Need some help! Shaping a gunstock!

[taylorce1]

What you see above is a M93 Mauser in .300 Savage. I’m building this rifle on the cheap, sort of. I bought the donor rifle for $50 that some bubba did a real hack job on. I picked up the .30-06 small ring barrel from Vapodog for something like $45 shipped. The bottom metal and trigger guard came from a trade. . The Trashco scope was pretty much a freebie and we have it on because we needed something when this rifle was test fired, in a borrowed synthetic stock.

I have a buddy with an FFL who is a machinist as well and wants to become a gunsmith so he did the metal work for me for $200 which included cutting off the threads and rethreading, chambering, welding on new bolt handle, putting the low swing safety, contouring the trigger guard, filling some extra holes in the receiver, and the Dura-coat for $200. I rented the reamer from 4D, along with the headspace gages

I’m now putting it into this stock. I’ve pretty much got it inlet the way I want it. Do I bed it now or do I shape the stock? Plus I want to trim it up since it is a Richard’s stock it has plenty of extra wood. How far back should I cut the forearm? Is there a good rule of thumb, my barrel after we cut it back comes out to 23” from the bolt face. If you look in the first picture you might be able to make out my pencil mark for where I’m considering cutting the stock back to.

It feeds pretty well as long as I work the bolt hard, if I try to go slow the cartridge rim hangs up on the firing pin since it still COC making it a pita to chamber. I did order a Bold trigger for this rifle, should I get the Traister cocking piece as well? The reason I ordered the trigger is because the current one is just a constant creep until it fires. It doesn’t have the two stage feel anymore.

I just need some opinions and ideas here to help me finish this little rifle up.

 

[Art Eatman]

Forearm length: I'd figure on the front sling swivel being just in front of where my hand is when setting up for an offhand shot. I figure there oughta be an inch of so of wood in front of the swivel. Anyhow, that sort of reasoning.

Assuming it's removable after bedding, I'd do that first. Then, removing any "fat" from the stock will also remove any stain or mess from when you goof during the bedding. (Glass bedding, I'm figuring...)

(My Garand was already glass bedded when I got it. No slop. Taking the stock off is a serious chore.)

 

[10-96]

I agree with Art... sorta.
Have an idea of where your off-hand is when you shoot from the hind legs, as Jack O'connor would have said, give an inch or a tad more for the swivel, and 1.5" - 2" in front of the swivel to balance out the asthetics and not leave it looking like a chop job. I started to voice an opinion about the looks of a light Winchester style schnabel (sp?) forend look, but I think the bbl contour might be a bit much for that look/shape.

edit: The cocking piece is purely, well, I dunno. You can always do that at a later time if the notion grabs you. That's kinda the beauty of doing a job like yours. There are very few limitations beyond your imagination and $$.

And yeah, I would do whatever bedding before you get into wood removal.

 

[taylorce1]

I've posted this elsewhere as well and pretty much everyone is saying half the length of the barrel from the receiver ring. So that would give me about 11" of forearm. I thought about the Schnable tip as well but don't know if I'm ready to carve that one yet. Thanks for the suggestions guys keep them coming!

I figured bedding first, but thought I'd ask as well! I like it when people agree with me before I do something that way the can't tell me "I told you so" after!

 

[hooligan1]

The length the stock is right now kinda makes the barrel look short, although you said it is 23 inches from bolt face, IMO, trim it back to 1.5 in front of the proposed sling swivel. The point that you have drawn is probably right on. Trim out that action and bed it that makes clean-up and finish, complete. What ART said looks like another taylored rifle will be gracing the forum!!! Dang, I want one..

 

[TX Hunter]

Not meaning to hijack your thread, but Man that thing is georgous.
Good luck with your stock modifications.

 

[Picher]

You should definitely bed it now.

I'd look at 1 1/4" to 1 1/5" off the forend. Whatever you do, free-float the barrel, leaving at least 1/16" of space all around the barrel. I also like to run the bedding up the barrel channel about 1- 1 1/4" from the receiver, especially on a flat-bottomed receiver. The barrel round tends to center the barrel if the stock spreads.

Consider pillar-bedding. It's a bit more work, but worth it. I often use the 1/2" steel tubing available in the metals rack at Home Depot. It's easy to drill 1/2" holes and keep them hidden under floorplates. You can leave the top about 1/16" low, to allow for uniform bedding material.

JB Weld works well for bedding. It's cheap, available most everywhere, and comes in small tubes, so you don't have to open large containers and have the remainder spoil over time.

 

[Scorch]

That is a nice looking stock. And the Mauser 93 or 95 are some of my favorites for moderate pressure rounds like the 300 Savage or 7X57.

I agree you should bed it before you start on the exterior work, that way any dribbles or oopsies are easy to conceal. The forearm should be about 1/2 the barrel length for the "classic American sporter" look. Right about where you have the line is just about right.

Sling swivels go 2" from the end of the forearm unless you have a schnabel or a massive checkering panel there (I always put them about 3" back if there is a schnabel, and I checker around swivels and such). Rear swivels go 3" from the toe.

Before you start any finish work, you should put that stock on a major weight-loss program, Richards leaves enough wood on there to give you a lot of leeway. Personally, I would look at slimming down the pistol grip and forearm, and slim the action area to flow nicely from the PG to the forearm. The cheekpiece could use some reshaping, too. If you need tips on the specifics, PM me.

I don't have pictures yet, but I am currently working on a Richards Old Classic stock that has been turned into a British stalking rifle, and it looks quite nice if I do say so myself. It lost about 1/3 of the wood from the stock, forearm shortened to 10", cheekpiece modified to a classic European teardrop, and the PG swept back almost 1", plus wraparound checkering front and back. So you can do a lot with what Richards gives you.

 

[oneoldsap]

Why Not !

Since you are going to shorten the forearm anyway why not put a Schnable on it before you shorten it , just for practice . If it comes out well you'll know that you can do it . Then cut it to length and do it again . A Schnable forend is a nice touch , and in my mind it's what makes the Mod. 70 featherweight the best looking bolt action rifle ever built in this country ! That is an excellent piece you are building , in a real fun caliber . Your friend has a future in the gunsmithing trade , that looks like some excellent craftsmanship he's done so far . The only thing that I would have done different would be to loose the bolt safety and put the new trigger on with a side safety . Nice rifle !!!

 

[PetahW]

At the risk of preaching to the choir, Mauser's are best, bedded thusly:

Remove the trigger mechanism and SillyPutty all action holes/crevices B 4 applying a thick coat of paste wax to action & stock.

Bed:
Tight on action bottom & sides.
Tight on round action bottom just ahead of recoil lug.
Tight on barrel bottom & sides, under chamber.
Tight on sides of rear tang.
Tight on recoil lug rear face only.

Clearance at the rear of the tang (1/32")
Clearance around the front/rear guard screws.
Clearance at recoil lug - front, bottom & both sides.

Use tape layer(s) to provide the clearances, and wax over it.


I first fully float the barrels, then temporarily bed the forearm tip with credit card shims to see if accuracy increases. If it does, I replace the shims with bedding compound.

FWIW - I really like your .300 Savage app, to that 93 Mauser. It's more than appropriate, it's the bomb !
.

 

[taylorce1]

Scorch, you will probably be getting a pm in the next couple of days on suggestions on how to open the pistol girp up. I will be doing quite a bit of slimming of the fore arm and putting this thing on a diet.

oneoldsap, I looked at getting a Bold trigger with the side safety but I really don't like how the safeties are shaped on it or the Timney. I did order the Bold trigger without the safety. I hope to eventually put a two position safety on this rifle that resembles a M70 safety.

I fixed the problem with the firing pin tonight by swaping in another cocking piece that I had. Now it feeds properly, I learned that the firing pin should be cammed back when the bolt is lifted, and there shouldn't be any of it stick out to hang up on the rim. Quick easy fix but now I have to take it apart and hand polish the cocking piece.

 

[taylorce1]

Ok, still haven’t bedded it yet but I did get to spend about 4 hours on it with a rasp and file. Still have to bring the wood down in a couple of areas on the trigger guard, and in the tang. I did thin the wrist out, a lot of recommendations came to use a 1lb coffee can to set the radius in my grip, didn’t have a coffee can but used a roll of 2” masking tape. I’ve put this stock on a weight watchers diet plan but I think there is some more weight loss to come.

As you can see I’ve toned down that extremely blonde left side of the stock. Plus I’ve thinned the forearm by removing a ton of wood. Anyway I could still use some suggestions on this stock. I’ve decided to not bed it until I’m finished rough shaping the stock. I’ll bed it before I start doing the final sanding and the oil finish.

Thanks for looking.

 

[hooligan1]

DON"T LEAVE THE FOREARM LIKE THAT!!!:barf:Got to cut that off at a back angle or 90 degrees, I will digress....

 

[taylorce1]

I'm not that is just where I stopped when I got tired last night. I'm going to round it up more. When I'm done it should look something like my .300 H&H.

 

[hooligan1]

I like that look there better, but I'm still cleaning spewed coffee off my computer screen, I really like the way you did your 25-06, and I was hoping to see that style kinda Hey man its all good, I thank you for sharing the project with us all. Oh I almost forgot,,,Thumbs Up on your buddy's abilities... Nice!!

 

[taylorce1]

I don’t think my wood working skills are good enough yet to get this stock to resemble my .26-06. I like that stock much better as well but it didn’t fit in the concept for this rifle. I always imagined something like a Ruger compact in this rifle. I may hack off more of the barrel later to get it down to 20” or so, don’t know if I’ll go 18” like the Ruger. Besides I think it would be a lot easier to shape this stock if it was a hardwood instead of a laminate, that glue makes it tough to cut, my chisels dull quickly and my rasps fill full of wood and I have to card them to get them clean enough to cut again.

It would be tough to get this:

To look like this:

Just don’t think I can make a racehorse out of a plow horse, so to speak!

 

[taylorce1]

Starting to look better, here it is after a little more time spent shaping. Thanks Scorch for the suggestions. Next I think I’ll spot bed it and see how she shoots before I go too much further on the stock.

 

[taylorce1]

Just another update, I hope to get some more pictures taken this afternoon of the rifle back in the stock. It looks much better than I had planned on when I started this. I think I'm done with the rough shaping now, there will be some more fine tuning of it as I do the final sanding and finish it.

I did have to open up the stock for the new trigger which came in and I installed. I picked up a Bold 94/96 trigger, sure is nice to not have the constant creep in the trigger now. If I remember Boyd's sets them at 2.7 lbs of pull and I could go down to 2 lbs easily, but the trigger feels great when I dry fire now. The only problem now is the safety doesn't work with the new trigger, so more than likely I'll have to take it back to my buddy or other gunsmith to get it adjusted properly. Plus since I'll have to take it in for an adjustment I went ahead and orderd the Traister speed lock kit to change it over to COO.

Going to spot bed it in the next day or so, and then I'll put it away so I can have my bench to reload some cartridges. I picked up some 130 grain Hornady bullets to try. I was going to shoot the 125 grain Nosler BT in it but with Horandy I get an extra 50 bullets for around $5 more a box. The intermediate length of the magazine box sure gives me a ton of room to use longer bullets if I want, but I have the .30-06 and .300 H&H if I want to go heavier than 165 grains.

 

[taylorce1]

Well here is how my rifle looks now. I've torn it back down and will bed the action tomorrow!

 

[hooligan1]

Now you're just showing off!!