Do it yourself Stock making thread

[joshb]

Yup. If you want to mount a skinny barrel, use a 3/4 core box. I make most of mine to accept anything up to a heavy varmint. That way, I have options. I did one for a friend. It's a T3 lite. We agreed that in a while, he wanted to put a custom barrel on it. Prolly heavy Palma, so I made a wide channel. It looks a bit ridiculous right now, but I bet it cools faster.


I have set my guides to follow the profile of my barrel for a neat, close fit. On some stocks, I plowed an 1 1/4" channel the whole length of the blank, then widened it a bit for the action.

 

[hoz53]

Yup. If you want to mount a skinny barrel, use a 3/4 core box. I make most of mine to accept anything up to a heavy varmint. That way, I have options. I did one for a friend. It's a T3 lite. We agreed that in a while, he wanted to put a custom barrel on it. Prolly heavy Palma, so I made a wide channel. It looks a bit ridiculous right now, but I bet it cools faster.
View attachment 1007060

I have set my guides to follow the profile of my barrel for a neat, close fit. On some stocks, I plowed an 1 1/4" channel the whole length of the blank, then widened it a bit for the action.

OK thanks Happy Easter

 

[Nvreloader]

Josh B
The pony express just galloped by and threw off the plans,
I thought he got ambushed again.

Thanks,
Don

 

[Ggmac]

Josh , received the plans , thank you ! You and your family have a wonderful Easter !
Gary

 

[Shoebox]

Joshb
This is a great post !!
Although I'm not building a stock, great to see people helping people !!!
Learning all the time
Thanks !!!!

 

[hoz53]

Yup. If you want to mount a skinny barrel, use a 3/4 core box. I make most of mine to accept anything up to a heavy varmint. That way, I have options. I did one for a friend. It's a T3 lite. We agreed that in a while, he wanted to put a custom barrel on it. Prolly heavy Palma, so I made a wide channel. It looks a bit ridiculous right now, but I bet it cools faster.
View attachment 1007060

I have set my guides to follow the profile of my barrel for a neat, close fit. On some stocks, I plowed an 1 1/4" channel the whole length of the blank, then widened it a bit for the action.

Thanks Josh Happy Easter

 

[joshb]

It seems that I have picked up a fairly viscous strain of the flu. I'll be back at it as soon as possible. My blanks are ready so it shouldn't be too long. Josh

 

[Ggmac]

Get well soon !
Gary

 

[hoz53]

It seems that I have picked up a fairly viscous strain of the flu. I'll be back at it as soon as possible. My blanks are ready so it shouldn't be too long. Josh

Hope you concentrate on getting better and get well soon. The stocks can wait.

 

[hpshooter]

"The stocks can wait"

Take care of yourself first, everything outside of family can wait.

 

[hoz53]

It seems that I have picked up a fairly viscous strain of the flu. I'll be back at it as soon as possible. My blanks are ready so it shouldn't be too long. Josh

HI Josh-- Im sure not in a hurry for stock class but just wanted to let you know I hope youre doing and feeling better. Kim H

 

[joshb]

Thanks every one for the well wishes. I'm starting to come out of the grips of this bug, so let's get started. I'll move forward as well as I can, tho I feel like I just went 10 rounds with Ali.

Look over your blank and figure out where your butt is. I like my grain to run thru the butt like this:

The top of my stock will be on the right of this blank.
Lay your stock pattern out and figure out your "pull length". This is the length from your trigger to the end of your butt. Your trigger will end up about 1/4 inch in front of the cut out line for the grip area. I like 13 1/4 inches. I subtract the thickness of my butt plate, recoil pad, etc. from that dimension. I'm using a Pachmayer recoil pad that's an inch thick, so I mark my pattern at 12 1/4". Lay your blank on it's side with the top away from you and the butt on the left. Lay your pattern on the blank and position it so any defects in your blank will be cut away and you get as much length as possible. Keep your "pull length line" at least 1/2 inch in from the end of your blank. We'll leave it a little long until we know exactly where our trigger ends up. Trace your pattern onto the blank and mark the rear action screw line. Use a square to draw that mark all the way around your blank. Measure your action for the distance to your forward action screw center and Mark that on your blank, all the way around.



Now, flip your blank so the top is up, find your center and draw that center line the full length of the blank. Now you have the centers of your action screws, so it's time to drill for them. I'm using 9/16 round pillars, so I drill my holes using a 15mm Brad point bit. You can also use a 5/8 drill bit. I like a little "wiggle room" so I like my holes a little over sized. The bedding compound fills any voids.
Drill your holes all the way through the blank.
Before we put the blank in the jig, draw the cut line for the end of the action area above the grip across the top of your blank.

 

[hoz53]

Thanks every one for the well wishes. I'm starting to come out of the grips of this bug, so let's get started. I'll move forward as well as I can, tho I feel like I just went 10 rounds with Ali.

Look over your blank and figure out where your butt is. I like my grain to run thru the butt like this:
View attachment 1008116
The top of my stock will be on the right of this blank.
Lay your stock pattern out and figure out your "pull length". This is the length from your trigger to the end of your butt. Your trigger will end up about 1/4 inch in front of the cut out line for the grip area. I like 13 1/4 inches. I subtract the thickness of my butt plate, recoil pad, etc. from that dimension. I'm using a Pachmayer recoil pad that's an inch thick, so I mark my pattern at 12 1/4". Lay your blank on it's side with the top away from you and the butt on the left. Lay your pattern on the blank and position it so any defects in your blank will be cut away and you get as much length as possible. Keep your "pull length line" at least 1/2 inch in from the end of your blank. We'll leave it a little long until we know exactly where our trigger ends up. Trace your pattern onto the blank and mark the rear action screw line. Use a square to draw that mark all the way around your blank. Measure your action for the distance to your forward action screw center and Mark that on your blank, all the way around.
View attachment 1008122
View attachment 1008123

Now, flip your blank so the top is up, find your center and draw that center line the full length of the blank.

Glad to hear youre feeling better---Im not keeping up with class so far

 

[joshb]

Now we're ready to put the blank in the jig. I put mine in with the butt to the left. Keep the end of the fore end about 3" in from the end of your jig to support the router. Make the top flush with the jig.

The router I use to cut the barrel channel has a 6" round base so I make a mark on my jig 3" to either side of my blank center at each end. I clamp my guides in line with those marks.

To check the accuracy of my router base and marks, I chuck a small straight cutter in the router and make a small, shallow cut in the end of my blank. I measure that cut's edges to my straight edges. My base is 1/16" off center so I adjust my straight edges accordingly. I take a sharp pencil and mark the edges across the entire length of both jigs. These become my reference lines for all my remaining cuts, along with the blank edges. When you cut your barrel channel, you lose your center line Mark.
I have two choices of barreled actions to put in this stock so I'm going make an 1 1/4" barrel channel to accommodate a heavy varmint barrel. I'll taper it to 1 3/8 at my recoil lug, then make a 1 3/8" channel for my action. These cuts will be 3/4" deep. Continue the action cut a little past the line you drew on the stock above the grip area.
With the blank remaining in the jig, I make the remaining cuts for my action inlet. I cut my pillars , fit my bottom metal to my action and test for proper function. To keep my screws centered in my pillars, I wrap my screws with blue painter's tape. (It takes 5" of tape for my pillars).

 

[joshb]

With my pillars and bottom metal set, I can measure for my recoil lug cut, magazine well and trigger cuts. I use a 1/4" straight bit for my recoil lug cut and a long 1/2" spiral cutter for my mag well and trigger cut. It's a simple matter of measuring, moving your straight edges for width and using some 1/4 ply stops to guide/ trap your router for each cut. I nail my stops to my jig for each cut. Use your action to test the fit of each cut.
Recoil lug:


Mag well:

Trigger:

Finished:

I made my recoil lug cut 1/8 wider, thicker and deeper than actual size, to allow for bedding compound. I made my mag well and trigger cuts 1" below the action channel bottom cut. I'll get the rest from the other side.

 

[joshb]

I wound up with 1/32 gap on each side of my action for bedding.

 

[hoz53]

View attachment 1008247
I wound up with 1/32 gap on each side of my action for bedding.

Hey Josh just searching on amazon for 1-1/4 core box bits and it popped up 1-3/8 core box bits made by a company called uxcell. Cheap I guess- 18.00 -- hard to say if it will be any good at all. What brand bits do you recommend? Id like HSS cause my machine is slow. Still with metal cutting end mills does nice job on wood> Thanks

 

[joshb]

That could be a nice find. Keep me updated. There's a lot of junk coming out of China, these days. I bought a cheap set of Forstner bits. They were dull after 3 holes. I got my router bits a few years ago. I think it was Eagle America. Carbide for $50-$60. Josh

 

[hoz53]

That could be a nice find. Keep me updated. There's a lot of junk coming out of China, these days. I bought a cheap set of Forstner bits. They were dull after 3 holes. I got mine a few years ago. I think it was Eagle America. Carbide for $50-$60. Josh

OK. Thanks

 

[joshb]

I made my final decision on which action this stock is for and made the final cuts for the bolt release and top right safety for a jewel trigger install. After checking for fit, I pulled my blank and made a cut for the bottom metal work. You need a nice, flat surface to work on so I followed only part of the profile. I left 3" of flat in front of the forward action screw center. Cutting this way leaves me with a good hunk of spare wood. I'll need it if I screw the pooch on the cheek piece.

Now I'm ready to bed my pillars. I'm using West System epoxy with a filler for this. I use plain old Butcher's wax as my release agent and plumbers putty to fill the holes in my action. I also cover the ends of my action screws with plugs of putty. I wrap my barrel with enough painter's tape to get a snug, centered fit in my barrel channel.


I cover my pillars with the epoxy mix, coat the insides of my holes and clamp the action in the blank. I then swing the blank out over the edge of my table. Using a few special sticks and a flashlight, I dig and scrape the putty and extra epoxy out of the holes from below. I have found it easier to dig it out before the epoxy cures.

The tape around the rear of my action protects my wood from the oozing epoxy.
Now, I wait at least 12 hours for the epoxy to cure. While I was waiting, I pulled my Stiller 6.5-47 apart, installed a new Jewell trigger and put it in it's new stock.