Repair And Restoration Of Broken Stocks

It began with a phone call from a hunter whose son had dropped his M77 Ruger .270 WCF from a tree stand and broke the stock. Both were saddened by the incident and they came to me questioning the cost of anew stock. They hadn’t brought the gun with them, having no thought that the stock could be repaired.

Luckily, they lived only four miles away, so the father had his son pick the gun up to have me inspect it. break completely through the right side of the small of the stock from the tang mortise above, including the checkering. The fracture extend- On close examination of the stock, I found a jagged, transverse Below left, clockwise: These pictures clearly show why the rifle owner thought the stock was damaged beyond repair.

The break extends completely through the stock from the top of the pistol grip, through the checkering, diagonally through the underside of the stock, through the trigger guard recess, and up to the magazine cut out.

All excess material is removed before the clamps are used to hold and close the crack. ed inward through the web forward of the trigger mortise extending into the magazine opening. Orthopedic surgeons would term this a comminuted fracture requiring hours of meticulous repair. With the action still in the stock I could apply gentle pressure and readily open the cracks. All pieces of wood appeared intact and the cracks seemed to close quite well as I applied linear pressure to the stock.

Because of that I felt I could quite successfully repair the stock and was given the go-ahead to do so. It wouldn’t be my first one while using the gentle touch of a surgeon. American Gunsmith readers may recall my October 2011 article ("Breathing New Life Into A Shattered Old Gunstock") where I had restored a 130-year-old Wm. R. Burkhard shotgun which was a total mess put together with metal bands and screws.

Repairing And Refinishing Selection of the required tools and materials was pretty straight forward: Epoxy, sandpaper, special epoxy applicator, clamps, wood stain, and stock finish. The stock was Clamps remain in place until the bonding material is fully set. The J-B Weld was mixed in the bottom of a soda can and carefully forced into the cracks with a cut-down feeler-gauge. held horizontally in a padded vise so I could carefully open the crack by applying lateral pressure.

This maneuver was required in order to work epoxy fully into each of the cracks, however, too much pressure could result in a fully broken stock. I used 80 pounds of compressed air to force out any dirt or chips that would interfere with complete clo-

The cracks in the stock are totally sealed with no evidence the stock was badly broken. sure of the crack during the bonding process. There are several suitable epoxies that can be used to securely bond materials together, including wood. There must be sufficient working time with a reasonably thin viscosity while the work is being done. The cracks in the wood stock must fit closely together for good dimensional stability and action-to-stock fit.

In this case I used J-B Weld which has excellent bonding qualities and a working time of around twenty minutes at room temperature. I mixed about a level tablespoon full of material which was applied with a cut down length of 0.020-inch thick flexible feeler gauge stock. Each crack and opening was carefully filled and the cracks in the broken stock were pulled together by straightening the stock. Each crack oozed of bonding material, then wiped clean as the stock was further straightened.

Two padded C-clamps were immediately applied, further forcing bonding material out, and all excess bonding material was wiped off, particularly on the checkering surface. The clamps remained in place until the epoxy was totally set. Examination Of The New Work This type of stock repair and renovation is analogous to a patient undergoing orthopedic and plastic surgery together and the outcome won’t be known until the bandages are removed. Beneath the padded clamps appeared to be a pleasing result.

The cracks had totally sealed and were quite unrecognizable as a broken gunstock—a minor miracle. For adding finishing touches and before the bonding material set to a glass-hard state, all particles were removed from the checkering. I didn’t want to rechecker any of the stock and didn’t have to. Atrick in avoiding bonding material sticking to the checkering is to apply a very light coat of release agent, such as used in action bedding. On a repair such as this involving the cut-checkering,

it is important that the checkering align well or the mismatched lines will detract from its appearance. I then lightly sanded the virtually invisible cracks in the wood and refinished the entire stock with Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil. When the owner called to pick up the gun, he asked how it turned out. "You’ll have to see," I told him. Perhaps this left him with a bit of trepidation, which was erased with The work was done at a fraction of the cost of purchasing anew stock. a smile as the stock was examined.

As gunsmiths, we will inevitably encounter some questionable repair jobs. Sometimes anew part or even anew gun would be the easiest solution but I strongly believe we owe it to the customer and ourselves to consider the alternate approach and repair or make apart. There will always remain a place for the innovative and resourceful gunsmith who can visualize. AG American Gunsmithing Association