I may have ruined a stock

[LeviStevenson]

Okay, so I bought a "tackdriver" stock from Richards Microfit. Stock is for a 917VS, I know, waste of money and time for a marlin rimfire, but it is my way to spend a lot of money on silly things. Not only that but this particular rifle will shoot 0.25" 5 shot groups @100yds, factory POS T900 trigger, and a glass bedded factory stock. It shoots almost as well as some of my multi-thousand dollar varmint rigs. Anyway took this stock to a friend to inlet, being that it came to me at about 80% inletted. Long story short, he did a terrible job. I mean worse than I could have done. There is now about a quarter inch of gap on either side of the action. The tang area is about a quarter inch deeper than it would ever need to be, it is more suited for something the size of a BR action right now. So here is what I did, took it to a local smith to square up the in-letting, the sides and level the deep cuts made by who I will now refer to as the amateur. The smith told me that I should just start building up the epoxy till I got a good start, and continue until the void was filled. I am not so much a big fan of this idea. For starters that is mucho epoxy, not only that but it would be a pain in the tail. Now we get to the core of this subject. Would it be easier to custom cut my existing factory stock to fit the over in-letting in the new stock? I am thinking that it would work great if I got everything epoxied in perfectly, its already glass bedded and the black and charcoal laminate wouldn't stand out too much on the red, blue, and black laminate of the new stock. I would appreciate any ideas and suggestions. I apologize for running on.

 

[Tommie]

While your buddy may have buggered up the inletting, attempting the "fix" you're contemplating is asking for more pain. I'd put some bedding pillars in and load the thing up with epoxy,Accraglass, etc). It'll work great.

BTW, I too own a Richard's Microfit stock and doubt I'll ever buy another. Their inletting is horrible and they don't seem to know how to cut a straight barrel channel. Most people who have ordered one of these stocks has had the same complaint.

Tom

 

[TRECustom]

Levi; no sweat. If the stock doesn't actually have holes out to the surface, it can be saved. It will be a big help to install pillars to position the rifle correctly in the stock. It's expensive, but Brownells SteelBed is stiff enough to fill the big gaps with a little preparation, even if you have to add some along the edges from the top,and it can take the black dye anywhere from medium grey to coal black. If the top edges are straight, it won't look bad, and the steelbed shrinkage is essentially unmeasurable. Be sure to position the rifle high enough in the stock to get the midline at least to the top edge of the stock so it doesn't get trapped. Mask off everything you don't want bedding on. This stuff don't peel good. And watch the lateral position to center the barrel in the channel. With so much slop, lots of possibilities to let something get out of whack.

Sounds like a pretty stock. You can save it.

Good luck, Tom

 

[usngunner]

I made up that much gap on a rifle stock I got from a buddy with Devcon Steel putty. Added pillars and built it up in to passes actually. One to set the pillars and center the barrel,built up masking tape to center and hold the elevation I wanted) and the second to bed the action and lug.

It worked great and shoots excellent.

 

[LeviStevenson]

Hey thanks, I appreciate your guys help. I ended up cutting an old stock up and epoxying it into the new stock. Took a lot of time and precision stuff that I am not really a big fan of but I did it and I am surprisingly satisfied. I haven't finished sanding the stock, but I took it out to the range the other day just because I couldn't wait to stain it. It's not shooting the groups it was, but I need to re-glass bed it anyway. I glassed it a few days after I put the old stock piece in. Turned out great but I cleaned up excess epoxy from the inside of the inletting too early. Ended up chipping off more than I wanted. Not a problem though. The hard work is over. But I have some Polyurethane finish, the floor styly, leftover from my kitchen project. Would that work to finish my stock with?