Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Opening a Barrel Channel in a Stock

So I have a model Seven XCR with a magnum contour fluted barrel that I would like to put in a different stock. Problem is the stocks that are in my budget are made for a sporter contour.

So my question is how does one go about opening a barrel channel and not have it look like a hack job? Is it as simple as using a dowel and some sandpaper or should I avoid it all together.

Thanks!

I use a ratchet socket of appropriate diameter starting with an aggressive sandpaper grit then working to a finer grit until I get my desired width.

I lay the barrelled action in the stock and scribe a line to mark the width to which I have to cut. I put masking tape on the scribe to keep from marring the barrel and I angle the scribe so that the resulting outline is just a little small. One can also tape the barrel instead. Ideally, I want the outside of the scribed mark to be the true line. To do the opening, I use two tools. The first is a rounded chisel of a radius slightly smaller than the radius of the barrel at the smallest point within the stock. The second tool is a Gunline barrel channel scraper of a diameter equal to or slightly smaller than, the smallest diameter of the barrel within the stock. An optional third tool is a half round file which, again, matches the barrel diameter at the smallest point. Start with the chisel and open up to the inside of the scribed line. Be careful to ascertain the direction of the grain before you start with the chisel. You don't want the chisel to dig in or split the wood past the line. When you have done all you can with the chisel, finish up with the Gunline tool. I will cut the bottom of the channel deeper than needed but will strive for a close fit at the top edge unless I want it to be entirely free; in which case I will try for an even 1/16 gap. There is some skill and care required but, if I can do it, most anyone can. GD

Bingo. I would only add that some inletting black to mark the high points and then attacking them with the tools described will help a lot. It may sound counter intuitive, but you would be surprised at how quickly a barrel will sink into its channel when using the right tools.

This is exactly how I opened up the standard barrel channel on a Ruger 77/.17HMR to drop in a Green Mountain heavy fluted tube.It worked perfectly. You have a world of options to match your barrel diameter.

Use the proper tools, Brownells has them.

It is called "wood working." Fun is a swamped octagon barrel for a long rifle. Inletting black is needed and I use Canode Blue since it washes off with water and has no oils.

Same here.

The Gunline barrel tools that Brownells sells will become your best friend.
Phil

The problem with dowels or sockets wrapped in sandpaper is the notion a half-round groove can be cut full length and true.

To be close to right an under-size socket is used to cut the channel deep enough and slowly widened up the sides. Carbon black will show where the high spots are so they can be eased back.

I have seen many, many of these done and the method is obvious...

A very good answer...

I should have mentioned that the stock I would like to open up is a fiberglass composite stock, not wood.

I hog them out with a Foredom tool below the top of the channel and use a long file to keep the edges true. Go slowly and check regularly.

Charlie Sisk showed me his method of opening up the forend channel to free-float barrels several years ago. It works very well by itself IF the barrel isn't too much heavier than the original channel, but also works well if you have to rasp/cut the channel a little wider beforehand.

Wrap the barrel in 2-3 layers of duct tape, laid lengthwise on the barrel. Put the barreled action in the stock, with the action screws pretty loose. Take at least a 12" length of coarse emery cloth and insert it in the forend channel, grit side toward the channel, then grab the ends of the cloth in either hand, directly above the barrel. Pull it back and forth, up and down the forend, until the cloth "runs" without tension. Then tighten the action screws slightly and do it again.

Eventually you end up with the action screws tight, and a forend channel that, with the duct tape removed from the barrel, is very closely free-floated.

Have been using Charlie's technique for at least five years now, and it's a LOT easier than spotting and scraping.

Great idea/method.

Thanks John

John, Charlie's method sounds like one of those things born out of frustration. Time is pressing and you need to remove just a little more wood so you grasp at shortcuts, and dang, works better than you imagined. Nobody would planned it that way or one of us would've read it in a book. Mother of invention and all that.

Thanks for pasing it along.

I like this idea!

Just curious, does coarse emery cloth have a sandpaper grit equivalent?

I prefer to use the 1inch wide sanding belts. I have a small sander that uses 28 inch long (I think) belts so they are handy. Its important to hold the sandpaper straight up and down as to not “waller” out the barrel channel. Works on all kinds or stocks.
Charlie

Damn clever. Nobody in the Kinks books thought of that.

I have dowel I tapered a bit on my Dremel lathe. I wrap coarse sandpaper around that and go at it.