Some rifles I have stocked or built

[nztimb]

At this stage I needed a barrel hanger for the forestock so I started with a MLE barrel band attachment and opened it out to fit the martini barrel.

With it fitted to the barrel it needs marked on the forestock to position it correctly

Making sure the attachment screw hole is correctly aligned with what will be the bottom of the stock

 

[nztimb]

It was at this stage that Euan asked if it was possible to fit a horn tip and while it would be possible it was going to require some exacting pin work.

After the finish was applied it looked rather smart

 

[USMA84DAB]

Von G - I have done some of what you are sharing, so can appreciate the work that goes into the wood-metal fit you picture. You are quite a craftsman!

 

[nztimb]

Another one for Euan. He bought a 60's Fajen mannlicher blank at auction and wanted to sit a G 33-40 8x57 B/A into it with some style changes. One of his rifles had a P O W grip and asked if I would incorporate that into the mannlicher stock.

The first this to do was the inlet and I taped a drill bit (tape round the shank within the barrel to protect it) as an extension so I had something to grip when removing it from the stock during the inlet process.

The cheekpiece and grip shape needed attending to

I had a number of the sandcast butt plates and the length of the stock butt required a shortening of one to fit.

There was way too much wood through the action area and Euan wanted the lowered window through the side of the action rather that the usual thumb recess.

There was quite a bit of slimming to do for the full length of the forestock with some hardware to fit and in the end it turned out rather nicely.

 

[bruce moulds]

von gruff,
I was going to repeat the question "what do you do in your spare time?"
but I will change the question to "when do you sleep".
the creative mind will never let the body rest.
bruce.

 

[nztimb]

von gruff,
I was going to repeat the question "what do you do in your spare time?"
but I will change the question to "when do you sleep".
the creative mind will never let the body rest.
bruce.

Sleep is an over rated pastime but has very often been broken when some of my projects have had various problems worked through so that when I go to the shed the way forward is plainly obvious.

 

[Shootist43]

Von Gruff, you do some dang nice work, I hate it that you live so far away.

 

[nztimb]

Von Gruff, you do some dang nice work, I hate it that you live so far away.

I have to counteract that with " it is not me that is far away"

 

[nztimb]

Another friend had bought this BSA cheap because there was a big crack in the stock so a replacement was needed but John is a big man and he also required a bit more length. For whatever reason he liked the stock style and wanted it replicated with its triangular fore stock and reverse angle fore end tip. A plank of walnut was the place to start

Checking for cast

inlet done

Ebony tip on, The grip cap was done later.

butt pad on

start some shaping. The wrist end of the cheekpiece is too low here but I altered that before finishing the stock.

ready to go back to John

At the same time I re-finished his little 22 that had been his rifle as a boy. It had years of use showing so a little work to get it right and to make sure the original BSA impression on the buttstock was still featured as intended.

 

[Shootist43]

Von Gruff, how do you make those tight radius curves when rough sawing out a blank? It looks like you could use either a band saw and or a table saw for the straighter cuts, then maybe a jig saw for the sharper radius cuts?

 

[nztimb]

Some barrel channel pull scrapers I made. Three different barrels that I use for push scrapers had a slice cut off the end

8 x 1/4 bolts so the barrel slices were drilled to except the bolts

Handles from an old broomstick

and with the barrel slices sharpened they give four faces to scrape with before needing to be touched up on a stone. Use one edge and then turn the barrel slice 180 degrees for the other edge on the same face to be used then it can be turned for the other end and its two edges but there are quite a few barrel channels that get done with the 4 edges. The bends in bolt shaft are the same. It is just how they lay on the bench that makes them look different.

 

[nztimb]

Von Gruff, how do you make those tight radius curves when rough sawing out a blank? It looks like you could use either a band saw and or a table saw for the straighter cuts, then maybe a jig saw for the sharper radius cuts?

On the BSA I used the jigsaw because the walnut plank was too big to do on the bandsaw which is what I cut them on when I use one of the blanks from NZ Walnut.

 

[nztimb]

Another Lee Speed styled stock that now resides in the US and one of the 5 or 6 that I ended up sending to the US and Canada.
Starting from an 1899 MLE action with a barrel that was going to be bored out to make a 375-303

 

[nztimb]

Another Mannlicher with this one being on a Sako and Dean wanted the big (donkey d**k) schnabel tip. His instructions were to replicate the Sako stock through to the front of the action then have the long forestock with the (african blackwood) tip . This was the pic he supplied that was to be the pattern for the tip. The barrel was to be shortened to were the tape starts

The two round of tape are to indicate where the schnabel will start and stop as the barrel was going to be shortened.

And the shaping starts

 

[nztimb]

Dean sent me a pic or two after the barrel dad been shortened and the sights added.

 

[perttime]

That Sako looks nice. Just. That schnabel. The guy got exactly what he asked for ... but ...

 

[nztimb]

That Sako looks nice. Just. That schnabel. The guy got exactly what he asked for ... but ...

Definately not to my taste but it was another stock to do and the challenge of making it exactly as he wanted.

 

[nztimb]

This was another for Euan as this CZ is one of his work rifles (pest animal shooting) had had an altercation with his 4 wheeler with this being the result

Glue it back together to get the pattern

A couple of planks of Beech came with it to use for these cheap replacment stocks

 

[nztimb]

And a re-shaping of the horrible roll-over comb/cheekpiece, plus a shorten and slim down on this mini mauser which was like a thick plank for such a nice little action

 

[nztimb]

A K-hornet restock for Euan who wanted a traditional look to the stock but with a combline that would afford a better scope allignment

What I decided to do was to change the line of the throughbolt to lift the comb while still appearinmg to be a standard stock as you can see from this pic of the bolt hole line marked on the stock. The dotted line is the traditional bolt hole line and the solid line will lift the comb line although I also added a little to the comb height as well but not enough to be really visible on the finished stock .
This is how I drill the bolt hole. I use the drill cradle to support the larger bit bit as I make the initial centering mark that also fits over the thread exceptance projection in the wrist socket. Then the long bit, which is just a length of mild steel that has had a "D" flat milled into the end that has been sharpened with a bias to cut as it turns. Tha larger bit is also mild steel and is for the counter bore to take the head of the stock bolt

A much slimmer fore stock will make for much less bulky feel in hand.

Some alkanet rood in the finish and another rifle on its way back to Euans stable of workhorses.