Custom build a rifle yourself

[charlief1]

With the fact that I used to do gunsmithing many years ago I've got unfinished projects that are sitting around I decided to pull one of them out of the safe and put a stock on it so it would be useful. If you've got a rifle that you don't like the stock on this is a great way to make it yours with a little customizing. A bolt action is one of the easiest ones you can do and my favorite actions are Mauser style. What you see is a Mauser VZ24 which we used to buy in lots fairly cheaply. This is what it looked like in full battle trim with a bayonet attached.

Here's the barreled action and the stock it's going into. It's a light weight .308 Winchester with a custom hinged floor plate trigger guard. The reciever was trued before the barrel was installed and the bolt is lapped in and trued for better engagement and accuracy. The barrel has also been hand lapped and needs a final lapping to satisfy me.

This pic is of the guides installed into the reciever so that you can align the trigger guard and the reciever as you install them into the stock. What you have to do first is inlet the trigger guard area and then work on inletting the reciever and barrel.

This is a pic of the stock I'm using and the barrel inleting tool needed to do the job easier. You can use sand paper like I did on the first 2 stocks I did but it takes a lot longer. These are scrapers that can take a lot more matereal than you think so you have to go slowly or you'll take more out than you want.

 

[charlief1]

Well my title didn't come out right for some reason but I'll keep the info going.

As you can see the netal is starting to go into the wood nicely and I've already removed some of the wood where the trigger guard fits. This serves 2 purposes. It gets rid of wood so you can work a little easier and it also gives you an idea of how you'll need to shape the fore end of the rifle. Once you get the trigger guard area cleaned off then you need to use a straight edge of some sort and draw a few lines so you know where you're going to cut to get the lines right. This is a rough in so you don't need to be perfect.

This is the top of the stock and as you can see the metal just seems to lay on it pretty evenly. This stock is a little more than the normal semi inleted stock so this is a little easier than a true semi inlet stock.

This isn't the best of pics but it gives you an idea of what the roughed in forearm looks like after you remove most of the wood you marked for removal.

 

[charlief1]

Now onto some trigger guard tricks. This trigger guard started life out as a military one and with a little work you can make a nice trim piece out of it. The first thing you need to do is remove a little metal so that the back of it is a little narrower. Here's a pic of what it looks like as issued.

Here's what it looks like after using a belt sander to remove and shape some of the metal for a more pleasing line. This isn't hard but before you try it mark everything so you have an idea of where to stop. If not you'll end up removing to much and ruin the trigger guard.

 

[charlief1]

Now once you get to this point you want to use some sort of bedding matereal so that the reciever is held tightly and doesn't move around when fired. If it moves you can split the stock and ruin all the work you just did. I do it in stages so that I get full coverage of the area. STart with the trigger guard area first and follow the directions you get with the bedding you secide to use. I use Brownells Acraglas gel because it's easy to use and it's like a thick paste. What you see is where the reciver sits and the areas that will need to be redone because of bubbles in the mixture.

Now you get to see a better idea of what the rifle will lok like. The bolt handle has been inleted for and it's looking good so far. You may also notice that there's tape on the straight section of the barrel. The reason for this is to allow for free floating the barrel when you be it out. I use anywhere from 2 to 4 layers of tape which give y ou enough room for the barrel not to touch the wood. It also allows you to "tune" the barrel with a wedge to move it slightly if you want to experiment some. I've got 1 rifle that the barrel is pulled slightly downwards and it helps the accuracy but you can put up as well as down to do it.

 

[charlief1]

I've got it to the point where the metal is sitting just right in the stock and as you can see the cheek piece is shaped a little nicer. One thing you have to remember is once you pic someone to get the wood from you will have to shape it to satisfy you. The trigger guard area will need some more work but as you see the bolt handle is in just about the perfect position to easily move. I still need to do some shaping on the bottom of the stock and thn it down just a little more to get it down to the weight I'm looking for. Right now it weighs 4.5 lbs so it's light but easy to handle. With the finish and all the bells and whistles it should come in right around 5 to 5.5 lbs without the scope and ammo. Put a nice 1.5 x 6 scope on it and 5 rounds of 150 grain in it everything should be less than 6 lbs total.

 

[Rivical]

After looking again, I guess I'm seeing more of what I want to do than I'd admitted before. How's it coming along? You've really got me thinking to make my own stock now rather than ruin my original Nagant stock with a sidemount scope cutout. I've either got or know who does have every metal and woodworking tool known to man and mastered most. Oh, I can see myself getting into trouble already! I've been thinking for a couple years about this tree I wanna take out and grab the maple burl from the base of... Gonna have to go talk to the mill guy down the road and see about getting it kiln dried finally! I was thinking of inletting the stock for that bolt mod we were talking about like you showed here, but the idea of a fresh stock now...

See, I just wanted a truck gun and now you've got me building a custom!!!!
Gonna hafta start my own thread where I can ask for help LOL!

 

[charlief1]

What you might do first is look for a company that makes stocks first and see what they've got. Some of them will cut your wood to their pattern and you just need to pick the design. One of them I've delt with is Richards microfit. Another one is The great american gunstock company. You'll find several different grades as well as different points of finishing done. Semi inleted is one of the most common and it has a large portions of the wood removed so you can do minor fitting to get the metal in it. I can tell you that maple is one of the hardest woods to work with along with myrtle.

The barrel channel tools aren't needed but do make it easier to get the results you want. What is needed is something to coat the metal parts to see where they contack the wood. I used to wait until the day after holloween and hit wally world to get black lipstick for cheap rather than buy the blacking that you get from brownells. It works fine. I have also used black magic marker which doesn't go everywhere when it makes contact. If you look at the stock you see lines drawn on it. Those give you the basic outline of the barrel and the stock so you get an idea of where to remove wood. A good set of chisels and rasps/wood files will get you about 90% there and for the barrel you can use sand paper in various grades to get the channel done easily enough.

 

[Rivical]

Great, Thanks! I'm not sure how many years ago the idea of using that maple got into my head, but it was only to leave the stump tall and dig it up to get that burl wood so it'd be a real pretty beotch to work with from the start! lol It's a nagging feeling that I need to go after that wood for a stock. Wonder if I'll find a box of gold under that big ole tree instead?

Had time to work on yours again lately?

 

[charlief1]

Haven't really done anything to it lately. I've been looking for one of my suplies that I am going to use so you can see how to take a plain piece of wood and make it better, or take a nice piece and make it pop like a high grade stock. I may have to go down to Waco to get what I'm looking for but I could swear that it's in my storage unit but I can't find it right now.

 

[Vampire]

This thread is sweet.