the curved ends of the tang recesses. Then I coat the bottom metal with a marking agent, either lipstick or one of the commercial

The majority of this work can be done with sharp chisels. spotting agents, and refit the bottom metal continuing the use of the Tee handles for correct alignment. Give the bottom metal a light tap with a plastic or rawhide hammer to impart marking agent to the wood. Remove the bottom metal and note where the spotting agent has left marks. These are high spots and indicate where wood must be removed. Once again pare away the excess wood. Repeat several times till the bottom metal begins to slip into place about in.

Now it’s time to work with the top metal (the barreled receiver.) First, remove any excess wood from the top of the ebony tip to make it even with the plane of the top of the forend. If the machined stock has a starter barrel channel, you will not be able to get much of an impression using the spotting agent. Here’s what I do. Turn the barreled receiver upside down and place it on the stock carefully aligning it to be centered.

Then I take a sharp scribe and outline the barrel being careful to stay inside of the barrel contour. Remove the barreled receiver and use a sharp pencil to trace the scribe marks to make them more visible. Next I go to the drill press and use appropriately-sized Forstner bits to hog out the barrel channel from the recoil lug area to 1/2 inch short of the end of the forend tip, being careful to stay inside of the pencil scribed mark.

I use my largest bit to remove wood from the recoil area, drilling down to the bottom of the recoil lug and then surpass it. This area will be filled with epoxy mixed with anodized aluminum which when cured becomes a solid block of aluminum. The last half inch of the barrel channel shall be carefully opened up using rat tail rasps and half round chisels in order to make the barrel channel fit the barrel and not have a square bottom visible once the barreled receiver is fully fitted.

Use Forstner bits to open up the recoil lug area as necessary in order to allow the recoil lug to drop in without any interference. The barreled receiver should now drop partially into place in the stock. I like to use Forstner bits because they have flat bottoms and drill true holes with clean straight sides. I then remove the triangular pieces between the holes drilled by the Forstner bits to open up the barrel channel even further.

If I haven’t done so already I remove all extraneous parts from the receiver, such as the trigger assembly, bolt stop assembly and the like. These parts will be inletted after the barreled receiver is fully inletted and bedded. With spotting agent liberally coating the barrel and receiver I begin parring away excess wood using the stock pins to align the top metal. Use whatever tools you are comfortable with. I prefer to use several Dremel tools, each fitted with a different bit. I take it slow and easy.

Remember you can not replace wood that has been removed. Once the barreled receiver is approximately half inletted into place I use the Tee handles to more perfectly align and slowly draw the bottom metal and top metal together. Now is the time to complete the fitting of the bottom metal by the try and fit method. I take as many fittings as necessary to achieve a perfect fit. The fit should be tight, but not so tight that the part is difficult to remove.

Remember as the part becomes fully inletted the marking agent will appear as it slides down into the inletting. Be careful about removing these marks as you will likely open the inletting too much ending in a case of "gaposis." The same thing applies to inletting the barreled receiver. This area will be filled with atomized aluminum creating a solid block of aluminum when it sets. The top metal should be inletted to one half of the barrel diameter.

Use a pencil to scribe the sides of the barrel to the tip of the forend to check your progress. Then go a fraction of an inch deeper so you will have a bit of wood to play with when you complete your finish sanding. Tap the barreled receiver with a plastic or rawhide hammer to reenforce the marks left by the marking agent just as you did on the bottom metal. Use chisels, the Dremel tool, and abrasive paper

wrapped around variously sized dowels to remove the high spots left by the marking agent. From time to time I step away from the project to take a look at the progress. When I’m satisfied that the barreled action is fully inletted—top and bottom metal—I can begin preparation for bedding the barreled action with epoxy. It is important to remember that the epoxy is not to be used to fill in mistakes but to reinforce and waterproof the wood.

I am convinced that the best way to get a perfect bedding job is to do it in stages with the recoil lug area and rear tang, the barrel channel and the receiver. Coat the entire barreled receiver with release agent or wax, being certain that every part is covered. I use children’s modeling clay to fill in any opening in the metal to prevent epoxy from flowing into these areas making it difficult, or impossible, to separate the wood from the metal.

If the cartridge being used is larger and more powerful than a 30- 06 I always reinforce the previously hogged out recoil area with atomized aluminum. For magnum cartridges I also use recoil cross bolts with plugs to cover the holes in the sides of the stock. One can’t be too careful! Bedding Now that we are ready for bedding here’s how I do it. The previously hogged out area of the recoil lug and The first step is to bed the recoil area and the second step is to bed the remainder of the channel.

Note how smooth and clean the task turns out when care is used in the process. Again note use of tee handles. rear tang are first. Drill out the rear tang screw hole from the top with a 3/8 inch bit from the top. Go down about half way. You don’t want to drill that hole all the way through because you want the smaller lower portion of the hole as a guide for the Tee handle. Also too large a hole will allow the epoxy to run out before it sets.

I use generous portions of modeling clay at those places where I don’t want epoxy, like the trigger assem-

bly inlet and magazine cut out behind the recoil lug. If it’s a magnum cartridge, mix up enough Acraglas to fill in the recoil lug area with a little left over for the upper rear tang and add in a generous portion of atomized aluminum, which will form a solid block of aluminum when it sets. I also use a bit of black dye to color the mixture. For any standard cartridge up to 30-06 I use Acraglas Gel as it is easier to work with due to it’s butter-like consistency.

No additives are necessary with Acraglas Gel except coloring With the stock set firmly in the vise I pour the epoxy mixture into the recoil lug opening and the rear tang inlet and carefully set the top metal in place. Insert the Tee handles through their respective openings and slowly tighten up the forward Tee handle. Do not tighten the rear tang Tee handle as it is used to keep the epoxy from running out. I want the action/receiver to settle in place without any stress on it.

This will become clear with the second step. Once I’m satisfied that the forward Tee handle is tight I wipe away excess epoxy that has oozed out and set the entire assembly aside for twenty four hours to properly cure. The next day I remove the barreled receiver from the stock and carefully clean up any excess. Examine the work. If you followed the instructions carefully the atomized aluminum epoxy should be hard and without major voids. On to step two.

Ire-coat the barreled receiver and bottom metal with release agent to prepare them for additional epoxy. Coat both Tee handles as well. Drill out the remainder of the rear tang screw hole from the bottom and forward tang with the same 3/8 inch drill you used before. The result is a variation of the pillar bedding system as the epoxy will form a solid pillar, promoting accuracy. I coat both lower tang inlets with Acraglas Gel and carefully set the bottom metal in place.

Use masking tape to hold it in place and turn the stock right side up. I generously coat the barrel channel with Gel and carefully set the top metal in place. This time I use both Tee handles to tighten the top metal and bottom metal in place using first one than the other. Since the recoil lug area and rear tang have been previously epoxy bedded the top metal should slide precisely into position without too much trouble. I make certain the barrel is fully seated to the end of the forend to get an exact fit.

Wipe off any excess epoxy to make removal of the metal work easier. Wait 24 hours and then remove the metal. I prefer to remove the bottom metal first, then the top metal. Step three in bedding is to bed the sides of the receiver. Some experts think this step is not necessary as the amount of bedding compound is slight. I like to do it as it gives the bedding a finished look and also waterproofs the receiver area.

Coat the receiver with release agent then mix up the Acraglas Gel as before and apply it to the sides of the receiver and the wood. Fit the top metal into the inletting and tighten as before using the Tee handles. When the Gel sets the bedding job is complete except for clean up. I reassemble the trigger and bolt stop assemblies to the action and inlet them into the stock. If the machining job was well done it’s likely all that must be done is to cut grooves for the various pins in the trigger assembly.

On Mauser actions the bolt stop assembly must also be fit to clear the wood without a large gap. Let’s not forget the bolt notch. This is also inletted into the stock by the try and fit method. I prefer the Dremel tool with various sized burrs for this task. Be certain the rear of the bolt handle clears the wood or it will chip wood out of the notch if there is the slightest set back upon firing. Reassemble the rifle and check out that all is in working order. Now, examine the results.

If I followed instructions carefully the results will be nearly perfect. If I discover voids in the epoxy which I consider to be excessive I might want to consider adding a "paint" coat of Acraglas epoxy. A paint coat implies what it is, with Acraglas epoxy spread in a thin layer to fill any voids. With the barreled action fully inlet and bedded I now move onto shaping the rest of the stock. Depending on who did the machining this may be simple to do or a task requiring some thought and work.

This stock was rather full on the outside so I plan to slenderize it to make it more attractive in keeping my thoughts of a custom classic rifle. I first turn my attention the ebony tip. It was a 2 x 2 x 2-1/8 inch block of wood and must now be brought down to size of the adjacent forend. I use chisels to hog off much of the excess wood paying close attention to the grain flow. Take as much of the excess wood from the tip using chisels as you can. Then I use rasps and files of every size to get the joint flush.

I also use my hand held belt sander with 40 grit abrasive paper and sand off as much wood as I am comfortable doing,. The 40 grit really eats up the wood so I’m very careful to keep it on the ebony as it will seriously gouge the much softer walnut. The final step is to use my largest surform file to get the joint dead smooth and flush I draw lines on top of the forend for use as a guide to thinning the forend to a more appropriate size.

I like about 1/8 inch flat on the top of the forend and fair it down to the stock itself in graceful, smooth, flowing lines. I step back occasionally to check the work. The last step is to cut the loading port down to the top of the rail and then to taper the sides of this cut. That will give the stock a classic look. Who said you can’t make a truly custom classic stock from a machined stock? All it takes is a lot patience, a good eye and a sense of style. AG