Ontario Hunter
AH legend
I recently picked up a very nice used stock for my standard 98 Mauser 404 Jeffery. It's a beautiful piece of wood with very nice checkering. Required some minor modification to the Brno vz.24 action before it would fit this apparently commercial stock. In particular, this stock is much thinner through the tang and grip. I cut down the tang screw and shaved a bit of metal from the top of the magazine box to make the tangs pull together. I also had to reform the Timney trigger's shoe to make it clear the trigger guard. Eventually everything fit together fine ... but just barely (almost ran out of thread on the tang screw).
So, it's now ready for crossbolts. Curiously, this stock must have been cut for a heavy hitter as the barrel channel indicates it formerly held something that was thick and tapered (not a varmint or target bull barrel without taper). Also, it only had one sling swivel at the butt, indicating a DGR style barrel band was formerly used. But no crossbolts? Odd. I am building a crossbolt drilling jig to set up on my Shopsmith. Don't foresee any issues.
But I'm thinking crossbolts won't be enough. I have a similarly thin-wristed commercial Mauser stock that broke there. Not enough meat left in the wrist. Sure makes for a nice looking elegent rifle that grips very well, even for my size L-XL mitts. But I'm concerned. I don't want to put the time, effort, and money into making this very nice stock fit my action and then have to throw it away when it breaks. So I'm thinking I will need to add reinforcement to the wrist. I have seen Potterfield's video and he makes it look easy. I'm sure it is not! He uses 1/4" threaded rod but I am concerned that will require too much wood removed from such a thin wrist. Instead I bought a long-shaft 3/16" drill and some stainless rod (smooth not threaded). Threaded rod might provide better grip with epoxy but I'm not able to find any in 3/16" locally. Also, thinner threaded rod might be weaker?
So, I'm throwing this out for advice or tips from anyone who may have tackled this. Any thoughts?
PS: Note the unusual concave recoil pad. Not collapsed. It's made that way by Pachmayer. I've never seen another one like it. Perhaps for trap shotguns?
So, it's now ready for crossbolts. Curiously, this stock must have been cut for a heavy hitter as the barrel channel indicates it formerly held something that was thick and tapered (not a varmint or target bull barrel without taper). Also, it only had one sling swivel at the butt, indicating a DGR style barrel band was formerly used. But no crossbolts? Odd. I am building a crossbolt drilling jig to set up on my Shopsmith. Don't foresee any issues.
But I'm thinking crossbolts won't be enough. I have a similarly thin-wristed commercial Mauser stock that broke there. Not enough meat left in the wrist. Sure makes for a nice looking elegent rifle that grips very well, even for my size L-XL mitts. But I'm concerned. I don't want to put the time, effort, and money into making this very nice stock fit my action and then have to throw it away when it breaks. So I'm thinking I will need to add reinforcement to the wrist. I have seen Potterfield's video and he makes it look easy. I'm sure it is not! He uses 1/4" threaded rod but I am concerned that will require too much wood removed from such a thin wrist. Instead I bought a long-shaft 3/16" drill and some stainless rod (smooth not threaded). Threaded rod might provide better grip with epoxy but I'm not able to find any in 3/16" locally. Also, thinner threaded rod might be weaker?
So, I'm throwing this out for advice or tips from anyone who may have tackled this. Any thoughts?
PS: Note the unusual concave recoil pad. Not collapsed. It's made that way by Pachmayer. I've never seen another one like it. Perhaps for trap shotguns?
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