Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Stocks 101

I am going to attempt to form my own stock. What books would you guys recommend that I get? What tools to I need? I am not a very handy wood worker; the only carpentry I have ever done is rough construction. The first gun I am going to try to stock is my 416 Howell built on a pre-64 Winchester Model 70. It has a McMillan stock on it right now, so this will just be a learning experience. If I screw the wood up I will still have a great stock to go back to. Do I need to install cross bolts?

I'd listen to what Sitka has to say on the matter. Sounds like a fun project.
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<br>Good luck on the Maiden Voyage..............

Thanks,
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<br>That is SD is who I was hoping to "school" me. I am really looking foward to getting started. If this works out I will try my hand with some turkish wood for a 6.5-06 project I am thinking about.

Newguy
<br>It can be done and well with patience. I would suggest you find someone closer to you to get some tips from while you start... the printed word is a tough way to go about learning such a total hands-on thing. I would be happy to try to talk you through the tough parts by electrons, mail or phone, for whatever that would be worth.
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<br>I have shown a number of folks how to build a stock in person and the successes far out-number the failures. I was fortunate to have a stock-maker father who stood behind my elbow for many hours. If I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times, from him, "there is still a nicely shaped stock hidden in there."
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<br>A cross bolt might be a good idea, but that is a long way down the road. One of the real beauties of building a rifle stock for a big bore such as yours is the ease with which you can build in a little cast-off to tame recoil a bunch. The last rifle I stocked was a 375AI and I have been totally amazed at how gently it shoots due to the stock design. The first range session included 37 rounds from the thing with out any added padding and there was zero discomfort or soreness the next day.
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<br>Do you have tools and a blank? Feel free to contact me with any questions...
<br>art

"Professional Stockmaking" by Westbrook (Wesbrook? can't remember) -- Brownell's sells it.
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<br>Also make sure you have some pictures of the kind of stock you want to emulate -- I guarantee you will look at them to resolve small design issues such as how to round off the nose of the comb, the forend tip, or how to work the transition between the round forend and the flat floorplate. Steven Dodd Hughes' "Custom Rifles in Black and White" is a good source that shows a variety of styles.

NRA has a good section in it's Gunsmithing Book.
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<br>I started off the same way, Read a lot at first to get the basics.
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<br>Always want to start with a blank at least 2 3/4 inches thick.
<br>Cut the rough shape about 1/8" ovesize. Always bed the action /barrel first. It's alot easier if you take the barrel off and bed the action and then put the barrel on and go from there.
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<br>If you have access to a milling machine, the inletting goes a lot faster and more accurate.
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<br>It's nice when building your ownto get the length of pull and pitch right and you can throw in some cast for a right or left hand shooter. This makes the pointability a lot better. If you do this remember to offset the centerline 3/8" to left for a right hand shooter( or however much cats you put on it.
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<br>I usually put 1/4 " top and 3/8" on the bottom at the back of the stock for my cast ( I'm 5-6 and it works out great.
<br>Ther are guide lines for correct placement of handgrip, it's curve and how the monte carlo should curve into the neck, thikness of neck and heigth.
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<br>If you have the time, do the first out of a piece of pine. Get it right then copy it.
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<br>Using a mill I usaully have about 140 hrs wrapped up in a stock, not including checkering and finishing.
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Saddlesore
<br>I have never taken the barrel out of an action and then bedded the action first and frankly cannot see where that could possibly speed anything up?
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<br>Cast is a wonderful thing when built in properly, making sure it is cast-off you are refering to here. He is talking about a fairly aggressive recoiling rifle and a little cast-on would take his head off... the usual thought is to put a touch more on top, not bottom, so they recoil swings out and slightly up.
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<br>I have gotten away with building straight stocks from blanks well under 2" thick, though you obviously cannot build in cast from such a skinny one. Are you building monte carlo cheekpieces with the extra thickness?
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<br>For those who might be confused by cast-off vs cast-on; a righthand shooter would use a stock which angled very slightly away from his face, then bent slightly left for cast-off. In recoil the tiny bend, I use 5/16" at the heel (top) and 1/4" at the toe, is enough to redirect the recoil thrust slightly out and up. The difference is enough to be noticeable, especially with big stuff. Everything moves away from the face.
<br>best to you
<br>art

Sitka.
<br>Taking the barrel off doesn't speed it up any for me I find it's just easier for me to get the action inletting correct. Then I put it back on the mill and pick up the center and rough cut the barrel channel out .
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<br>I haven't ever built any stocks for the big stuff, so I yield to your experience. However, I would think you would want more cast off on the bottom so the stock would more naturally fit the contour of your shoulder socket which angles outward at the bottom. At least that's what I have learned about shotgun stocks. So I applied the same to my rifle stocks and it works for me.
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<br>But I'm not a professional stock maker and have only made about a dozen of my own and a few for friends.
<br>I have done two side x sides and an over/under, that shoot dead on for me now. Two Garands, and about 6-8 mausers and model 70's, and a coupla old shotguns that had the screw coming up from the butt of the stock into the tang, and an 03 springfield C stock.
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<br>I might be doing it all wrong. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing as they say. A local gunsmith has been trying to get a fellow up from the Trinidads gunschool here in CO to do a week long seminar on stock building that I want to attend.
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<br>I'll sure welcome any tips. One thing I know I'm not getting quite right is how to orient the grain just right though the neck.
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<br>BTW. yes I build the monte carlo into the extra thickness, and it gives me an extra edge against screw ups.
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<br>All my wood comes from PA. My brother cuts some black walnut at times and if he gets soeme nice wood, he will cut a piece 3" thick, x maybe 12-14 high and sometimes 8-10 foot lg. Then put's it up in the barn rafters for several years until I show up and steal it. By then it maybe has a little twist in it and I can plane it down to take it out.

Newguy,
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<br>I'm going to add my little bits to all the good information that you've gotten so far.
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<br>Do as much reading as possible before buying anything then ask questions. This will save you lots of time and just as important, money, which might be wasted by making bad decisions. There's lots of folks here to ask questions of and they are willing to share information.
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<br>Think about starting with a semi-inlet stock from one of the several stock making companies. These are usually undersize for both the action and barrel so that you have the opportunity to finish the inletting with hand tools and a lot less work for your first stock, but it gives you a good idea of what to expect when you progress to doing the next stock. I believe in being success oriented on these projects so I try to start with the crawl then work up to walk. Making stocks from scratch is terrific goal, don't give up on it, just start a little slower and enjoy the experience. It is very rewarding to carry a rifle that is wearing the stock that you made and finished with your own hands.
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<br>Take a look at these websites and see what's available. You can start with a less expensive semi-inlet that won't hurt your wallet should you make a msitake that can't be fixed. Be aware that lots of mistakes can be fixed.
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<br>Regards.
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<br>www.benchrest.com/sst (lists of stocks and other stuff)
<br>www.rifle-stocks.com
<br>www.gunstocks.com
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Saddlesore
<br>No offense intended... I was just curious how it could help. I never build with inletted or pre-shaped blanks and find I like the way the wood is brought down in stages to specific lines and takes shape. Inletting with hand tools is a slow process, but not a particularly difficult one, and I enjoy that as much as any other aspect.
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<br>As to the difference in cast between top and bottom, the argument can be made that it seems better in either direction, and the only thing I am going with is what I learned too long ago to remember where I learned it. I do know the big boys do it with a little extra at the top, though. If it works for you in reverse, that is a fine thing and probably points to it not being all that important...
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<br>I have not built a cheekpiece in many years, and doubt I'll build another any time soon, I build them straight and classic, all straight lines or parts of circles, almost anyway. I am not a professional either, as I enjoy it way too much to do it for a living.
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<br>I have an uncle with a sawmill in NY that I get to pilfer from occasionally, but then get to let it rest and finish drying for a couple years after stealing it fair and square...
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<br>Amazing how much extra it costs for some wood just because it does have the grain running perfectly through the fore end. I like a little rise and dead straight from side to side. With the epoxy system the movement is reduced enough to minimize those concerns and I have yet to see barrel channel movement in a stock, where I could not pinpoint the error in sealing. And I have only had a couple move at all.
<br>best to you
<br>art

Sitka, No offense taken, I just enjoy making them as you do. This winter sproject might be a new stock for my TC inline. Right now it's a synthetic that sounds like a hollow log.
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<br>As a side note, two years ago, I was making a C stock for an 03 Springfield, that I got from CMP. They take all those guns apart and store the stocks seaparetly and you never get the original one back with it. The one I got was cracked and in pretty bad shape.
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<br>These stocks have along forend going to almost 6 inches of the end of the barrel. After roughing out and having it all inletted and glass bedded I was starting the final cuts on the forend, Cut into some lead. I found a .32 cal mini ball imbedded in the wood.
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<br>Since that tree was about 18" in dia and this wood came from the last cut of the log, towards center, I figure it had to be in there over 75 years.
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<br>Since I had it all inletted and such, I just filled the void with Acruglass, as it was covered by the top handgaurd.
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Saddlesore
<br>I have seen a couple boards with bullets, but they had redneck written all over them... long story.
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<br>One thing you said caught my eye, and you may not know, but the center of a tree is a very bad place to get a stock blank. For several inches around the heart, in most species, there is a different type of fiber laid down, called juvenile wood, a category of reaction wood. Most limb wood is also juvenile wood (if not, it is lateral growth reaction wood.) Reaction wood should not be used for a gun stock because the strength is very low with strong warping tendencies and prone to cross-grain checking, because it is the only wood which shrinks much in length when dried. It might not actually crack, but it is definately subject to serious internal stresses. Those stresses might just show up when you least expect or want them to.
<br>best to you
<br>art

Sitka, interesting. I had kinda figured that out. Wasn't positive. I think he quarter saws the log, , then towards the middle of the cut, he ends up with something too thin to make another cut, but too thick for a a single board. The plank I have been whittling on for few years does not show any signs of being from the dead center, as it has some white wood on one edge. I can probably get about two more blanks out of it.
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<br>Of the stocks I have made from it, none have shown any signs of internal stress after I have finished with them. Like twisting or warping after cutting the barel channel. But I certainly make a not of it and be sure not to us etahtvtype of wood.
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<br>Thanks for the info. Appreciate it.

Sitka, interesting. I had kinda figured that out. Wasn't positive. I think he quarter saws the log, , then towards the middle of the cut, he ends up with something too thin to make another cut, but too thick for a a single board. The plank I have been whittling on for few years does not show any signs of being from the dead center, as it has some white wood on one edge. I can probably get about two more blanks out of it.
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<br>Of the stocks I have made from it, none have shown any signs of internal stress after I have finished with them. Like twisting or warping after cutting the barel channel. But I certainly make a note of it and be sure not to use that type of wood.
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<br>Thanks for the info. Appreciate it.