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Another home made stock thread

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joshb has a pretty good thread going on stock making and I didn't want to clutter up his thread with mine as this is going to take a while.
I made my first stock in junior high shop class and it was terrible, I've come a long ways since then and learned a few tricks along the way to make life a little easier. I just wanted to share what I've learned and maybe help somebody else out.
Inletting has always been a pain , I made a jig at one point where I could use a router and inlet for the action and barrel. It had a lot of adjustments on it and it worked pretty good with minimal trimming when finished but it took a while and if you didn't measure right the results weren't very good. The new and improved method works really good and I haven't messed up a stock yet. Most of the stocks I make are for .22's and 1 1/2 wide stock works for them I use poplar 1x8 for most of them cause I paint them . Poplar is fairly hard but not too hard to work with .
First step is to figure where the centerline of the action and barrel is and the diameter of the action you need the top of the action to be inside the wood. once the centerline is figured out I cut a 1/8 inch half round groove in both halves in the inside. this is for the alignment rod (1/8 inch piano wire) . 0.jpg
Once I get it glued together I take the piano wire out and I have a hole from one end to the other, this is a guide for the paddle bits. I have an assortment of extra long bits I've made up . Where the point is I round them off so they don't cut ,they just follow the hole through the stock .5.jpg6.jpgFor this stock I made the barrel hole the same diameter as the barrel and the action hole a little bigger than the action to allow for bedding. The barrel sits level clamped in the stock and the action is floating by about 3/32 of an inch. I make a drill guide screwed to the butt end to help keep everything lined up and I trim up the butt end so the drill shank will clear and some clearance for the bit to get started , so you kind of have to have an idea what the end result is going to look like .Once that's all figured out clamp it down fire up the drill and make the action hole to the required depth clean out the hole and drill the barrel hole. It probably took me 15 min to drill this one. Once the holes are drilled cut off the top on the table saw just slightly proud of the center of the holes7.jpg9.jpg

There it is the hard part done. I'll inlet for the trigger and pillars in the mill
 
Interesting way of achieving this. Why not just throw it on the mill, since you have one, Just a thought. But there are defiantly more than a few ways to skin a cat as proved above.
 
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Interesting way of achieving this. Why not just thought it on the mill, since you have one, Just a thought. But there are defiantly more than a few ways to skin a cat as proved above.
I do have a mill but it has a pretty small travel ,11 inches and sometimes I do inlet with it . I used to do the drill method for the barrel and action . The rest I did with a drill press and a cross slide vise . I have more options now but somebody might find this way useful.
 
joshb has a pretty good thread going on stock making and I didn't want to clutter up his thread with mine as this is going to take a while.
I made my first stock in junior high shop class and it was terrible, I've come a long ways since then and learned a few tricks along the way to make life a little easier. I just wanted to share what I've learned and maybe help somebody else out.
Inletting has always been a pain , I made a jig at one point where I could use a router and inlet for the action and barrel. It had a lot of adjustments on it and it worked pretty good with minimal trimming when finished but it took a while and if you didn't measure right the results weren't very good. The new and improved method works really good and I haven't messed up a stock yet. Most of the stocks I make are for .22's and 1 1/2 wide stock works for them I use poplar 1x8 for most of them cause I paint them . Poplar is fairly hard but not too hard to work with .
First step is to figure where the centerline of the action and barrel is and the diameter of the action you need the top of the action to be inside the wood. once the centerline is figured out I cut a 1/8 inch half round groove in both halves in the inside. this is for the alignment rod (1/8 inch piano wire) . View attachment 1488438
Once I get it glued together I take the piano wire out and I have a hole from one end to the other, this is a guide for the paddle bits. I have an assortment of extra long bits I've made up . Where the point is I round them off so they don't cut ,they just follow the hole through the stock .View attachment 1488443View attachment 1488444For this stock I made the barrel hole the same diameter as the barrel and the action hole a little bigger than the action to allow for bedding. The barrel sits level clamped in the stock and the action is floating by about 3/32 of an inch. I make a drill guide screwed to the butt end to help keep everything lined up and I trim up the butt end so the drill shank will clear and some clearance for the bit to get started , so you kind of have to have an idea what the end result is going to look like .Once that's all figured out clamp it down fire up the drill and make the action hole to the required depth clean out the hole and drill the barrel hole. It probably took me 15 min to drill this one. Once the holes are drilled cut off the top on the table saw just slightly proud of the center of the holesView attachment 1488450View attachment 1488451

There it is the hard part done. I'll inlet for the trigger and pillars in the mill
I have a mill with limited bed travel as well. This is an excellent idea! Thanks for posting this!
 
Got a little time in the shop this weekend so I took the rifle that is the pattern for this stock down there and drew a few lines as a guide for the sanding process. Just a guide so I don't get too carried away0.jpg

I use an assortment of drum sanders in a cordless drill for most of the shaping . Where I have to remove a lot of material I'll use a 3 inch air grinder0.jpg

I had to make a butt plate for this but I drew the outline on the back of the stock to show the outline to get a little more done before making the butt plate0.jpg

A light coat of black lacquer serves as a guide coat to show the outlines and high and low spots


0.jpg
 
That looks nice. Less Brooks used to sell his plans for a pantograph and it works good. You make a pattern stock and you can copy it in any wood you want. There used to be a sticky on Accurate Reloader site they put up of a thread he did showing how he makes a rifle stock with nothing but hand tools from the blank. It is pretty iconic. Lester was a gunsmith for many years and once taught stock making at the Colorado school of trades. He is one of the most versatile gunmakers that ever practiced the trade. He did his own metalwork on Mauser and Enfield actions and he also was a pretty good engraver.
 
Yes it did ,One eye perfectly clear the other like looking through a really dirty window with yellow tint on it . I get the other one fixed next friday. I cant believe the difference it made .
I bet you had trouble walking etc with one eye like that until you got used to it?

Stock is looking good!
 
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Well it's the end of my 4 day weekend and I've made a little progress. The big thing was starting on the bedding, pillers and trigger guard. The other major thing is figuring out the paint work. I don't have access to paint and primer like I used to when I worked in a body shop or the local BASF dealer So I have to pay retail. I've shopped all over the net and I've found some " house of kolor " I like for an ok price so that's taken care of.
I have a win 52 stock in the barrel of stocks and I kinda drew on that for inspiration on the forend. I cut some pieces for the sides ,angled the back and glued them to the front. they'll take some router work and lots of sanding but after 20 years of body shop I can sand with the best of them.0.jpg
It only adds about 5/16 to each side0.jpg0.jpg0.jpg

I spent almost a full day making this trigger guard And it's almost ready to polish.
 
Well it's the end of my 4 day weekend and I've made a little progress. The big thing was starting on the bedding, pillers and trigger guard. The other major thing is figuring out the paint work. I don't have access to paint and primer like I used to when I worked in a body shop or the local BASF dealer So I have to pay retail. I've shopped all over the net and I've found some " house of kolor " I like for an ok price so that's taken care of.
I have a win 52 stock in the barrel of stocks and I kinda drew on that for inspiration on the forend. I cut some pieces for the sides ,angled the back and glued them to the front. they'll take some router work and lots of sanding but after 20 years of body shop I can sand with the best of them.View attachment 1493000
It only adds about 5/16 to each sideView attachment 1493001View attachment 1493002View attachment 1493003

I spent almost a full day making this trigger guard And it's almost ready
 

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