I am working on my fourth, and probably final, custom rifle off the LH Zastava action. I went through my LH Remington 700 phase for about 25 years because they were the best game in town for lefties. Then I had a very good LH Winchester 70 phase, until those rifles got so bloody expensive. Along the way, the LH Mauser 98 actions from Zastava became available, and even though they are rough, they are a good basis for a custom project, particularly if the goal is a more classic--even retro--project. The current fiberglass stock/stainless metal/turreted scope era is no doubt a technological improvement, but for me not an aesthetic one.

The first was a .35 Whelen that I learned a lot from, but that I think would meet the Colonel's approval nevertheless. Next was a 7x57 with largely the original metalwork because I always wanted a Mannlicher. The third is a 9.3x62 that stepped up the game in terms of metal work and has a McMillan stock for now. (I have posted photos of all of these in the past, so won't repeat them here.)

This fourth one is a .280 Remington that Mark Penrod barreled and also did quite a bit of truing and refining to the action. I am doing the stock work, starting with a pattern that I have been shaping and truing for what feels like an eternity. For an amateur like me, Bondo truly is your best friend.



The blue on the barrel is Prussian blue with a half depth line scribed into it that helps me keep the action deep enough when I am bedding the pattern.




But a dash of spray paint evens out the psychedelic pink camo effect, and shows both where there is still work to be done, and how things are progressing overall.





I already have a chunk of wood that I think should work well for this project ...



Stay tuned, although my work obligations mean that the next installment of progress photos is likely not to arrive for months.

Very nice!

That's going to be beautiful when he's done.

That is very cool. Can't wait to watch the progress.

mr. utah: I am impressed !! Question: I've been wanting to do the same for a M70 and have been considering my options re: the action inletting: how are you planning on doing yours? thank you.

Very cool!
And none of this "no updates for months" stuff either.

Starting with a semi-inlet stock with roughly the correct lines could save you a bunch of time and effort.

Getting the inletting right is of course critical to the function of the gun. The barreled action has to be at half depth, not be rolled to one side or the other (most evident by the trigger being angled off to one side), and not tipped relative to the top line of the stock. And of course the alignment between the receiver and the magazine box/bottom metal needs to be right.

On this project, the action is inlet into the wood quite oversized, and then traditional epoxy bedding fills in the rest. If you look at the second photo you will see two large holes and maybe see one tiny hole that have been drilled into the side of the stock. Bedding epoxy was injected into those holes to fill the gaps around the magazine box, and themselves later filled and leveled. The nice thing about a pattern stock is that you can do whatever it takes to get it right, in the hope that you save time on final stock, and you will not need to be making big changes on it, which increases the risk of an amateur flub up.

I would love to make more progress on it, but will be out of country for the next seven weeks or so. I have built a little fixture that can be clamped to a table and holds the bottom metal steady. I will take that with me and spend time polishing and shaping. I am using Blackburn bottom metal, which is top quality, but it still has a lot of machining marks.

Looking good. That blank is a striking piece of walnut.

I really like blanks with mineral streaks driving hard down toward the toe; I think it creates a real flow to the rifle.

I intend to use this pattern twice--for this stock and again on a stock for the 9.3x62. I have a piece of Bastogne waiting in the wings for it, which I hope will be striking as well.





Although that gun does not look too bad in a McMillan.

utah: thank you for sharing. Actually, I was not clear in my question: what I meant to ask was: how do you actually remove the material for the action inletting: completely hand cut, a milling machine, access to a duplicating machine, or some other means? Thanks again.

Hand tools is all I have. The pattern will be used in a duplicating machine--I will have that professionally done.

Can't wait to see more. Safe travels.

Thanks for sharing. I like the shape of your grip and butt stock. Should handle quickly and still give a good sight picture with the right scope.

Nice work and a great blank. I am reluctant to comment on someones work especially if it is much better than my own. But the cheek piece is a beaver tail and the shadow line is an ellipse. I would bring these closer to each other like on an Echols legend stock. Both elliptical or both beaver tail with the former my preference.

Jack O'Conner made an interesting analogy about gun stocks and two sisters. A slight nuance here and there makes a big difference.

Your comment is fairly offered, and openly received. When you say "closer together" do you mean near the butt or as it approaches the pistol grip?

Apologies again on critiquing your great work. What I meant was the cheek piece and the shadow line should mirror each other more closely to suit my taste but not necessarily yours. Closer together in shape not the spacing that's already perfection.

The butt end of the check piece/shadow line is what I am referring too. The rest is pure poetry. The end point where the shadow line and comb meet is excellent.

The cheek piece appears rounder forming an arc and the shadow line is more of an elliptical shape. I wish I could draw it as it is easier than describing. Using letters as an analogy the shadow line is more of an "L" ellipse and the cheek piece is more of a "C" arc shape on the butt end. Picture a CC shape or an LL shape but not a CL or LC shape.

Compare it to the Echol's legend stock. The check piece on the Echol's is rounded but follows the shadow line more closely. A very subtle transition between an arc and an ellipse.

If I am still confusing the issue I could draw it in autocad and email it to you. PM me if I should. Don't know how to send it otherwise.

I only commented on this as the stock is so close to total perfection and the little things are mostly a matter of taste and individual perception or preference.

After some months away from this project due to work, I have a little progress to report. I stopped by the stock duplicator today and was able to pick up this slab from the blank that shows what the grain flow will be like. This blank may be one of those that looks better on the inside than on the surface. The final duplicating may be done this week.

That is an absolutely gorgeous piece of wood! I look forward to your progress.

Come on Utah...you're killing us. powdr

You sir have nice wood

A major breakthrough in progress...



So my ally on this project has been D'Arcy Echols. He needed a lefty Legend McMillan stock blank for a client quicker than he could get it from McMillan, and so I traded him one in exchange for him duplicating a stock off my pattern. The unfortunate part of the deal for him (but the absolutely great part for me) is that I would take my pattern by and he would tell me what was not right yet. I would go home, fix whatever was deficient, and then return for another lesson in remedial stock building. He was kind enough to put up with maybe a half dozen of those visits. When he said it was ready to go, I took a blank over.

He got it rough cut while I was overseas, and offered me the chance to watch as he did the final shaping. He uses a Hoenig pantograph, which mounts the stock and pattern in rotating steadyrests to ensure that the stock is not deflected by the pressure of the cutter. The result is that he can cut to .003" over. It did take over three hours, and three different depths of cutting, and I'll bet he changed cutters 25 times to properly get into some corner of the stock.

I have used a number of semi-inlet blanks before, but never one cut this close. It greatly sped up my work. D'Arcy thinks he can inlet a stock off this pantograph in 3 hours, it took me almost 8, which might be a third of the time I have spent on others.

The wood is everything I might have hoped for--now I need to just take my time and not screw it up.

(I wet the stock with mineral spirits for the photos.)

That is a beautiful stock to say the least!!

looking great!

Here is what I was referring to regarding the rotating steady rests in the Hoenig pantograph:

Very nice. You got your money's worth on that trade! :-)

Looking very nice!

That blank looks like the tree knew it was going to become a gunstock. The grain is just about perfect. I'll say you got a pretty good deal on the trade, a mini apprenticeship and a profiled blank too. What finish? Any alkanet oil? The color is so good already could be risky.

I appreciate your comments. I am really pleased with the layout of the stock; I have not done enough projects from a blank to be able to confidently "see" the stock that is buried in the blank. Decisions about how to finish the stock are pending. Fortunately I have cut off pieces of the blank to practice with. I have not used alkanet oil before, so I might be asking you some questions.

By the way, you offered some important comments about the relative shapes of the cheekpiece and the shadowline. I have made some changes consistent with your advice, so look for that as I post more progress photos.

I could send you some alkanet. Better to make your own and do a big batch so you can play around with different dilutions of turpentine to oil. Once you have one you like mix plenty so you don't have to use a different batch on the same stock.

Best info is on the Double Gun forum. It is interesting stuff it is both a dye and a stain. It looks terrible at first and then when finished brings out the grain like nothing else. Go easy with a more diluted mix. You can add a little to each stage of the finishing to get deeper color.

You can get the raw alkanet root from herbal, candle and soap making places on line.

But go with whatever D'Arcy recommends.

That is a gorgeous stock. I also really like the barrel contour and wanted to ask you to share the details on it.

Thank you.

The barrel is a profile I developed, again influenced by Echols and the Burgess tradition. It is approximately a Winchester featherweight with a shank. Most factory barrels taper at .006"/in; this one tapers faster than that, which means it carries more diameter further forward, and is not as whippy as other barrels with the same muzzle diameter.

But I also like the aesthetics of the sharp corner where the shank breaks into the concave taper. I used the same profile on a 7mm Rem mag.


Brux turned it for me from a pattern I sent to them.

Thank you for the update, ...

this is one of the finer threads running on this website.

Kudos for keeping dreams and visions alive, Mate !

GTC

Woodworking books always say it is good to practice with a finish, even one you have used before, because it may interact in novel ways with any given piece of wood. Given that I am trying some new things on this stock, some experimentation was doubly called for.



This is two coats of some penetrating sealer, a black paste filler for the pores, one more coat of sealer to lock in the filler, then some hand rubbed oil coats. I put a little transparent red/brown dye in the sealer and oil, just to see what I would get.

Any thoughts?

Good grain flow through the wrist, love the dark grain too.

Looking very nice!

Looks great, nicely done.

Time for an update--it continues to look like a rifle.



The gun spent about 6 weeks with Mike Scherz (Gila River Gun Works, Pocatello ID) getting some custom bases made. I think they look better than Talleys, and also have compensated for some unevenness in the action radius. He also needed to re-thread the rear screws to 8-40 because the existing 6-32 holes were mis-aligned.





Aside from that, most of my hours have been in polishing the metal and sanding/whiskering the stock--none of which is evident in photos, however.

But I am still a sucker for putting denatured alcohol on it to make sure the figure is still there...

Looking great so far!

I always like your rifle posts... great job!

Beautiful work. Thank you for all of the pictures.

Those bases look sweet. Mike is a very talented guy. Looks like you're doing this one, "right."

+1

I really think it's cool how you're documenting this thanks for doing it!!

Who are you going to for checkering?

I haven't decided yet. I have used both Kathy Forster and Sherry Abraham in the past, and their work is great.

So you have others I should add to my list of candidates?

A little progress that no one will see...(with an apology in advance for my poor photographs)

Getting the inletting tight and consistent tested my patience, my talent, and my aging eyes.








But the biggest trick was going back in after the inletting was done and glass bedding the rifle to give it a more stable platform. It was nerve wracking to make sure I did not screw up my earlier efforts when I was removing wood, slopping bedding compound around, and then cleaning up the inevitable overages. I can do a fiberglass stock in about a third of the time I spent on this one.







But I think I pulled it off--all photos of the inletting shown above were taken after the glass bedding was done.

I was able to have D'Arcy Echols look my progress over. The forend needs to be about an inch shorter, the flow of the action into the grip needed more work, and the nose of the comb was not symmetrical and too blocky. I am indebted to him for his charity toward a hack.

Looking good. Enjoying this thread

Tag, for future drooling purposes!!!


Mike

Making some progress on the stock...









I am thinking about starting a separate thread down in the gunsmithing forum on the technique I am using to finish the stock. Threads on wood finishes are only slightly less opinionated than the optics forum, and I really don't care to get this thread hugely off its focus on this particular rifle.

Looking great! Definitely a worthwhile project. Thanks for sharing.

So I did post an extensive thread on my finishing efforts in the gunsmithing forum (See Finishing a wood gunstock)

I have taken the stock from this



to this

Very Nice

First time with the metal back in the stock once the finishing began. Attention now turns to more polishing before sending the parts off to be blued.




Keeping the corners around the floorplate crisp required diligent attention.


I think I got rid of the "dead spot" in the curve of the cheekpiece that Tejano quite appropriately pointed out as not being quite right.

Dadgum,that is going to be one sweet rifle.

Beautiful build.........I'm wishing I was your left-handed neighbor!

Thank you for sharing the journey.

My limited photography skills may not show it, but I did not like where the flutes (my term for the transition between the radius of the forend and the surface around the magazine box) at front of the bottom metal ended, as shown in the photo below. They were too far forward, and did not precisely match. I have cut a bevel on the edges of the front of the bottom metal so that the forend can be more rounded in cross section. But the arc of my flutes in the wood and the arc of the beginning of the bevel in the metal did not meet--there was no transition. The taper on the wood aligns with the front of the floorplate hinge, and the bevel on the bottom metal has already started by then.




So I cut the flutes in the wood back further, so they align better.





I had to refinish that area, but what the heck, it is my gun and I can do what I want.

Very nice...

Yes, very well done!!

Thanks everyone, for your kind comments. My additions to this thread are likely to taper off at this point. I am doing finish polishing on the metal work, prior to sending it off for bluing. None of that work lends itself to "how to" photos (not to mention the additional fact that I do not know what I am doing when it comes to polishing.) And Sherry Abraham is 4-6 months out on checkering, so that will not be back before summer.

So stay tuned, but don't hold your breath.

Wow man loving this thread thanks so much for taking us along on this project!

What checkering pattern are you looking at from Sherry?

Are you having the steel rust blued? If so, who is doing the work?

Thanks again this is really great,

efw

The checkering will be pretty simple. Open point wrap around on the forend. The pattern on the grip will need to accommodate for the front of the cheekpiece and the sharp break between the bottom line of the stock and the grip.

This stock comes pretty close, but I want the back of the grip to be different.


I don't think I want to spend the extra money for rust bluing. I am trying to figure out how much polishing I need to do before disassembling it and sending it to Glenrock Bluing for their dip service--they don't do any more metal prep and just dump it in their tanks.

Have you ever thought about Black T?

I have not used Black T, but do not think it is quite as traditional as I am trying to go with this project.

It has been a long time since I had anything to post about this project, but here is a teaser photo.



I figured that at this point it is "in for a penny, in for a pound" and I took the metal work to an engraver. Yes, I can buy a couple of Wal-Mart class guns for what it will cost, and no, it will not make it shoot any better. But this gun may be the high water mark of my gun building, so why not go all out.

It is amazing to think about scritching all those little lines in there.

Fantastic. Can't wait to see it come together.

Might as well go with the rust bluing now. That rifle deserves it.

It is doable with a home shop setup but not sure if you can get all the chemicals anymore as some are pretty caustic.

Very nice. Congrats!

More than a few excellent pre mixed rust blue solutions out there. I use Gun Goddess from Jim Baiar, Half Moon Rifle Shop.

The engraving you chose is very tasteful and fits the style of your rifle.

The metal work shipped to Glenrock Blue today. I want this project to turn out well, so am willing to sub out the steps in which I don't know what I am doing.

I also talked with Sherry Abraham, who is doing my checkering, and there is a good chance I will have the stock back in a couple of weeks.

I hate to go all the way back to the beginning at this stage of the game, but a few questions please

1. What is that pattern stock? Is it available in right hand. Or did you make the pattern from a blank.
2. Is that the original bottom metal> If not, whose is it.
3. Is that the original safety. If not, whose is it.
4. Did you add a new trigger or use the original.
5. Who did you use for that lovely engraving.

1) I made the stock pattern, so it not available in RH.
2) That is Blackburn bottom metal.
3) The safety is a 3-position Gentry.
4) The trigger is a Recknagel
5) The engraving is by Gary Griffiths of Preston, Idaho. If you want his contact information, please contact me. He did not want his phone number and email posted on the internet for the whole world to see, but is happy with me giving them out. I intend to give him a bigger shoutout when the gun is back from the bluer and the engraving will photograph better. This is the first engraving I ever commissioned and am quite pleased with how it turned out.

Almost wish you hadn't asked me these questions--you are reminding me how much I have spent. But it was gradually pulled together over 3+ years, so it was not all one big lump.

Well, from the looks of it the money was very well spent, and the enjoyment you have gotten so far and that you will get in the future will be priceless.

Well, the bluing took about a month longer than expected and the checkering job is substantially overdue (but what is new about either of those?) I think the engraving looks pretty sharp; the gold really pops against the blued metal. Feel free to contact me if you want the engraver's contact information.







Once the stock comes back, I can work on assembling the gun.

Wow ! Beautiful...

Wow, looks great!

Wow that looks gorgeous what a classy build you have here what ya planning to chase with it first??

More please.

I don't know when I will get to hunt with it. Last fall I drew no permits (first year without big game hunting in at least 40 years, I think) and so far this year I am striking out. Maybe one of the Texas guys will invite me down to shoot a hog just so they can see the rifle.


Tejano--as soon as there is enough new progress to warrant pictures, I will put some up.

Thanks wish I had a place where I could bring guests. Where I hunt I am already the guest.

I learned the photobucket fix, so I am resurrecting this old thread and its pictures.

Don't know how long it will last.

Thanks Utah! The pictures are beautiful!