Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Goens rifle project

I purchased a Goens pre 64 mdl 70 barreled action in 280 here on the fire from nyrifleman. (great guy to deal with by the way)

Unfortunately it is missing the main part of a Goens rifle, the stock. It is gone and nobody knows where it is.

By doing a lot of internet searching a found a post from the fire mentioning that a gunsmith had the records and stock patterns from Dale Goens.

So I bought my first ever stock blank and plan to send it to him and have a stock duplicated using Mr. Goens pattern.

This project will probably take awhile and I'm sure I'll be asking lots of questions and asking for pointers

here are some pics to start with
[img]http://i.imgur.com/QateewY.jpg?1[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/ftjZHGq.jpg?1[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/ftjZHGq.jpg?1[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/kMCvRA1.jpg?1[/img]

The metal work you bought will be an excellent foundation for a first-quality project. But I can imagine a bunch of ways in which it might not fit a generic "Goens pattern":

Does the barrel channel match your barrel contour?
What bottom metal does the pattern assume?
Is the bolt notch in the correct position?
Do the tang shapes match?

Were I doing your project, I would get a pattern quality blank (about $50) and have a stock cut. I would fit that to the metal work, and then use that as my pattern to cut the stock you intend to use. It is a lot easier to get the inletting right on a practice stock (when "do overs" are easy) than your one-and-done expensive blank.

Pay particular attention to the grip cap. You probably don't know what grip cap Goens used, and you need one that fits perfectly. Again, this would be a detail that would be more easily solved on a practice/pattern stock than on the final product.

Custom parts and projects are all "one offs." Blackburn bottom metal from 30 years ago is not exactly the same as what is sold today under the same name. The bolt handle in the photos is raked way back; maybe Dale changed his technique/design preferences between when he did the metalwork and the pattern was cut.

Charge on.

Thanks for the tips Utah!
I have thought of most of that.I wrote down the questions to ask the gunsmith Mr. Bedeaux about.
The barrel contour, the modified prewar like tang, and the bottom metal. but I had not thought of the grip cap and the bolt handle.
He said he had patterns for a large and small ring mausers and a pre 64 model 70. He also said the patterns had long lengths of pull and forearm to cut to length as needed.

Hopefully he won't mind me making a pattern from his patterns to do as you suggested.

Last time I visited Roy, back in December, he had retired. However, he might be willing to help you with your Goens rifle--keeping my fingers crossed for you.

When I talked to him a couple of weeks ago he told me he was pretty much retired but said he would help me some by sending out with my blank to duplicate with the Goen's pattern.

utah708, I've been using your thread on your beautiful custom 280 as a go-by. I also like the grain flow that dips down to the toe. I've always admired stocks like that since the '80s when you saw more articles in magazines showing custom rifles.

That is a gorgeous blank! The good part about using a blank of that quality is it will make you more careful with every cut!

Where did you source your blank from?

Watts walnut

He has one for 300$ I think is a steal. 2 for 400$ that are pretty nice. and one at 600$ I believe looks better than some that are more expensive.
These are the circassian walnut. His american walnut is in the 275 to 400$ and looks great.

Tagged .......

A friend bought 2 Goens rifles on the Rock Island Auction. Nice rifles.

Wow! I had not heard that Roy was retired. I think someone told me that either Roy or his father or both did some of the metal work for Goens, which if true would make sense regarding stock patterns.

I would see if he can make a pattern stock from his patterns and then you fit it to your rifle and work out the glitzes and details and then have that blank cut from your modified pattern.

Tag

I sent the barreled action and blank to Mr. Bedeaux, He will have the blank turned and fit and bed my action and return to me for final sanding and finishing and then I will send it out to be checkered. He said he would provide a name of a women who lived in I believe North or south Dakota he used for checkering.

I have one rifle from Roy with that woman's checkering--she does outstanding work. You're going to have a great rifle!

1911, I was actually in his shop when he was talking to you ! Small world! Roy does outstanding work , you will be happy with it, good luck

That bolt handle is simply a checkered type II Pre- 64 m70 handle..

I am sure it looks "raked back" to a Mauser fan, but that's just the way they are.

That handle treatment was very typical for Dale when stocking a pre- 64 m70..

He did not waste his time trying to improve on perfection...:)

If you have a pic of your rifle I would love to see it.

My lord, it is a small world!.

Mr. Bedeaux is very modest about his capabilities as far as comparing himself to Goens. I feel very fortunate about him helping me with this project.