Hey guys,
I recently installed a new stock on a Ruger Tang Safety chambered in 338 Win Mag. Stock is a new new OEM walnut that was drop in perfect. The old stock was split under the tang plus a chunk of wood was missing on the right side at the tang.
Yesterday, we are out shooting the rifle for the first time since it was re-stocked. 220gr Fed factory loads. 11 shots later and fer crying out loud, there was a chunk of wood missing on the right side of the tang. On the left side under the bolt there was a crack that, if we hadn't noticed the damage already, would likely have resulted in another chunk of wood broken off. I haven't taken the action out of the stock yet so I don't know if there is a split under the tang but I wouldn't be surprised.
Recoil was "authoritative" but not excessive for a 338 WM.
Ideas?? Being an OEM stock for a discontinued rifle, was the wood dried out?
I understand that Ruger d/c the wooden stock on early Alaskan/African 375 Ruger's due to splitting issues. Are we dealing with a similar issue?
Thanks,
Jeff

A tang safety 338 without a cracked stock is pretty rare IME. They were terrible about splitting stocks. They generally need the lug bedded for %100 contact and the tang relieved so it doesn’t pop a chunk out. Hopefully you can locate another stock and bed it first this time.

Thanks very much. In hind site, I do recall reading somewhere about the issue of them splitting. One of the reasons that a lot of those guns that I have seen are stocked in synthetic. The thing that really was shocking is that it only took 11 shots to do the damage. Everything was tight, maybe to tight at the tang. At least, it was after shot 11 that we noticed it. Live and learn.
I think my friend who owns it is going to go with a synthetic now. We discussed it yesterday at least. Its a really nice rifle, I should offer to buy it from him.
Thanks for the insight.
Jeff

Not too many absolutes in the gun world, but too tight of a fit and not being bedded with the tang relieved will guarantee stock splits on these Rugers.

Fixed a couple of these for local guys. After the repairs and pillar bedding, both are still going strong 10+ years later after elk, moose and caribou hunts. One was a 338 and the other a 300.

I'd have it fixed properly or go synthetic. "Properly" being the operative word if you opt to have it repaired.

Good shootin'. -Al

Thanks Al,
I suspect synthetic will be the way to go. We did pillar bed the replacement but the way the wood split on the one side and the chunk cracked off the other, I don't think a repair is feasible.
I still haven't taken it apart to see if there is damage underneath, busy day.
Plus bedding the lug and relieving the tang of course. (The original looks like it wasn't bedded or relieved and took many years to split)
I might give it try while we search out a quality synthetic though.
It was an interesting afternoon for sure, 11 shots to destruction, could be the title of a new movie.
Jeff

Properly bedded, with relief where required, and it won't split. I'll bet the stock is broken behind the recoil lug too. GD

I won't have time till this weekend to look further at the rifle but, I wouldn't take that bet.
Jeff

Maybe after having 2 stocks crack out you might be smart enough to put 2 and 2 together and figure out they need to be properly glass bedded to keep this from happening. Have you never read posts regarding this?

I have repaired quite a few of these, including fitting pieces to fill in for missing chunks. It is not that difficult and virtually disappears.

Actually, the rifle was purchased with the cracked stock by the friend I am working on it with. It appeared to have taken years for the crack to appear. That is why we went ahead and restocked it as though it was coming from Ruger directly.
No, I haven't read any posts ref this issue. I don't go surfing around the site looking for topics that could be years old. That is why I came looking for advice.

Thanks, good to know all isn't potentially lost. I'm going to go ahead and try to repair it if the damage isn't too bad under the tang, then bed the recoil lug as mentioned plus relieve wood around the tang. We located the chunk that broke off so at least there aren't any missing pieces to fabricate. it is a clean break.
It's a live and learn lesson.

With what you have a nearly invisible repair should be quick and easy.

Thanks very much. Will take it slow and careful and make sure the right parts are bedded etc.
I'll have to order some fresh Acraglas to be safe. The stuff I have on hand is a few years old, left from a different project.
Jeff

Epoxy rarely goes bad... warm the parts and allow to cool before combining and mixing and you will be fine.

Thanks, good to know! I appreciate the advice!
Jeff

Well damn, i remember reading this thread last week, went and saw an old buddy that i knew had three Ruger rifle walnut stocks, yep all three are for the tang safety Rugers, but, i failed to notice you were in Canada, if you have interest and think shipping/importing? wold be worth it, PM me and i'll give you his cell number, said he's take a 100 bucks for each stock, or 300 shipped for all three, they're very nice clean stocks, i noticed no cracks anywhere on any of them.

Told me an old cowboy buddy of his pulled em off new Rugers he bought so he could syn stock them all.

BTW, all three stocks have the red Ruger pads on them.

Hi gunner500,
Much appreciated offer! I'll check with my buddy who owns the rifle and see if he is interested.
Importing shouldn't be an issue as the stock that cracked was ordered from a company in the US. There wasn't anything special about
shipping that they indicated.
Thanks,
Jeff

A buddy of mine had the exact thing happen to his 77 338. He contacted Ruger and they told him to ship just the stock back and they would look at it. They wound up sending him a very nice new stock at no charge.
But this was over 20 years ago.

When I was young and needed a 338 to kill elk, or thought so, I bought a stainless steel laminated 77. After about 30 rounds, it split clear through the pistol grip. Killed a couple bulls before then. Sent stock to Ruger and told them I wanted a walnut stock to replace it with. Looked great. Took it to a gun show and sold it unfired in the new stock. Odds of that one holding up were slim in my mind.

Interesting stories guys. Might be worth contacting Ruger. Can't hurt to inquire. Seems to me an OEM stock should be reliable. As far as I have seen, Ruger doesn't glass bed
factory stocks though I could be wrong.
Jeff

Yo welcome neighbor, and good to know about shipping, you guys decide you want to go back with factory wood, shoot me a PM.

Thanks, will do, I was out shooting gophers with his daughter the other day but he had to make a run north, works in the "Patch". I'll talk to him in a few day hopefully and let you know.
Jeff

10-4, no hurry, Buds had those stocks sitting in the rack collection dust for decades ; ]

This. Well, maybe not the rare part as I've not seen that to excess, but the rest. Neither of my tangers- '06 and 338 have ever had that problem, but I did the bedding almost immediately after acquiring them used.

And of course making sure there is clearance around the screws and back of tang.

I think I have 3 used stocks for RU77, magnum barreled tangers in storage. May or may not be after-market bedded.... All came off rifles that owners were putting into synthetics. I'd have to look for damage (other than dings and scratches, which they have), but I think they are sound.

$100 sounds fair, especially if unmarred!

The worst rifles I ever encountered for cracked wrists/tang area were Weatherby early Jap production. Those boys made the screw holes to diameter- no clearance, which caused the rear screw to act as recoil lug, splitting the wrist. I bet I repaired 10 of those things in 2 years time. Interestingly enough, none of those owners wanted a new replacement......

Good evening las,

All this talk about bedding the lug etc had me wondering/second guessing the original stock. I just took another look at it, there isn't a single sign it was ever bedded. The damage looks to be decades in the making. The original owner got lucky???
Our damage was instant and catastrophic. 11 rounds fired, I still can't get over it.
I'm still waiting to talk to the friend who owns it and see which way he wants me to proceed. I'm leaning towards fixing it but also acquiring at least one replacement that would be bedded.
Last time we talked he said we should look into a synthetic stock. Call me crazy, I'd like to buy the darn thing from him but he fell in love with it, split stock/damaged tang and all.
He is out of town working till next week I believe. (Oil Patch)

Jeff

Rugers need epoxy bedding.... but then so do most other factory rifles, for improved accuracy/consistency, etc. It's only recently that some manufacturers have started bedding even the recoil lug area with synthetic compounds. And that's sometimes questionable. The first thing I did after acquiring a slightly used M70 of 1981 vintage was re-doing that (seemingly) hot glue recoil lug bedding they slopped in there, with quality epoxy.

Trigger jobs don't hurt either.

Over time, if not epoxy bedded, the wood behind the recoil lug can dry, shrink, become recoil compressed, oil soaked, swell in wet weather, etc. An epoxy job will give you perfect contact, which may not be the case with bare inletted wood- especially factory commercial quantity jobs...

Both my tangers, if hunted in wet weather, the wood will swell up beyond the edges of the butt pads (after market - the Ruger pads are terrible!) ), even tho the end grain is epoxy sealed. But they don't change POI. All of the interior inletting has been epoxy sealed, to at least slow moisture acquisition.

As I mentioned before with the Jap Weatherby - early on, as few as 3 or 4 shots would crack the wrist. For that, and other reasons, I'll take a Ruger over a Bee every single time. With a little work... Once prejudiced, always prejudiced - that's me, even when things change for the better. They later started to relief the screw holes.

A little "custom' goes a long ways on most mass-produced rifles. They are almost never inletted where the action sits perfectly flat in the stock- which they should. If the action screws don't go from coming snug to perfectly tight in 1/2 turn (less is better) then they are not bedded flat enough.. You can futz with them using a torque wrench to get them '"best shooting"; but that ain't the way my cork floats.

Any greater screw leveraging is just bending the stock to fit the metal works - and that's where the torque wrench comes in.... I do have one- but that's for bolts and nuts on snow machines, trucks, and the like.

I also prefer free-floating the barrels. Only one of my rifles shoots better with fore-end tip pressure - and it only took me 40 years of killing stuff with a free-floated barrel with it to get it there...

I have seen a number of rifles that have some slop between the recoil lug and the wood behind, whether due to inletting, recoil compression, or shrinkage I don't know. That isn't good, and can lead to problems in other areas, such as the tang cracking the wrist.

With any new to me rifle of my own, whether new or used , I shoot it for base-line, then I epoxy bed the SOB, if it hasn't been. Period. I've never been disappointed, even with (rarely) no discernible improvement in accuracy. I like shurity.... . That RU77 in '06, acquired used?

Lot's of story there, which I won't go into (again!) , but initially when I tried it, it would put 3 into a cloverleaf, and go to 5" for 5... I thought about that for a year, then glass bedded the action and bottom metal, free-floated the barrel and it now shoots 1.25 moa or so all day long, and I don't worry about weather changes.

Now, that said, I had a RU77V Tang 25-06 that I never did a thing to other than handload neck-sized fired brass. Back in my young and more ignorant days.....

It went from 5 MOA factory loads to 1MOA handloalds or less - I suspect an oversized chamber. It also threw the first round from a clean barrel 4" high and left at 45 degrees.

I never hunted with a clean barrel.

When I moved off the Slope, I thought (erroneously) I needed a larger caliber for moose, and sold it. Dumb! I've regretted that ever since- 30 plus years. It had a stock that was fiddleback from tip to butt......That cured me of selling rifles.....

I'm a Ruger fan, but also have a M98, a M70, M700, snd 725 and my walk-about carry rifle, my Dad's M94.

All are epoxy bedded but the 94, - the M98 (heavy barrel) and 70 fwt. are full-length bedded . M98 shoots inch groups at 300 yards, 70 does inch plus at 100 -- I'm going to try free floating the barrel to see if that helps. It should do better.

it's all fun...

I'm a fan of Rugers as well. I deeply regret swapping off my 77 in 35 Whelen a couple or so years ago. It was moved into a synthetic stock shortly after I bought it as I was going to be hunting pretty wet conditions. I should kept it and just bought the Rem 700 XCR II 300 WSM I ended up with. Its a nice rifle, accurate as all get out, good trigger but, it's not a Whelen! The things one regrets in hindsight and all. Once we decide what to do with this particular rifle, I'll certainly be bedding it if it stays in walnut. And re-doing the pillar bedding. Trigger is pretty good actually. I would have to check it with my gauge but it isn't heavy, has a smooth pull. (I'm planning to print off the advice you folks have provided)
Again, thanks very much for all the advice and ideas.
Jeff

I spent fifteen years working as a gunsmith for a busy retail gun store. This was during the heyday of the tang safety Ruger and, quite honestly, I don't recall having seen that many split. I'm sure I glass bedded, literally, hundreds of them though. It has long been established that the only rear-facing surface, on any action, which should contact the stock, is the back of the recoil lug. Otherwise, there is a good chance the stock will split. GD

Absolutely true! -Al

You have to put a gap around the tang on Rugers, or they will split. This is common knowledge, i am surprised it wasn't mentioned yet unless I missed it.

It was mentioned earlier as requiring reliving it.
Jeff