Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa 416 Ruger Alaskan stock ?

Anyone have an idea on a wood stock to replace the Hogue that comes with it? Long action, Barrel contour is a "BC" The guy at Ruger guy was fairly helpfull but semi lost when it came to contours. They offer the 416 Rigby and also the 458 Lott surely one of those wood stocks would fit?

The Ruger stocks used on the Lott and Rigby stocks will not fit. Trust me on this.

As for a wood stock (aka .416 Ruger African), feel free to join the list of those waiting for an answer from Ruger. Seems their 'engineers' are having some difficulty designing or outfitting a wood stock to withstand the recoil and not split. Also feel free to contact Mike Fifer (Ruger CEO) thru the 'Ask the CEO' link on their web site. I'm sure he'd 'enjoy' a comment from someone other than myself and Homesteader!

Doubt Ruger would sell you a stock off of a .375 Ruger African if they knew that you were going to put it on the .416 Ruger - and they'll surely ask for a Ser # when you call to order. They may even want the gun back to do the fitting themselves, at which point they'll balk.

Other wood alternatives might be an Accurate Innovations - pretty pricey though.

Now thats a bummer!

The mkII and Hawkeye are completely different than the larger Ruger Magnums. It will not work. The Big Magnums incorporate a heavy recoil plate mounted into the forend to augment the angled recoil lug. Some have suggested that this would be needed as an addition to the Hawkeye if Ruger were to successfully make a wood stock work on the 416Ruger Hawkeye. To my understanding, Ruger testing has proven that the 416Ruger will tear up a factory 375Ruger African stock from the increased recoil.

As to what will fit; any of the Ruger stocks used for the mkII or Hawkey 7mm mag, 300wm, 338wm, 375Ruger, 416Ruger, will interchange. As an example, I've placed a 375Ruger African into a mkII 338wm paddle stock, which by the way is completely indestructable. I do believe that Phil Shoemaker placed a 416Ruger Alaskan into the same paddle stock. As for a factory Ruger wood stock, you'd need to add cross bolts and bedding for it to work. Even on a 375Ruger African, it was splitting the wood webbing between the trigger and mag box inlets. This stock already incorporated a forward crossbolt, but I needed to add a rear cross pin and bed the barrel action to make it hold up to recoil. It is my understanding that Phil Shoemaker did the same thing with his son's 375Ruger African, and he tested the modified wood stock by using it on his 416Ruger shooting a bunch of rounds. He said the modified wood stock held up to his tests.

My African had a nice piece of wood with very good grain, and it appears to be a strong stock when modified. I also have a 338RCM Ruger Compact Magnum that came with a similar piece of wood that I also modified and it turned out very strong. I have no experience with the more plain looking standard Ruger wood stocks that may have come on one of the mkII 7mm/300wm/338wm rifles to know if they would be equally as strong. But if they were, you could pick up a take-off from any one of those and add a crossbolt and rear pin, then bed the 416 and it should work as well as the fancier looking wood Ruger stocks.

Hope this is of some help, but if you don't mind me asking, why in the world would anyone want to put an Alaskan into a wood stock? The African with its 23-inch barrel looks good in wood, but the Alaskan is chopped down with a very utilitarian finish that would be about like having a 300pound bloody apron butcher wearing a pair of $800 fancy dress shoes:)

Best:)

Thanks for the input, very interesting indeed. Its just mind boggling that it isn't offered.

Kindest Regards,
300 pound bloody buthcher dressed to the max.

Another one of Rugers brain farts, along with the angled recoil lug/action screw. I worked on a .223 for two hours last week trying to get the torque on the screw correct without binding the floor plate to the point I couldn't open it. What a stupid azzz engineering nightmare, and this one isn't even a magnum. I have owned a bunch of Rugers and they all have irritated the heck out of me. Read that as, "They take a LOT of work, polishing, fitting and bedding" to get to function right. Their engineer needs to get out of the office more and go experience his poor engineering like the rest of us. Their pistols are top shelf, but their rifles leave a lot to be desired...as many of us have experienced. Flinch

Flinch, try this:

You need to insure the angle lug is squarely seated in the lug recess, and you need to insure the trigger guard is centered to allow clearance for release. Once at that point, torque the front screw to 35 in-lbs, the rear screw to 25 in-lb, and the middle screw to 15 in-lb. At this point, you should be good and snug with clearance in your mag box so that the action does not bind.

Due to tolerance stacking, some may go a little higher before binding while others may need to go a bit lower. But of all the kajillion mkIIs I've handled, this has universally been pretty close to the sweet spot for an un-bedded factory inletted stock. This of course goes out the window with one of their heavy kickers. This is why they posted the video on their website stressing the importance of torquing the front screw to 90 in-lb! But even on the big kickers, if you properly bed the stock and reinforce the thin web area between the mag box and trigger inlets, you could then use the same torque specs as I noted above and it will work well.

If you do not seat the angle lug, you do not square up the trigger guard, and you torque it together to bind the mag box, the mag box will then act like a fulcrum and bind the stink out of the action. I've lost count how many Rugers I've taken from owners who claimed they were POS in accuracy, and with doing nothing more than what I described, I made them shoot extremely well.

Good Luck!

p.s., If you wish to shoot accurately, you may consider changing your handle from Flinch to something like Hold Hard, or Dead Eye.

Why? it's good enough the way it is

Accurate Innovations makes a MKII stock correct? even some laminates. I haven't ever handled one but they look pretty well constructed, use a bedding block and they have a warranty. Perhaps its an option

Just buy a Boyd's laminate ... choose whichever funky colour you like or just a plain Classic stock. Reinforce it yourself, its not rocket science! Mate and I run a few wildcats on Ruger MkII actions, reinforcing consisted of dual crossbolts, a wrist pin and a barrel lug, all epoxy bedded in. If I was to do it again, I'd use internal crossbolts as they're easier to do yourself, retain the wrist pin but ditch the barrel lug ... and epoxy bed the bugger. By the way ... the above reinforcing was done to Hawkeye stocks and a MkII laminate, plus a Boyd's that's on a 50cal wildcat. All are being pounded with between 80fpe and 100fpe of recoil with impunity. Here's the most important bit ... make sure they are relieved at the tang area ... don't go for pretty inletting, give the tang and its shoulders some decent clearance.

Ruger can make a stock to hold up, but they're just being 'difficult' about it to save a few dollars. If you can find a second hand Ruger MkII or Hawkeye stock from a 300WinMag or 338Win Mag (7mmRemMag is slimmer contoured), you have the basis for a good stock that looks 'factory'.
Cheers...
Con

Con, you make a several good points - all of which Ruger should read and heed.

As for a laminate, that thought crossed my mind. But I rather have a root canal w/o novacaine than put a birch laminate stock on my rifle.

Here's a few picture of how mate and I did it ...

This is a Hawkeye stock now nestling a 458AccRel ... 500gr at 2300fps.

Wrist pin. Tape allows you a line to follow when drilling. Threaded rod is fitted and epoxied in.




This is from a 500AccRel. It's a Boyd's ... just note how much space is given to the tang on a REAL kicker.


Left is a Hawkeye stock, at right is my laminate.


We used two Sako crossbolts ... epoxied in as well.


Devcon steel ... full length. You can see the barrel lug as well on the 458AccRel ... I wouldn't use one on a 416Ruger.


This is the clearance on my tang.
[img]http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd107/cstmgolf/100_1846.jpg[/img]

These are loaded rounds ... 405gr at 2500+ fps ... the rifles we've done are holding up at recoil in excess of the 416Ruger.
[img]http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd107/cstmgolf/100_1911.jpg[/img]

This is the weak point in the Ruger between magazine and trigger. It simply MUST be reinforced.
[img]http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd107/cstmgolf/458ar8.jpg[/img]

Hope that helps ... we've gone overkill with dual crossbolts, wrist pin, barrel lug and full length bedding. But the rifles are holding up and its cheaper than a replacement stock.

For a 416Ruger, I'd place a bet that reinforcing the web between magazine and trigger plus a proper bedding job and relieving the tang will make a stock that is bullet proof.
Cheers...
Con

I feel the same way about plastic...too

Do you think that the web could simply be eliminated without any loss?

You can simply drill a cross bolt though it before bedding it and it holds up pretty well

If the Hogue is slimmed down some it is not too bad either.


It might be interesting to see how it fares during suicide month in Zim.

A picture is worth a thousand words! Any special technique required for that?

Does the Hogue stay sticky rubber all the way through, or is it just a skin on the outside?

Looks like not only a skin, but one that can be skinned.

There is anywhere from 1/2 to 1" of tacky rubber over a hard plastic skeleton. You can easily remove the rubber with a sureform rasp or sharp wood plane and if or when you hit plastic/ stop.

Thanks Phil. Will probably try it on my take-off Alaskan Hogue. BTW, one good think about this stock is that it's very easy to epoxy lead in both the barrel channel and buttstock to add weight for the larger mediums like the 416. It significantly reduces felt recoil and keeps the rifle well balanced.