Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Interarms mark x stock query

Hi
I recently took a chance and bought an unseen 375h&h barrelled action at an auction and it's now arrived. It's in a zastava box but with no maker name on the barrel or action and luckily for me seems to be brand new and unfired. Comparing pictures of interarms mark x rifles I found online I am sure that's what it is
I was hoping for some advice about choosing a stock. I can't afford a McMillan and I could cheaply buy a new factory replacement stock from numrich but I've read that the factory interarms stocks cracked on the 375&458's. Does any one know if this is correct and where they cracked? Would it be possible to reinforce one to stop the cracking?
I'm not a fan of recoil So it needs to be a weighty stock so I have looked at the knoxx stocks but wondered if the spring mechanism lets the scope get too close to your eye under recoil and is a problem?
Failing that Any other stick recommendations also gratefully received!
Thanks
Bob

Buy the factory wood stock and give it a good bedding job. Relieve the tang while you're at it and it shouldn't crack. If you're handy and need a good winter project, Bansner makes a nice mauser stock for less $$ than a McM. You'll have to do the work yourself to save money but it isn't that hard, just take your time and ask questions if you don't know.

Stay far away from the Knox stocks, they are a gimmick and seem to accentuate recoil rather than reduce it when I shoot them.

Another alternative might be the Bell & Carlson Medalist with the aluminum bedding block. Stocky's has some available for immediate shipment.

http://www.stockysstocks.com/servlet/the-33/medalist-aluminum-bedding-block/Detail

If you can find the Butler Creek stocks they are inexpensive and have held up well on my rifles in both 375 and 458

and Numrich (Gun Parts Corp) has them for $53.

Thanks very much for the links and the thoughts I'll take a look!

Thekid is the tang where the interarms stocks cracked do you know? Or is it a general weak point that affects different makers stocks ?
Thanks again all
Bob

Bed the rifle,and preferably install a cross bolt behind the recoil lug, with good solid epoxy bedding to transfer force to the lug. After bedding the action, relieve the back of the tang recess slightly so that it doesn't act as a recoil lug. I think that's the primary cause of most stocks splitting. I also bed the back of the mag box, it helps in transferring recoil to the stock too.

dave

I would bed the factory. I never had an issue with a 375 and a well bedded MKX. I can cut you a Whitworth pattern but it is only 95-98%.

Dave
Sorry, but the notion of a cross-bolt being an improvement left with the advent of epoxy.

I also do not think the magazine box being used as a recoil lug is a good idea. There is almost no wood between trigger and magazine box and hammering on it seems a very bad idea to me.

The tang must be relieved a bit as the stock will flex enough to drive the tang into the wood.

Dave
Have trouble seeing using the mag box as a recoil lug. Exactly what transfers the recoil to the mag box? Only thing I see is the recess in the front screw. I would "think" the box would try and split the stock. But I would sure need to sleep on that concept.

If there is a concern add a lug to the barrel.

Problem with adding a barrel lug is that it is too far forward to address the issue.

In recoil, the lug pushes back against the stock immediately behind it. The stock is held in place against the shoulder. That causes the stock sides to flex outward at least a tiny bit. That makes the distance between recoil lug and tang shorter.

That is the force driving the tang like a wedge into the back of the stock inlet.

Anchoring the barrel has no chance to work on the root cause of stock splits.

Actually, barrel lugs can help quite a bit. The barrel is held rigidly to the action, so when it tries to push back against the recoil lug, anchoring the barrel will help reduce the thrust on the recoil lug. Sitka's point about the stock bowing out around the mag box slightly is a valid mechanism that makes the tang bear on the recess harder, but it is not the only mechanism in splitting.

I think that several different things help, it is a matter of spreading out the recoil forces in such a way that no single place on the stock takes an excessive amount of force.

Cross bolts can help, even on bedded actions, plus they have the cool factor in that they're a custom feature not seen on most rifles. Bedding the mag box isn't a substitute for other recoil lugs, but it picks up a bit of the force. Plus, even bedding of it eliminates possibility of the corners pushing outwards on the mag well. Of course, good inletting would relieve that possibility. I also bed the little concave recesses on the bottom of the action behind the mag box.

Lots of things work, good bedding and relieving the tang recess is first, other things are backup help.

dave

dave
We will have to agree to disagree on about everything.

A barrel lug will not reduce thrust on the recoil lug unless there is so much slop in the bedding that the barrel and action can move. That would be possible if you do not bed the channel between the lugs, but that gets back into another bad idea.

Cross bolts installed at the recoil lug were better than no bedding even in unbedded rifles built by members of the Guild these days. But they are only better than nothing.

The little brass pins Remington tosses in some stocks were not designed to stop splitting but rather to harness those itty bitty pieces of wood that will break out between the trigger and magazine cut-outs.

Inducing sheer forces on them by bedding them is likely to do two things. First, because the stock is going to flex outward and attempt to shorten, it is going to put those little pieces in sheer with a piece of stamped sheet metal. That will work those itty bitty pieces of wood like crazy. They are designed to have clearance.

Second, the magazine box as recoil lug is not going to be consistently stiff. Inconsistency is never good for accuracy.

And in rereading your points you say the bedding will prevent the corners from pushing outwards on the stock... actually, it will increase that outward thrust if the box is compressed lengthwise... It has to.
art