Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Forearm endcap fell off! Help for buddy,

My buddy has a 7mm Mag. Rem Mt. Rifle which he has had over many years. The other day at the range the black forend piece fell off after a shot. I guess it got tired after all these years.
Anyway it looks like "bakelite", has two prongs which fit into two drilled out holes in the stock.
The stock is hollowed out in the center area.
Do we use some good contact cement or a two part epoxy of some kind?
Thanks in advance.

Polyurethane glue will do it......

See if you have any Brownells Acraglass laying around.

Bigwhoop,
Remove barrel-action from stockworks.

Use a razor blade to carefully scrape off any old glue and then prep with acetone, taking care to only get acetone on the mating surfaces to be reglued.

Get a quality 2 part epoxy and mix, insureing all is at least at 70F temp,
Apply the epoxy sparingly in a very thin even film to both surfaces and re assemble.

Use a 1" strip of inner tube to clamp from tip of forend cap back down and thru the hole in the stockworks where action fits.

Wipe off excess epoxy carefully ESP in barrel channel and let cure for reuired time according to the epoxy instruction.Jim

+1 on what jim in OR said.

And be especially diligent with what he said about scraping the old adhesive off of BOTH mating surfaces (tip and forend) and then using acetone to clean/prep the mating surfaces.

Innertube trick is poor choice for gluing on a fore end cap... The tube will be pressing against the glueline and smearing epoxy everywhere.

A piece of wood with a hole slightly larger than the fore end diameter can be placed beyond the sling stud. With a sling swivel attached it will stop the wood from moving forward. Tape can be used to hold the tip in place while the epoxy cures and allows clean-up while glued and "clamped." Epoxy does not require clamp pressure to develop full bond strength and "usually" loses strength from over-clamping.

Also, the plastic tip joint will probably fail again, regardless of the glue used. For that reason I prefer to install a mechanical bond with a dowel or two between the tip and stock.
art

Art, Typically, in a case such as this, the rubber banding merely keeps all positioned during epoxy cure.
This particular repair involves a forend cap-stock that does have the two pins-dowels, which may be the primary bonding surface??

To avoid having to clean cured epoxy off stock finish or cap, the very thin film is used so there's not much 'squeeze out' of epoxy in barrel channel or on viewed surfaces.

IF some does squeeze out it can be wiped off immediately.
( the epoxy I have used for years is actually cleanup-able before cured with warm water and a bit of soap)
G-2, Industrial Formulators LTD Canada)
I often have wrapped pieces to be joined with a film of saran wrap just prior to clamping also so clamps, rubber bands etc don't adhere to the work.Jim

Jim
Strong hunch I have done more of these than you by at least an order of magnitude... The rubber tubing lays against the stock preventing clean-up and smearing. I have prevented it by putting spacers betwixt band and stock, but it still gets back to an inferior method.

There is no advantage to clamping force with epoxy and an actual deficit. Holding it in place with tape as described is far superior in every regard.

The plastic extension dowels on the end cap are prone to glue failure repeatedly once they have come loose. Installing real dowels is again, far superior. I have never seen a repeat failure with them and I have seen a number of the plastic dowels fail repeatedly.
art

Art, I'm certain you have far more experience with such SPECIFIC repairs than I.tho I have used gallons of epoxy for glue ups on items with more critical stress factors that firearms stockworks constrcution or repair.

For glueing delrin,nylon, bakelite etc I have used LokTite 454 with primer which works very well also.

The small wood or even cardboard 'spacers' will keep the inner tube off the bottom of the forend at the cap forend glue joint and top of barrel channel so the rubber band doesn't adhere and smear ...while adding just a bit of tension so all stays closely joined while epoxy sets.
The 1" or so inner tube can be run thru the action of the stockworks and knotted so that once stretched over the end cap it has proper but not excessive tension.
Most epoxies are not 'gap filling'.They do require good mating surfaces and some clamping for best adhesion.

Proper application of epoxy ( not too much) and a wipe off of the joint helps to minimize after glue up repairs cleanup to wood finished surfaces.

Anyhow, hope the fellows make a decent repair of the stockwork..which was the only reason I have attempted to help them.Between you and I they should be able to fix it well I hope.:)
The positioning strength dowels may need spcific adhesive application other than epoxy even if replaced by hardwood dowels.
The bond in the non wood cap is a potential problem.
You and I could make a better assessment of the needs and proper fix approach IF we had the stock and forearm cap in front of us I am certain..:)
Reagrds, Jim

Hmm...That plastic forend tip must be an issue for those particular models because i was asked by a woman at work to look over a rifle she was trying to sell.
The rifle had been bought for her now exhusband and she wanted to sell it.
It turned out to be a Mountain rifle in 7mm-08.
While looking the rifle over i opened the bolt and grabbed the rifle by the forend tip to put my bore light through the breech and the tip came off in my hand.
I certainly never had anything like that happen on a 700 BDL.

It might be worthwhile for those who have had this problem to contact Remington's Customer Service and ask them what, IF anything, they are willing to do to fix this possible manufacturing defect in that cap to forearm bond..

IF it is indeed widespread, they may be aware of it and have a 'recall' fix in place for those who inquire..Jim

TH
Basic problem is simple physics... A bond between dissimilar materials with a lateral pressure point subjected to severe and repeated shock loads. To make the joint cheaper to build they molded in the pins on the cap rather than manufacturing seperate parts with better gluing characteristics... They build them well enough to last through any potential warranty but certainly not forever...
art

Thanks fellows for all the good ideas. There are two molded-in pins protruding to what I believe is BAKELITE. The central part of the stock is hollow to some degree. The two pins stick into two holes drilled in the stock.
I suspect that 18 years or so dried out the bond and the concussion of the cartridges finished the deal.
I see MIDAY has a forend tip for about $6.50 - prolly plastic. I wonder if a guy could take a chunk of ebony and make it a winter project? We'll try the bonding tips first though.
Thanks again.

I DO have some Accraglas gel sitting around. Its about 2 years old, though. So, I can use it as a lateral bonding agent?

Replacing the tip with a chunk of ebony is the right thing to do and easy... Accraglass will work fine and it never goes bad, though it might have some settling out issues that a quick warming will cure.
art

fix it all up pretty the best way possible and then drop the barreled action in a McMillan.


problem solved. (grin)

actually I'm glad smart folk are so abundant round here, has saved me a ton of trial and error and grief.