So since I've gotten out of the Marine Corps I've been roaming around from project to project trying to keep myself entertained. I finally settled on one semi-big project that I'm getting sort of proud of.
Since my old stock Savage 111 in 7 rem mag was basically nothing but a 2 shot tops deer rifle (ridiculously small sporter barrel for heavy mag) and NC is even starting to get some coyotes now days, I decided completely redo everything but the action (and I polished it).
The bed job is with devcon 5 minute epoxy. Stuff is good if you're impatient like me and don't feel like waiting around for a day to see how good of a job you did. I didn't use quite enough epoxy and there are a couple of pinhole depressions in the bed, but I did it right around all of the real important areas. The recoil lug fits perfect against it's new mating surface now, and the bed is solid on the upper sides and around the pillars.
I probably should have mentioned this first, but that stock is a savage factory synthetic. I didn't feel like spending the money on a duramaxx or anything nice so I just took the old factory stock and slapped some bondo on it. It worked out pretty well but there are some pinholes that I could never get out, even when using acetone to thin the bondo. I worked on it about all I had the patience for and I decided to finish it off by using a textured paint to hide minute imperfections. It turned out real well and I love the feel of the paint, I did decided to not clearcoat it. If I do scratch the finish of the textured paint you don't even really need to sand it, just hit the scratch with a blast of paint. Believe me, I've already tested my theory and it works well. So instead of clear coat I just leave it as is and do 30 second repairs on the finish as needed. The forearm has been stiffened with bondo both internally and externally, I needed to make it wider for the varmint contour barrel anyway. I also used bondo on the grip. I was going for sort of a toned down mcmillan, notice the grip angle more squared to the barrel/action. I shoot alot better with this (via M40 and a mcmillan). All in all the stock feels very nice to me and only weighs a couple ounces more (I cut off some of the forearm and shortened the buttstock, so this displaces some bondo weight).
My blue job on the barrel didn't turn out perfect, but it looks decent. I used the cheap cold blue stuff from wal-mart. It works well but it's hard to apply even. If you repeat the process enough times it eventually starts to even itself out though. I can tell there are a few streaks directly under sunlight but in normal room light it looks almost perfect. Alas, there is still room for my abilities to grow. The barrel itself I ordered from ER Shaw. They have a pretty good price, they were nice to work with, and they had my barrel made and on my doorstep in about 5 weeks. The going rate for everyone else is 3 to 4 months. I chambered it in .270 win, though I know that's not a perfect cartridge but it still fits what I do fairly well. I want something to handle everything from coyotes to elk and sheep if I can ever get up there for a hunt. Anywho, I still haven't tested accuracy of the barrel so the verdict is still out there. We'll see later on today...
Since my old stock Savage 111 in 7 rem mag was basically nothing but a 2 shot tops deer rifle (ridiculously small sporter barrel for heavy mag) and NC is even starting to get some coyotes now days, I decided completely redo everything but the action (and I polished it).
The bed job is with devcon 5 minute epoxy. Stuff is good if you're impatient like me and don't feel like waiting around for a day to see how good of a job you did. I didn't use quite enough epoxy and there are a couple of pinhole depressions in the bed, but I did it right around all of the real important areas. The recoil lug fits perfect against it's new mating surface now, and the bed is solid on the upper sides and around the pillars.
I probably should have mentioned this first, but that stock is a savage factory synthetic. I didn't feel like spending the money on a duramaxx or anything nice so I just took the old factory stock and slapped some bondo on it. It worked out pretty well but there are some pinholes that I could never get out, even when using acetone to thin the bondo. I worked on it about all I had the patience for and I decided to finish it off by using a textured paint to hide minute imperfections. It turned out real well and I love the feel of the paint, I did decided to not clearcoat it. If I do scratch the finish of the textured paint you don't even really need to sand it, just hit the scratch with a blast of paint. Believe me, I've already tested my theory and it works well. So instead of clear coat I just leave it as is and do 30 second repairs on the finish as needed. The forearm has been stiffened with bondo both internally and externally, I needed to make it wider for the varmint contour barrel anyway. I also used bondo on the grip. I was going for sort of a toned down mcmillan, notice the grip angle more squared to the barrel/action. I shoot alot better with this (via M40 and a mcmillan). All in all the stock feels very nice to me and only weighs a couple ounces more (I cut off some of the forearm and shortened the buttstock, so this displaces some bondo weight).
My blue job on the barrel didn't turn out perfect, but it looks decent. I used the cheap cold blue stuff from wal-mart. It works well but it's hard to apply even. If you repeat the process enough times it eventually starts to even itself out though. I can tell there are a few streaks directly under sunlight but in normal room light it looks almost perfect. Alas, there is still room for my abilities to grow. The barrel itself I ordered from ER Shaw. They have a pretty good price, they were nice to work with, and they had my barrel made and on my doorstep in about 5 weeks. The going rate for everyone else is 3 to 4 months. I chambered it in .270 win, though I know that's not a perfect cartridge but it still fits what I do fairly well. I want something to handle everything from coyotes to elk and sheep if I can ever get up there for a hunt. Anywho, I still haven't tested accuracy of the barrel so the verdict is still out there. We'll see later on today...