Stiffening a wood stock

[bsumoba]

I'm trying to think of ways to stiffen up a wood stock I have. I was thinking of milling out a cavity in the barrel channel of my wood stock right where the action starts, all the way to the front. Then put something like a carbon fiber rod and fill it up with epoxy. Do you think this would work?

 

[Ggmac]

Viagra ! Sorry , I couldn't resist .

 

[Ggmac]

I think a carbon fiber tube , left hollow but capped then fitted tight in the channel with min epoxy .

 

[hoz53]

Viagra ! Sorry , I couldn't resist .

Could you let him have a few of your pills to try it Gary I've thought of trying the same thing with those Tupperware factory stocks. Would a steel rod or threaded rod work if you didn't care about the weight?

 

[savagedasher]

Carbon fiber tube is strong. U chanel is stronger because of the straight sides .
Larry

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Why do you want it stiffer? It may not shoot as well when your done. The carbon fiber in the barrel channel will definitely do the trick if you have the space. You can drill some deep holes and slide arrow shafts (carbon fiber) down them. I have never seen a rifle shoot bad because the stock was too flexible.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

Why do you want it stiffer? It may not shoot as well when your done. The carbon fiber in the barrel channel will definitely do the trick if you have the space. You can drill some deep holes and slide arrow shafts (carbon fiber) down them. I have never seen a rifle shoot bad because the stock was too flexible.

I have... I'm a heavy believer in stiffer stocks, but everyone has their preference.

Bryan, I think your idea to mill a channel and use a carbon fiber rod or something is a good idea if you are looking to remove some flexibility in the forearm. I did something similar once (though I used square AL stock because that's what I had) and it worked out pretty well.

 

[Ggmac]

Could you let him have a few of your pills to try it Gary I've thought of trying the same thing with those Tupperware factory stocks. Would a steel rod or threaded rod work if you didn't care about the weight?

Usually tubing will work better , capped not filled . I've used bamboo with great results before carbon fiber . If you could fit a 5/8 or 3/4" alum tube , capped and glued you will stiffen the stock without adding much weight .
If you can fit a 3/4 but can fit 3 - 3/8" alum tubes it could work out better .

 

[Intheshop]

Why?

Meaning,in which plane are you most concerned?Skinny arse forend has twisted and is pushing on the side of brrl,not enough wood to open up channel?
Or

You're running a bipod and its pogo'ing?

Or something else?

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Jay I dont have beliefs I tested it. Ask tom about flexible forends. I made the most flexible stock out there, to test this. The damn thing bounces after the shot its such a noodle. I know flex in the forend does not deter accuracy, actually I would say it helps it. Swapping barrels around has shown that flexible thing to shoot even less vertical than the 4" stocks we all use. It has some ego issues, but it was just to test the idea. My f open stock has a very thin forend on purpose because I want that flex, and I will be thinning out the forend on the 4" stocks as well. I'd be interested to hear about your experience with flex hurting accuracy. Theres so many things that effect accuracy, it is sometime difficult to figure out what is helping or hurting.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

Jay I dont have beliefs I tested it. Ask tom about flexible forends. I made the most flexible stock out there, to test this. The damn thing bounces after the shot its such a noodle. I know flex in the forend does not deter accuracy, actually I would say it helps it. Swapping barrels around has shown that flexible thing to shoot even less vertical than the 4" stocks we all use. It has some ego issues, but it was just to test the idea. My f open stock has a very thin forend on purpose because I want that flex, and I will be thinning out the forend on the 4" stocks as well. I'd be interested to hear about your experience with flex hurting accuracy. Theres so many things that effect accuracy, it is sometime difficult to figure out what is helping or hurting.

Ok, I mis-stated. I *know* based on experiential evidence, that flexible stock(s) caused issues on the range and at matches with regards to results on target. So, I'm not a heavy believer in stiffer stocks - you couldn't pay me to go back to shooting a flexible stock. Maybe BR is a different animal because the rifle handling is different. I couldn't say, because I've only experienced it in reference to shooting F-Class. I don't think I could say definitively that "flexible stocks are bad for all applications" because I haven't tested every application possible.

Now, I'm not advocating a "zero flex" stock (like an aluminum chassis or something). There's a happy medium in there, but I do know what I would look for and recommend in an F-Class stock and bouncy would not be in the lexicon... ;-)

 

[Alex Wheeler]

What issues were you having and what were the stocks used?

 

[dkhunt14]

Jay I dont have beliefs I tested it. Ask tom about flexible forends. I made the most flexible stock out there, to test this. The damn thing bounces after the shot its such a noodle. I know flex in the forend does not deter accuracy, actually I would say it helps it. Swapping barrels around has shown that flexible thing to shoot even less vertical than the 4" stocks we all use. It has some ego issues, but it was just to test the idea. My f open stock has a very thin forend on purpose because I want that flex, and I will be thinning out the forend on the 4" stocks as well. I'd be interested to hear about your experience with flex hurting accuracy. Theres so many things that effect accuracy, it is sometime difficult to figure out what is helping or hurting.

How comes the heavy aluminum stocks with a block shoot so well. They are really stiff. They shoot the smallest groups at Williamsport all the time. The light guns are close but they average bigger groups and lower scores. Last year was probably the only year that the top 100 groups and scores had slightly better smaller groups and higher scores in light gun. It was because Saturdays were nice and Sundays were horrible with wind and storms. Also the light guns had probably around 3 to 4 hundred more total targets over the total heavy targets. Matt

 

[Alex Wheeler]

The opposite is true here. I would say, in bad conditions the HG will shoot better because of the ballistics of the 300wsm. Thats true enough that hardly anyone here even bothers with true heavy guns anymore. Most are shooting their LG in HG. Williamsport HG 6 and 10 match agg records belong to a LG. I think with the stiffer HG barrel block guns your going to have to rely on having the tune a little closer and es a little better. The LG platform is more forgiving IMO.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Alex, in BR, I agree that we may have been going the wrong way, for years, in terms of stock rigidity. Of course, you and I believe in positive compensation...not everyone believes it's real, yet. The stock matters in this regard. As Jay said, I think there is a happy medium somewhere, just not sure where. It'll take a lot of testing to say with any degree of certainty, IMHO.

I've wanted to make the time to test the idea more by using a relatively stiff say, 1/4"x3"x "x" inches long piece of carbon fiber or kevlar, attached to the forearm with an adjustable tensioning mechanism. What I have in mind may be crude and unattractive but would allow me to adjust the "rigidity" of the forearm for testing. Form follows function, so once proven, I'm sure it could be prettied up a bit.

That said, if a stiffer forearm is what the op wants, the tubing or rods epoxied into the barrel channel does work well. You don't have to overthink it. Just about any rigid tube or rod will greatly stiffen and strengthen the epoxied forearm. This method works very well on flimsy tupperware hunting stocks. --Mike

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Alex, in BR, I agree that we may have been going the wrong way, for years, in terms of stock rigidity. Of course, you and I believe in positive compensation...not everyone believes it's real, yet. The stock matters in this regard. As Jay said, I think there is a happy medium somewhere, just not sure where. It'll take a lot of testing to say with any degree of certainty, IMHO.

I've wanted to make the time to test the idea more by using a relatively stiff say, 1/4"x3"x "x" inches long piece of carbon fiber or kevlar, attached to the forearm with an adjustable tensioning mechanism. What I have in mind may be crude and unattractive but would allow me to adjust the "rigidity" of the forearm for testing. Form follows function, so once proven, I'm sure it could be prettied up a bit.

That said, if a stiffer forearm is what the op wants, the tubing or rods epoxied into the barrel channel does work well. You don't have to overthink it. Just about any rigid tube or rod will greatly stiffen and strengthen the epoxied forearm. This method works very well on flimsy tupperware hunting stocks. --Mike

Well said. I am building a rifle for myself, in my time off while I sleep lol. Anyhow, I will be doing a lot of testing at deep creek with it. I dont even think It will shoot a match.

 

[bsumoba]

So the reason I want to get it stiffer is that I can actually get the stock and the barrel to touch by pinching the bottom of the stock with the top of the barrel, and I have a gap of about 0.060" around the barrel.

In reality, it does not appear to be hurting me. I just shot this particular stock for the team matches at the SWN and shot really well with it. I think I am just bothered by the fact that the stock can flex like that. I could open up the barrel channel, but am not sure if that will solve my problem because now I am making the area between the bottom of the stock and the barrel channel thinner.

Another option is to not worry about the aesthetics and work on a hybrid type stock like Dan Bramley and Danny Biggs has. They essentially cut the wood stock and then screwed on a metal front to it.

 

[joshb]

They sell different types and thicknesses of aluminum U or C channel you could use.

 

[hoz53]

Alex, in BR, I agree that we may have been going the wrong way, for years, in terms of stock rigidity. Of course, you and I believe in positive compensation...not everyone believes it's real, yet. The stock matters in this regard. As Jay said, I think there is a happy medium somewhere, just not sure where. It'll take a lot of testing to say with any degree of certainty, IMHO.

I've wanted to make the time to test the idea more by using a relatively stiff say, 1/4"x3"x "x" inches long piece of carbon fiber or kevlar, attached to the forearm with an adjustable tensioning mechanism. What I have in mind may be crude and unattractive but would allow me to adjust the "rigidity" of the forearm for testing. Form follows function, so once proven, I'm sure it could be prettied up a bit.

That said, if a stiffer forearm is what the op wants, the tubing or rods epoxied into the barrel channel does work well. You don't have to overthink it. Just about any rigid tube or rod will greatly stiffen and strengthen the epoxied forearm. This method works very well on flimsy tupperware hunting stocks. --Mike

"Works well on flimsy Tupperware hunting stocks". That's what I wondered about but mabie I should just let them flex. Thanks

 

[Alex Wheeler]

So the reason I want to get it stiffer is that I can actually get the stock and the barrel to touch by pinching the bottom of the stock with the top of the barrel, and I have a gap of about 0.060" around the barrel.

In reality, it does not appear to be hurting me. I just shot this particular stock for the team matches at the SWN and shot really well with it. I think I am just bothered by the fact that the stock can flex like that. I could open up the barrel channel, but am not sure if that will solve my problem because now I am making the area between the bottom of the stock and the barrel channel thinner.

Another option is to not worry about the aesthetics and work on a hybrid type stock like Dan Bramley and Danny Biggs has. They essentially cut the wood stock and then screwed on a metal front to it.

All of my f-open stocks, as well as the PRT stocks I have done are like that. It will not happen when your shooting, if it does it will be after the bullet has left. Set it up in the bags so gravity is pulling on it right and see what kind of clearance you have, also check with you putting cheek on the gun. So long as theres reasonable clearance, I wouldnt worry.