Benchrest stock makers

[spike-55]

Here is an experiment of mine with titebond-laminated 1x6 redwood boards from lowes. This one has no inlet or final forend shaping and weighs 2.2 pounds. I suspect if I inlet it and clear coated it, it would end up in the 2-2.2 pound range.
View attachment 1435307

quick question
once you have it laminated and glued up, IF you had a bandsaw that would be able to recut the stock vertically and then use a router to remove some of the interior wood that would not affect the overall structure stability you might have a chance to get under 2 lbs or less with the lighter woods. you might even have to laminate a carbon stringer in with the wood laminates toward the exterior that would not get sanded or routed away that could add some extra strength??? then you could re-clamp the stock back together for gluing and refinishing??? hopefully the hollowed areas would have reduced the weight and not affected the balance or strength.

course with a new build you could do the laminates in halves and do the routing before final the gluing together and final shaping

 

[Evan]

quick question
once you have it laminated and glued up, IF you had a bandsaw that would be able to recut the stock vertically and then use a router to remove some of the interior wood that would not affect the overall structure stability you might have a chance to get under 2 lbs or less with the lighter woods. you might even have to laminate a carbon stringer in with the wood laminates toward the exterior that would not get sanded or routed away that could add some extra strength??? then you could re-clamp the stock back together for gluing and refinishing??? hopefully the hollowed areas would have reduced the weight and not affected the balance or strength.

course with a new build you could do the laminates in halves and do the routing before final the gluing together and final shaping

I check this stock every so often with straight edges to see how it’s moving. I paid special attention to the boards I picked and the direction the grain ran when I glued them to hopefully help stabilize movement. I could certainly have pursued more sophisticated laminations, but my experiment was to explore how stable and manageable cheap wood from Lowes would be. I stopped where I did because making a stock by hand is an 80hr plus effort for me and once I tested a couple techniques I was interested in, I was done. The point in this posting was that an 18 inch barrel could get you a little more weight on the stock to get back to materials that amateurs can work with instead of foam or balsa filled carbon fiber stocks that are unapproachable without expertise. It may be a direction forward when the carbon stocks go effectively extinct. I just don’t know what the implications are for a 6 PPC when you shorten the barrel.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I check this stock every so often with straight edges to see how it’s moving. I paid special attention to the boards I picked and the direction the grain ran when I glued them to hopefully help stabilize movement. I could certainly have pursued more sophisticated laminations, but my experiment was to explore how stable and manageable cheap wood from Lowes would be. I stopped where I did because making a stock by hand is an 80hr plus effort for me and once I tested a couple techniques I was interested in, I was done. The point in this posting was that an 18 inch barrel could get you a little more weight on the stock to get back to materials that amateurs can work with instead of foam or balsa filled carbon fiber stocks that are unapproachable without expertise. It may be a direction forward when the carbon stocks go effectively extinct. I just don’t know what the implications are for a 6 PPC when you shorten the barrel.

You need every quarter inch you can get. Thats why we use the little dinky dovetail single screw rings, fixed power scopes, 1.35” dia actions and fluted bolts- to get that extra inch she needs. 20-24oz is a target weight fully inletted and bedded these days with the components we have. You can foam out under the action, in the butt and in the barrel channel plus use aluminum devcon with microballoons, mold in your trigger guard inserts instead of using metal, one screw trigger guard and a few other tricks if you need it

 

[pdhntr]

So for instance in a Terry Leonard, or other well known stock built to be lightweight, when the wood used is stated as "cedar". What cedar are we talking about, and does anyone know what thickness carbon fiber was used?

Thank you.

Jim

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Here is an experiment of mine with titebond-laminated 1x6 redwood boards from lowes. This one has no inlet or final forend shaping and weighs 2.2 pounds. I suspect if I inlet it and clear coated it, it would end up in the 2-2.2 pound range.
View attachment 1435307

You're getting in the ballpark. Fwiw, the laminates I've been referring to are the plywood type laminates. Nice!

 

[Kiwishooter]

I have a Terry Leonard stock that has a Teddy glued into it and using a 40x March or 45X Leupold it will make LV with a 4lb 12oz barrel.
I can't remember what the stock weighed before I bedded the action and glued it in.
The only additional lightening on the action was to cut an ejection port.

Terry said that the plainer the wood the lighter the stock would be.
If I can make LV with a Teddy I'm sure you could make LV with a BAT, Borden, Panda or most other actions

 

[Seagull]

So a stock weighing about 27 to 30 ounces would be about the area to aim for ??

 

[spike-55]

So a stock weighing about 27 to 30 ounces would be about the area to aim for ??

a bat SV weighs 1.75lbs
a bat B weighs 2 lbs
i have 4 lv barrels done by Dwight Scott at 21" that are 5lb2oz
so if your barrels are 5lb2oz and action a min or 1.75lbz you are in the 6lb14oz or 7lb range with an action and barrel.
lightweight scope 18oz???
trigger and hanger 4-5oz???
scope rings - 3-4oz???
so that puts you in the 8lb11oz range at the min so you are correct it would have to be in the target range of under 30 oz bedded and pillared???
stan

 

[Dusty Stevens]

5.2-5.5lbs is what most barrels weigh with the tuner. Any less than that you may not be getting all you can

 

[Kyle Schultz]

Attached is the weight budget for my recently completed Scarbrough BAT DS LV rifle.

I would not want to shorten my barrel any further. If you omit the tuner and anti-cant, you can pick up about 5 oz which means your stock needs to be 30 oz or less. Not sure you can even hit that number with an all-wood stock.

Making 10.5# can be done but you have to be very precise with your component selections. Good luck.

 

[Larry Koch]

Attached is the weight budget for my recently completed Scarbrough BAT DS LV rifle.

I would not want to shorten my barrel any further. If you omit the tuner and anti-cant, you can pick up about 5 oz which means your stock needs to be 30 oz or less. Not sure you can even hit that number with an all-wood stock.

Making 10.5# can be done but you have to be very precise with your component selections. Good luck.

Those numbers are what all LV shooter deal with, ditch the tunner and get a 5 pound plus barrel, use a lighter scope, Sightron, Leupold or Nightforce 42x pick up another oz or 2. Myself I like March.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Those numbers are what all LV shooter deal with, ditch the tunner and get a 5 pound plus barrel, use a lighter scope, Sightron, Leupold or Nightforce 42x pick up another oz or 2. Myself I like March.

Lol! I'd cut the stock in half before I'd ditch my tuner! Pretty much truth!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Go with the valdada 36 or 40. Why would you need a cant device? You have a bag level for that

 

[Greg@wfcustom]

Lol! I'd cut the stock in half before I'd ditch my tuner! Pretty much truth!

No need to ditch your tuner Mike, just use the right profile barrel!
23” finish length, shoot just like std LV profile (or better) seem to tune easier.

 

[Evan]

No need to ditch your tuner Mike, just use the right profile barrel!
23” finish length, shoot just like std LV profile (or better) seem to tune easier.
View attachment 1435555

What’s the muzzle diameter on that barrel? It’s a long ways from a pencil countour hunting barrel!

 

[Greg@wfcustom]

What’s the muzzle diameter on that barrel? It’s a long ways from a pencil countour hunting barrel!

Finishes @ .900 at 23 “, it’s a modified Palma contour I have Kreiger make for me specifically to use with a tuner. You can play with the length depending on what you want to end up with.
We’ve been using them with Ezell’s tuner for a few years now and those of us using them believe they are every bit as accurate as a conventional LV profile. I personally use the same barrels for HV just add 3 lbs of weight in the ass end.
G

 

[Larry Koch]

Looks like a LV barrel shorten a 1" or2" on the chamber side, and a little off the top, in front of the action.

 

[Seagull]

Should be easy to get a timber stock under 30oz if you choose the correct timber and even if you had to add carbonfibre to the stock while building the blank .

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Roys stocks have a carbon fiber triangle the full length of the stock. Its run down the center so you can build the stock out of very light wood. He also has the barrel channel and forend lined. I like that better than the carbon shell. Once the tape is removed and clear is polished out it will be under 22oz.

 

[Mulligan]

Finishes @ .900 at 23 “, it’s a modified Palma contour I have Kreiger make for me specifically to use with a tuner. You can play with the length depending on what you want to end up with.
We’ve been using them with Ezell’s tuner for a few years now and those of us using them believe they are every bit as accurate as a conventional LV profile. I personally use the same barrels for HV just add 3 lbs of weight in the ass end.
G

Is this the #20 or something different?
CW