In a recent thread MrFixit decided to catalog his doings as he builds a rifle for his son. I've commented more than once that his thread is what I thought this board should embody, so, it's time for me to 'put my money where my mouth is'...so to speak. I'll go ahead and confess an appreciation for the extra work that MrFixit put into his posts just from the documentarian point of view. I'm wading into those same waters here.

I purchased a Richards Microfit 2nd gunstock (Claro Walnut AA with Mark X inletting) this past June, and I received it in early August. Being self employed and rather busy, I put it away with an eye on November. November came and went, and now I've finally set to it.

Richards describes the stock as having African Rosewood. I realize that Bubinga is often referred to as African Rosewood, but, it's not a rosewood, and I'm not a fan of Bubinga (in this particular use case). It'll be coming off. The pad is a Remington pad, and that's coming off as well.

Best I can tell there are two primary reasons why this stock ended up a 2nd. It seems that when they flipped the stock over on the CNC they didn't do quite the perfect job aligning the stock on all its previous axes. The result is a ledge formed by the cutter on opposite inlets and on opposite sides while not being aligned as before. Don't know how that'll impact the inletting I have to do but we will see. In addition to the off axis cutting, the butt of the stock has some micro checking in it. The checks run across the grain in some pretty random directions. It looks like they might have attempted to eliminate them with some CA glue and sandpaper, but it didn't work from a cosmetic point of view. That's on the list of things to fix. I don't know if I can make the checking literally disappear, but we will see.

Condition of the stock when I received it back in August:

A seemingly quirky thing to me is the factory shape of the Mark X safety. The tab is bent down, instead of being on plane with other parts of the action. During the inletting this presented a bit of a problem, so I had to start cutting away material to finish the inletting of the action. Only taking off what's necessary for now so that I have something to work with when I decide how this area is going to look cosmetically. I lot of the stocks I've seen with this action have a mix of sloped and rounded humps before and after the safety lever, and I'm not really attracted to any of them. I have no idea how I'll handle it at this point.

Gotta love them 1960's embellishments. If you shorten the fore end, remove the tip, white line spacers, and grip cap, then get to rasping, you can end up with a nice stock.

I've started cutting things off the stock. No more Bubinga. I found a very nice piece of Macassar Ebony at a local Woodcraft store. I think I'll use that instead.

Progress on the appointments. I went a little deep on the grip cap removal, so I had to change the angle of the bottom of the butt portion to something a little steeper. Flatten that out a bit, and I have something to work with. You can see in the second picture some red outlining done to keep me on the straight and narrow. You'll also see the saw blade nick that'll get filed out of existence once I round the bottom of the butt.

Nose if off as well...

I glued a piece of Pennsylvania Hemlock I had laying around to the bottom of the stock to act as a stop of sorts while the piece was being clamped. Once the glue dries I'll just chisel it off, sand it up, and continue on with the shaping. The adhesive is System Three Clear Coat low viscosity epoxy. It's a little too thin for this kind of use, but it was all I had on hand. I had to take the nose cap off and re-treat both surfaces with the same epoxy that had set up just a little more stiff. Shouldn't be an issue as everything was still wet at the time. Temps here in the house are middle 60's so the cure time is going to be 24 solid hours. Need to take a heat gun to it.

I forgot to mention that I was removing those white line spacers as well.

They are lot more work than most envision, but that does look to be a nice chunk of wood. Do post up the finished product.

I’ve a friend down here that has had two very successful outings with the 2nds from Richard’s. So long as one doesn’t grow notions of what it SHOULD be when you get it…all is well. In the end it’s really just a trade; I’ll spend my time fixing it, rather than paying for it to show up in near perfect state, which by the way, you can’t know anyway.

Inside the seconds is a rifle stock just waiting to get out.

If you take the time to work with it.

Years ago, when 6.5 Swedes were $69, I purchased a Richards Microfit 2nd. Everything fit with a little final in letting .The only flaw I could see was a small knot in the top of the wrist. I only recently replaced the 1/2 " solid rubber pad on it with a Limbsaver that is easier on my plastic shoulder. I recut the checkering, but must admit I did a terrible job of it. I realized that age,eyes, and poor hand control has ended my talents along those lines and coincidentally MrFixit is going to end up with my checkering tools.

It has taken a many number of deer and antelope with no failures in cracks,etc.

6.5 Swede’s for $69 dollars…

I don’t think I’d forget that either. I saw your back and forth with MrFixit on the checkering tools. That you know where they are going and that they will be used is one of the finer byproducts of this forum.

I don’t know, yet, that I’ll tackle a checkering job on this stock. There are a few other issues that I need to sort and conquer before I get to that stage. Not to mention, my personality type is such that I dive all the way to the bottom of most holes. I’m either ‘all in’ or I’m not there at all. I’m hoping this stock can speak loudly enough to the eye that it can stand on its own without the checkering.

We shall see.

BTW - that’s a pretty rifle!! Horns ain’t so bad either 😂

This is a stock in English walnut that I purchased from Richards a few years back. Note the checking on the cheek piece, which didn't appear until the stock was inletted, shaped, and the second coat of oil applied.

Wish I could offer a fix. Several sources suggested using clear epoxy as a fill, which is what I tried, but as you can see the defect is still quite visible.

Teebone,

I haven't photographed it yet (for the forum) but my stock also has some cross grain checking on the bolt side of the rifle on the butt. It's unfortunate that yours didn't reveal the checking until after you'd started the finish schedule. That just introduces more problems to an already very limited set of solutions. I have no idea how well I'll be able to hide the cross grain checking on my stock, but I hope it'll be sufficient enough to not draw the eyes to the area of the checking. I won't mind someone having to look for it, but it'll drive me crazy if that's all they see.

Still, a beautiful rifle. What's the nose treatment on it? Also I'd love to see the area where the bolt release is located, as well as the safety lever (if its the traditional Mark X safety lever).

Sometimes the enjoyment of doing the work is more than the enjoyment of the finished product.

Teebone.I sure wouldn't let that bother me. You still have beautiful piece of wood there.M y eye went to the over all stock , not the hairline cracks.

Years ago, I made a stock out of American Black Walnut my brother had cut about 30 years before. It was for a 1903 Springfield I got from DCM .The stock they sent me was split. I had all the inletting completed and the buttstock in it's final shape. I was taking the final bit of wood off the forearm with a milling machine.

Between the barrel channel and out side of the forearm, I cut a 30 cal miniball in half. Since the top hand piece would cover it, I continued to finish it. A few years later, some fellow bought it just for the mini ball in the stock,

More work done today. Took the clamp off the nose cap after 12 hours and let it cure for another 12 hours after that. Then I went after it. That sacrificial clamping aid came right off. This is not its finished shape as I have to round the cap off.

I admire your work. I'm not much of a woodworker.

looking really good

[quote=saddlesore]Sometimes the enjoyment of doing the work is more than the enjoyment of the finished product.

Teebone.I sure wouldn't let that bother me. You still have beautiful piece of wood there.M y eye went to the over all stock , not the hairline cracks.

Years ago, I made a stock out of American Black Walnut my brother had cut about 30 years before. It was for a 1903 Springfield I got from DCM .The stock they sent me was split. I had all the inletting completed and the buttstock in it's final shape. I was taking the final bit of wood off the forearm with a milling machine.

Between the barrel channel and out side of the forearm, I cut a 30 cal miniball in half. Since the top hand piece would cover it, I continued to finish it. A few years later, some fellow bought it just for the mini ball in the stockminimally?



Agreed that the wood is nice, and some small checks shouldn't be a problem, but......

WTF is a 30 cal miniball?

It was probably a .32 cal round ball

Thank You Nate.

I’m inclined to want a picture of it! But the rifle isn’t in his hands it seems.

Sniggly thanks. The checking is really of no consequence as the rifle is for my own use. Does make me grumpy when thinking about selling it at some point in the future.

Regarding the bolt release, the rifle pictured previously has the flat Browning style release. I can offer pics of a couple other rifles with mechanisms more similar to yours, the most recent project a mini Mauser. On those I just left a narrow border around the release.

My preference for Mausers has always been the M70 style swing safety, so I can't offer much advice on the best way to execute that. I did own a Venezuelan sporter with a safety similar to yours, so have attached a pic for reference. The safety levers on aftermarket triggers like the Timney are more compact and ride a little higher, so you might consider one of those to minimize the inletting.

Very nice work with the forend tip, BTW.





Venezuelan sporter:



Timney installed on a mini Mauser:

Beautiful Rifles. All of them. They represent a benchmark of a sort for what I have as a vision for this rifle. I am aware, however, that if I don't invest in the work, the end product will not live up to the vision. That raised edge treatment around the bolt release is already one of the features I will include as I work my way through the stock. I'm also going to be opening up the curve of the grip area on the inside; specifically the angle or area between the trigger guard screw and the grip cap. This was a recommendation from an extraordinarily good friend that's made himself available so many times. But past those two design choices, I'm still swimming a bit, such as how I'm going to shape the area around that safety switch. Part of the journey I'm sure. Thanks for those photos.

You've seen my build going on...best advise I can give is this:
1. Go slow. Think about what you are about to do and don't rush it.
2. Don't try to incorporate to many 'custom' features from multiple stocks you have seen. There are lots of little things I wanted to do that ended up, in my opinion, detracting from the overall look of the stock I started with.

It's looking good.

Amen. Your number 2 strikes a chord. I've 'oathed myself' to not doing anything until I know it's exactly what I'm looking for. I take fully and completely your point, as design elements from different rifles can clash and turn into an orchestral tuning session that never gets to the actual music. I hope you can do something with that other stock at some point.

Did some test fitting. I'll have to do some 'figgurin' on the barrel channel.

The barrel isn't centered in the barrel channel. The photo above makes this clear as a bell. I've had some conversation back and forth with Art (Sitka Deer) and initially he proposed I install rods to straighten the nose of the stock. After taking some measurements I only need to open the tight side by about 70 thou to have the barrel appear as though it's centered in the barrel channel. The flat on the top outside that usually exists on most stocks will end up being fairly thin, but I can take that dimension down a tad and widen it out a bit as well.

Still cogitating on it...