Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Reinforce my 9.3?

For those of you that are shooting heavy recoiling loads in your 9.3x62, have you added reinforcements to your stock? Some of those heavy bullet loads with upped velocity take recoil to notieable levels. I have not cracked a stock on any 375's that ive owned, but did crack and knock some chips out of a 416, that was bedded by a gunsmith. My 9.3 has a nice stick of wood and dont want to add glue lines.
Thanks
Bfly

My CZ 550 FS 9.3X62 rifle has an extra recoil lug on the barrel along with the one on the action. I steel bedded the barrel lug but left the action lug alone as it has a metal insert in the stock that is fixed into place. A year ago I ordered an American style stock for my CZ and it has a place for the barrel lug and the same setup for the action recoil lug. So I steel bedded the barrel lug on the American stock as well. Both stocks have two cross-bolts. The bottom of the CZ action also has cross grooves in it that slightly bite into the stock enough to leave a mark in the wood. (The rifle shoots well with either stock in place.)

It appears that CZ thinks the stocks for 9.3X62 rifles need a little more reinforcing.

Lots of used 98s in all chamberings have tang cracks. That tells me that bedding at the recoil lug and a cross bolt or two is not a bad ideal.

That is exactly what I had done on my 7x57.

My Zastava 9.3x62 has a few chips around the tang and a crack between the trigger and magazine and a another crack behind the recoil lug, the previous owner did a crappy bedding job with that epoxy putty stuff that looks like blue tack (which is also cracked through behind the recoil lug) strangely it shoots sub MOA with Prvi factory ammo which is all I’ve tried in it so far, I sort of like how it looks like garbage but shoots so straight, especially when I show up at the range and it outshoots other guys fancy looking guns that cost 4 times as much, but if I were to get a new stock for it I’d get at least one cross bolt installed and make sure there was a wee bit of clearance around the rear of the tang and trigger guard.

I have a hidden crossbolt and glass bedding in my 9.3x62 replacement stock. Original had a bad tang crack, so it seemed like cheap insurance. I also relieved the stock around the tang a tiny bit and pillar bedded.

I've glassed recoil lugs on rifles with wood quality, structure or inletting that might have encouraged cracks. The tang is the obvious place, but the web behind the magazine well can split too. If the lug is glassed and you have even minimal clearance behind action metal, you shouldn't need crossbolts or glass in the rest of the action....WvZ

My Voere 9.3 cracked the tang pretty good. First rifle I've ever had do that.

Pillar bedding or bedding blocks. They spread the load out over a bigger part of the stock so one small area isn't taking all the recoil. A lot of people think pillar bedding is for accuracy but it really got its start to better distribute recoil protecting the stock from cracking. Bedding with an inert substance in a wood stock can help accuracy because it tends to move less with changes in humidity and temperature. A round Pillar of 3/4 inch or so distributes recoil a lot more evenly than a relatively thin bolt and distributes the recoil energy over a wider area. Same with bedding blocks.

If you look at an African heavy recoiling rifle it has cross bolts close to the recoil lug area. Usually these are right behind the recoil lug. They absorb the recoil from the pillars and distribute it all across the mid part of the stock.

If you pillar bed the front and rear action screw and put a cross bolt behind both pillars it should absorb the recoil and protect not only the tang but the recoil lug area from cracking.

mine is glass bedded (with a boyds laminated stock). it went trough a lot of bullet tested and the heavy ones with no issue so far.

I've never used crossbolts and I don't really see the benefit of them. Bed the rifle. I've never understood people that don't bed rifles, especially wood stocked rifles, regardless if it's a 222 or a 458.

I guess too many think bedding is for accuracy.