Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Boat Paddle to Boyd, Ruger 77 Mk II

I like it! Looks like I just found my summertime project.
This is how I started,


we'll have to see if I can do as good a job as DF.

You can hog out the wood between holes by angling the bit, letting it grunge out that wood. Sorta crude but removes a lot of wood. The edge of the bit can cut, maybe not so clean, but a less than smooth cut covered by the pad, who cares. The wood is gone. Weight is down.

DF

Looks good. I like the boat paddles, but I bet you can sell it easily.

They running around $250 or so on eBay.

DF

McM McWoody Mtn rifle stock. Std. fill. I love the shape and how it handles. Be nicer if it was an Edge fill, but I got this stock here on the Classifieds, used. McM no longer offers marble finish, Edge fill unless the background color is black. That's because the black graphite shell can sometimes show thru. I have one McWoody Edge fill. There was no black showing thru, but am glad I got it when available.

This rifle is a Creed with Shilen barrel, shoots 123 gr. Scenars over Varget into tiny little groups. Creeds shoot most anything pretty well, IME. It's an easy round to work with.

The project Ruger is an '06 with a perfect looking barrel thru the Hawkeye, glassed and free floated. I expect it to shoot well. Time will tell. I gotta get it finished and it's gotta quit raining. I have loads ready to try, will load a few more combos. The Hawkeye is but a tool; the acid test is at the range.

DF

Dirt farmer,

I have a similar project in the works. I have hollowed out a Boyds stock, slimmed the grip and am in the process of bedding and fitting the bottom metal. I am new to working on stocks and am having issues getting the two piece bottom metal to fit properly.

Why did you need to shim the front of the bottom metal and is there a reason you used a metal shim instead of using bedding compound to slightly raise the bottom metal?

Thanks,

Onerifle

Good questions. I inletted the trigger guard deep, then shimmed to get perfect closure of the floor plate. Too shallow, the floor plate closes with too much gap and play. Too deep, it won’t latch. I got it a tad deep, so shimmed until the closure was perfect. I then glassed that part. The shim limited how thick or thin the glass would be, setting the level I wanted. It would be hard to blindly adjust the glass thickness otherwise.

After sanding the wood, I noticed some slack after closing the floor plate. So, I thinned the shim and glass until a perfect closure was achieved.

It’s a trial and error process, but perfect closure with no binding, slack, gap or play is worth the effort. At least to me.

It now closes easily with a solid feel, no after movement of the floor plate.

And, make sure you can feel some movement, box mag front and rear, when everything is tightened down. You don’t want any binding of the action. I “farmer tighten” the front screw about as tight as I can with a good fitting Brownell tip screwdriver. I do not use my torque wrench with a slotted screw. They say 95 inch pounds, but I think that’s nuts. With the top and bottom parts both glassed, full tight by me is probably 60 inch pounds or so and that should be enough. I then tighten the rear screw around 40 inch pounds, the middle screw barely tight.

Torque wrench at 95 inch pounds, even with a good fitting screwdriver, will probably ruin a slotted screw. And I don’t want to retrofit a hex head or torx screw. That 95 inch pound spec may be good to compensate for irregular surfaces. Glassed top and bottom, surfaces are true and solid without irregularities. And in no way is 95 inch pounds of torque needed, IMO. Dirtfarmer’s “farmer tight” is pretty tight. Tight enough.

DF

Dirtfarmer

Thanks for taking the time to post this. It has been really helpful. Great job!


Onerifle

Great stuff DF! I recently picked up a Ruger 06 tanger from the late 80's and may need to go with a Boyd's and would want to lighten. It came in a older B&C fiberglass stock on which I've done some trimming and a skim coat of Acra-glass on the receiver area. I Duracoated the too shiny and scratched metal and now waiting for curing. Anxious to put it together and see how it shoots. Will torque to 50 and have a barrel shim ready if needed then go Boyd's if necessary. Want to work up some 130 TTSX loads for it but have some 165 NP's left to try first. Anyway, good work and very enjoyable stuff DF.

I knew this would be an excellent project thread. Hope the rain will let off to see the range " load development " accuracy results. Thanks DF

Razorhog

Great looking stocks. When I bought my stainless MKII 243 I intended to replace the stock. After a few years I grew to like how well it worked for me. The boat paddle stocks are butt ugly but really functional.

Looks good DF. A number of years ago I, literally, did exactly what you have done with a JRS on a M700 35 Whelen. The Pro Custom oil is great stuff. The only other thing I did was slim, shorten and lay back the sweep of the grip. I came out pretty nice. I took it bear hunting in Alberta (was living there at the time) using the 250 gr Speer. It worked.

I’d agree with a .243 or such. An ‘06 shooting 200 gr bullets and such, maybe not. And I want this rifle to comfortably handle heavies. So, knowing the reputation of the boat paddle as not being recoil friendly with big kickers, I fitted it with the new Limbsaver AirTech pad. As noted before, it is thicker than the factory pad, extended the LOP to 14”. Those pads tend to be a bit sticky, although the Limbsaver tech assured me their new formula doesn’t “melt” like the old ones tended to.

Setting it up for winter hunting, I decided the LOP and sticky feeling pad wasn’t what I wanted. And, I had to stock crawl the get a full view thru the scope. I have std height SS Ruger rings, didn’t want to go with a different ring set up. So, the next step was a different stock, knowing what I could get for the boat paddle, which is a good bit more than the Boyd costs.

Just Loony thinking. You know how that works.

DF

DF, A LOP that's too long is something I can't stand. Too bad the factory pads are only .5" thick. I wonder if blown out semi tire pieces is what the factory pads are made of? My M70 FW 30-06 has a Winlite stock and the pad is only .5" thick and hard. With 165gr bullets it can be a bit harsh at the bench. I use a PAST recoil shield at the bench.

Whatever they’re made of, it’s hard as a brick. And the Zytel stock doesn’t have much give.

Some eBay cruising ninja type needs this stock more than I do. And they going for big bucks.

IMO, time to move it and regroup.

DF

Hey Dirt; great post.

Thanks for taking us along on this project!

Take care and be well.

I enjoy a good project, enjoy sharing.

After 4 coats of Pro Oil, it's starting to show some sheen. Pores are about filled; will show again after another 2-3 coats.

I apply by hand, getting good coverage. Then I slide a single sheet of blue shop towel over the surfaces to smooth it out.

The stock is supported by a punch clamped in a vice and sits in the rear action hole. I have a dowel attached to my bench, catching the mag well. That keeps the stock from pivoting as I slide the shop towel down the sides of the butt stock and forearm. It's easy to flip the stock. I use the mag well in one hand, the hollowed out butt in the other. It takes a bit of practice, but is very easy to do. The finish will look hand rubbed when done, but it isn't.

And, finally the product that makes it happen.

DF

Df, you gonna cut some checkering? Ruger has a good deal on their factory open sights. The Ruger African sights from the small bore gun would fit.....

Probably won’t checker.

The forearm shape not one to checker. Boyd does have a classic version with round forearm. I’d have gone with that one to checker.

DF

My antique eyes are not iron sight friendly, so no need to go with irons.

Thanks for that heads up.

DF