Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Finishing A Wildcat Stock for Rem 700 Short Action

I have a Remington 700 LSS mountain rifle 7mm-08 that I am planning on converting from a Laminate stock to a Wildcat composite stock. I am not a gunsmith, however I am excited about learning how to finish the stock myself.

What would be the best way be to remove the material for the bolt handle on the stock? Please see picture below.

I plan on using inletting black on the action to identify what spots need to removed for the action. What tool would you use to remove the high spots? I was thinking maybe a Dremel or HF Rotary Tool.

Use a rat tail file for your bolt handle notch and if you need to open the ejection port. You’ll probably need a rotary tool to open up the inside to make clearance for the trigger and safety. You probably won’t need to remove much to get the action to sit down in the inlet but make sure you rough it up before you bed to give the epoxy something to grab onto. Good luck and have fun

I use a Dremel or Foredom tool to open it up (wear a dust mask). If you take things too far, body filler can fill the gaps, you'll never see it once it's painted.

Here I've got some tape on the bolt handle to allow for clearance while the filler dries. Sand the outside contour to match and you're good-to-go.

Be careful with any rotary tool. I usually find that using hand tools takes less time than using a dremel and then spending more time on repairing Fugups. A hack saw and file will do a fair job on the bolt. Action and barrel channel use various size sand paper on dowels, PVC pipe or long socket heads. I would only use the dremel if a lot of material needs to be removed and for roughing up the channel. Fiberglass is very forgiving as you can always epoxy fill mistakes.

Get some micro balloons and make your own filler, epoxy is much better than Bondo.

Everything he said with respect to tools and epoxy.

Sure, epoxy is stronger, but these aren't exactly high-stress areas. I find epoxy to be less forgiving to work with, slower to sand and, of course, far slower to dry. I use it for any area where I need to build up some actual thickness but, for dings and mold marks, filler or glazing putty work fine in my experience .

To drill the action screw holes, use an undersize drill bit and do each hole in two parts. From the top, and then from the bottom. This delivers a straighter hole when you don't have jig to set the stock up in, it also prevents cracking when you break through from the inside. With the pilot hole complete, using a very sharp drill bit, drill your fullsize hole. Give consideration to pillar bedding the stock as I have found the Wildcats can compress a little with too much torque on the action screws.

As others have said, hand files for the bolt inlet. You will need a round for the lower section, and a square for the bolt closest to the action, specifically on the bottom of the bolt handle where it is flat and the inside of the stock needs to be lowered a little for the bolt to completely close. Bed the stock before moving any further. Once the bedding is done, mask it off - no point getting paint on a nice bedding job.

Drill and tap for your sling studs.

For the external finish, start with some simple automotive spray putty from a rattle can (do this outside as it has no respect for anything it sticks to). Wet sand with 360/400 W&D to a smooth finish throughout. You are only looking to fill the join line, not bog up the whole stock.

Once the stock is smooth, spray with automotive primer from a rattle can. Again wet sand (used 400) to ensure complete smooth finish.

Now for the tricky part...mask off the grip area on the pistol grip as if it is going to be checkered. Lay on one coat of the final colour you want over that area, then put the can down and grab some friction agent for pain (essentially high quality sand) and sprinkle on the painted area. It will stick to the wet paint. Once you have coverage, lightly blow off the excess. Remove your masking tape and then spray the whole stock with the first coat. This will give a nice grippy area for the pistol grip, but smooth elsewhere.

You will probably need two coats of primary colour.

If you want webbing or speckled then you need your contrast colour as a final coat.

Two different rifles attached in the photos, one a 7lb 6.5 SAUM and the other a 6lb 4oz 7-08 on a Model 7.