Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Bell & Carlson Sticky Stock

So I'm working on a B&C stock that has a sticky coating. I bought this stock used about 10 years ago and it was fine. But over the years the finish has become super sticky. It is a Medalist stock with the aluminum bedding block for a small ring mauser. It took quite a bit of work to make it fit my rifle right so I really don't want to send it back to B&C. I don't even know if they would do anything. But having refinished a multitude of stocks thru the years I figured I would just strip the sticky coat off. It has a really nice camo finish underneath that I would like to preserve. I did a little research and people are saying that they have had some luck stripping the stickiness off with rubbing alcohol, acetone, dawn dish soap and a few other things. But I've tried all of these and nothing seems to work. I can scrape it off and it comes off in balls that reminds me of rubber cement. But even after stripping off what I can the stock still stays sticky. Anyone on here dealt with this and have had any luck removing it? I would like to get it cleaned off and then just spray a few coats of matte clear coat on.

Thanks, Brant

If acetone and a scotchbrite pad or steel wool won't remove the gummy crap I can't imagine what would. I have five or six of those stocks...I sure hope they don't present me with the same problem. I've had them for about six years, I think.

Would spraying clear coat on top of the sticky hold and dry hard. Just thinking if the stickiness can't get air it would dry up.

Well I went over the stock with acetone. Turned it into a gooey mess. Then spent a couple of hours completely scraping it off. Went over it again with acetone. Then used an SOS pad with hot water. Used a small wire brush with orange citrus hand cleaner in the checkering. finally got it completely clean. Unfortunately I took off a bunch of the camo finish off. So then I sanded it. Filled a few small pinholes that weren't filled from the factory. sanded again. Primed it. Now in the process of repainting it

I figured it would probably come to that. Hopefully the next finish you apply will be trouble free.

Well thankfully we had a beautiful warm day. Painted the stock. Let it dry for an hour and put a couple coats of clear on. Slid everything back together and now I will leave it in the corner for a couple of weeks to cure up good.
257 Roberts

That looks great!