Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Ol' Ugly Stock Mods

Thinking about channeling some Phil Shoemaker type mods on a wood stock. Using epoxy, microfibers and possibly fiberglass to open up and rebuild grip so my hand fits. Current grip is too vertical, trigger finger is cramped and guard bashes my middle finger. Nothing fancy, just a walkin' around rifle, 375R rebarrel on an old Zastava/ Herters. Will be epoxy coated and krylon finished.
Any advice or examples of others before starting?

I’m going to do the same thing I have a laminate stock that I removed too much from the grip area I think this would fix it and be really comfortable just didn’t want to do it wrong and have a huge mess.

Here's some encouragment for us.
Ol' Ugly and Phil.
(Shamelessly borrowed fom Grizzly Skins site.)

Very encouraging might not even be ugly

That has to be one of the greatest rifles in the world. I wish he would write more about it.

If it's ever on Pawn stars one day, I think the starting price should be at least 100 grand.

Looks like a highly modified, utilitarian rifle and some “Ole Ugly” guy…😁

Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself . 😊

That rifle might be ugly but the action is slick as can be. And every thing else is set up for close in and fast work. That being said it is not ugly but instead it is a thing of beauty.

Brown Precision bare fiberglass blank, besides the exterior work there was some lead and epoxy "fill" too.
Ross Seyfried was also known to modify stocks with Bondo and leave them with just a proudly sanded finish,
as on his "Professional's Rifle."

I have used bondo on my pattern stocks, wood stocks, it separates over time. It would work fine I suspect on glass stocks

Yep, Ross's stock was a Brown Precision fiberglass like Phil's.
Only Ross did the bondo work after the fine finish painting by Brown.
Don't forget the heavy-duty, traction-grit-do-tread-on-me paint for the grip panels on the stock.
Don't make them too neat with masking tape or other aid.
Krylon color scheme can be ever changing.
Easy touch-up whenever the whim strikes.

was a good write-up of this in one of the Gun Digests. A working mans rifle.

Big Bores and Brown Bears by Phil Shoemaker-
https://www.riflemagazine.com/big-bores-and-brown-bears



Great shot of Phil's 458, from his article, shows how open the grip is, which is the mod I need to make on my 375.

If Phil stops by, it would be nice to have some details on how his light rail has worked out and which light he is using.

Is it my imagination or is the scope mounted 90 deg. off.......... not that it matters a whit, once you figure out the adjustments...???

I've done this myself when ejection hits the cap and caused problems.

If I remember correctly, and it’s been a long time since I read the article, but I believe he talked about turning the scope to eliminate the chance of brass hitting and falling back into the action. This was to mitigate any chance of cycling issues when in a hurry or defensive situations. Remember, this was his main battle rifle when going against big nasty wounded bears in the tight brush.

Until Phil steps in, I can shed a little light on some of the more unorthodox mods. Yes the scope is mounted 90deg off, not for ejection but rather for ease of loading big shells in a hurry. Ballistic turrets need not apply. Not shown in that photo but another mod for the same purpose is a Dremel cutout on the L/H side of the action - just like Paul Mauser did😎. Instead of being used for loading from stripper clips, it is helpful for pressing down the big shells with the left thumb as the right throws them in.

The bolt handle has also been goobered up with epoxy to make it round and smooth - instead of the half round with checkering on the underside as it came from Interarms. I have no idea why anyone would checker a ball bearing....

And notice the little Redfield Bo-Peep sight
screwed onto the rear of the Weaver base,
no open rear sight to clutter the barrel.

If not for Bo-Peep, the 2.5X scope could be
moved forward a bit more to get the front ring squeeze off of the objective glass.

But hey it has survived 40 years like that.

when I was a kid in the 60s men did that on 94 win. with the left side scope mount

Except for the light rail My son Taj’s answer pretty well covered the questions.
And the Picitinny rail extending from the front of the forearm has worked superbly for holding my Surefire light.

I first wrote about building Old Ugly in the 1985 issue 101 of Rifle magazine. Then Editor Dave Scoville asked me to do another that ran in the July 2003 issue that has a photo of it on the front cover.

A couple years ago Gun Digest ran a feature on it and I just submitted a feature for next years GD on Alaskan Guide rifles and talk a little about it also.

It remains THE rifle I choose when things absolutely have to die !

The more I experimented with and used the other big bores, from the various 375’s & 416’s, up to the 500 Jeffery and 505 Gibbs, the more I came to appreciate the standard 458 Win. Like the 45 acp in handguns, it’s not the biggest or most powerful, but it is easily managed and has a long and proven track record of performance

Thanks, Phil and Taj, for the info.
Keep an eye on that rifle, don't ever let anyone slip it off to be "prettied up".

Phil,
I reviewed the MarkX mauser .458 about 30 years ago and the importer brought in barreled actions, fitting them to Ramline stocks. (Inappropriately as I broke 2 in half during testing)

My question regards weight. These barrels were the thinnest profile I have seen, which made recoil heavy in a light weight stock so did you do anything to increase weight or balance with yours?
John

I remodeled the Brown precision stock by cutting the comb down and reshaping it with fiberglass and painting the grip and forearm with aircraft wingwalk for grip. When I bedded it I mixed Devcon liquid steel with iron filings from a machine shop. With a 2 1/2x Leupold and 3 rounds the rifle is well balanced, weighs 9#4oz and is certainly manageable recoil wise

Standard trigger or did you get the feller who makes winchester triggers for Mausers down in Matsu Valley to do it.

I used the MKX trigger as it is all steel and has proven very rugged.
But I have used the Alaskan Arms trigger and they are simple and rugged but do require more wood or stock material be removed

Thanks Phil.
I didn't keep my test rifle as I already had several .40 cal rifles so didn't bed it, but would have otherwise. Also had a 24" barrel. Yours looks a little shorter in the pics here?

I wanted a well balanced, quick to point rifle and cut the barrel to 21 inches

That is a quality shirt...anyone know what it is?

I believe that is a Friday button down shirt. Could be a Tuesday as well…

Phil and I share a military surplus shopping pattern and choice of 458wm brands.
F01

The scope configuration in relation to the loading port is the only upside to shooting left handed. Lol

I think it needs a blue metalflake paint job

Seem to remember an article that outlined Taj's "Alaskanized" Ruger 375.

Taj, care to give us a rundown on that?

I decided calling mine Ol'Fugly might be a sort of infringement,
so now she is back to Ms. Piggy Warthog.
Certainly inspired by my reading of Phil Shoemaker back in 1985 when I first set foot in Alaska.
Maybe a poor imitation, but imitation meant as flattery of Old Ugly.















Original grey parkerized metal finish from 1993 has been touched up with Krylon spray paint.
Brown Precision bare fiberglass was covered with epoxy and roughed up in grip panels more so than everywhere else,
then spray-painted, more than once !
She was rechambered to .458 Lott in 1993, the year of Jack Lott's death by suicide.
Hopefully he did not do it due to hearing about Ms. Piggy.
Ms. Piggy waited until 2005 to have action/magazine lengthened and a secondary recoil lug added to barrel.
Recknagel safety and Shoemaker torch rail were last "improvements."
The barreled action came from Boondock Sporting Goods in Eagle River, AK, circa 1986.
Kelly Olson was the first smith to operate on her in 1993, still in Eagle River Alaska.
Rusty McGee started in on her in 2005, at Falls of Rough, KY.
He has always been good at humoring my folly.
My best facilitator for over 20 years now.

About 3 years ago i walked into the hangar and smelled the distinctive aroma of walnut dust.
Curiosity got the best of me so i went looking for the source. I found Taj mangling a Ruger 77 stock- probably a 35 Whelen, on the belt grinder.
I never saw how it turned out but it was going to need some CPR. 😆

From the looks of the stock, that was the final polishing 🫣

Very cool rifles Phil