Swifty Morgan
member
Seems like I always get bitten in the butt when I buy guns. I got a Nylon 66 when I was 12, and years later, I found out it was not possible to scope it and get a reliable zero. I bought a Marlin 60 recently, and then I found out it had a heinous trigger, a problem with high-power .22 cartridges, and a design that made it hard to install a sling!
I just put an MCarbo trigger and recoil spring in it, so I assume my problems with the trigger and ammunition selection are over. Today I had to figure out what to do about a sling.
I read a bunch of threads on various forums, and I thought the solutions were pretty bad. You can buy a sling that attaches to the tube magazine. I thought that was a recipe for a bent magazine. Some people stuck some kind of T-nut in the stock. That looked somewhat better.
I decided to try something else, and it worked, so I will share it. No photos until tomorrow.
I bought a typical stud set. The buttstock screw is a wood screw. No problem there. The forward stud is a machine screw. It's about 0.190" in diameter, and it has a round knurled nut about 3/8" in diameter that goes inside the stock. It won't fit in a Marlin 60 stock, because the nut and the end of the screw would be in the magazine's space.
I took a belt grinder and ground the nut down until it was around 3/16" high. Most of the nut was superfluous. A nut only has to be about 1 screw-width wide in order to work. I kept the knurling and ground both ends of the nut.
I got a 3/8" Forstner bit and stuck it inside the stock, to make a cavity to hold the nut. It wouldn't fit well enough to permit the use of a drill at first, because the groove in the stock is U-shaped at the bottom. I stuck the point of the bit into the wood to anchor it, and I turned it by hand until it cut the sides of the inside of the stock to the point where the bit rested flat on the wood. This put the point into the wood, which would hold the bit in place during drilling.
After that, I put the bit in a drill and drilled a cavity just deep enough to sink the nut completely. I went slowly and stopped often to measure.
When I was done, the nut fit into the hole and did not protrude into the magazine space. I took a drill bit about 0.195" in diameter (I forget the exact size) and drilled down through the Forstner hole, through the stock (for the machine screw). I put the stock against a piece of waste wood with paper towels underneath to keep the wood from scratching the stock. This kept the wood on the underside of the stock from tearing out when the bit emerged.
This gave me a perfectly centered hole on the outside of the stock for the machine screw.
I put the screw in the hole, put the nut in the cavity I had made, and tightened the screw in the nut. It tightens fine without epoxy or Titebond or anything. I didn't need pliers or any other aid. It fits great. I have about 1/4" of wood between the nut and the outside of the stock, so there should be plenty of wood to hold the stud, even if I wrap the sling around my arm to shoot.
Tomorrow I have to grind the screw down and make it shorter, because it protrudes past the nut. This will take only a few minutes.
I have high hopes that this fix will last, and it will not bother my magazine at all. It came out well. No significant bubbation of the stock, even when viewed from inside.
Comments welcome. I'm hoping this will be helpful to other people. It was very easy and requires few tools. The Forstner bit is probably available on Amazon for 5 bucks. If you don't have a belt grinder or belt sander, you can use files and/or stones. A bench grinder would work. Even a Dremel would work to grind the metal.
I have some very nice machine tools, but I moved last year, and they haven't caught up with me. This is why I did it the caveman way.
I'm pretty excited about the gun. It shoots great, the trigger is a pleasure to use, and now I can use a sling. With the cheesy Bushnell rimfire scope and the UTG mount, it's about a $300 .22, but I think it's worth it.
I just put an MCarbo trigger and recoil spring in it, so I assume my problems with the trigger and ammunition selection are over. Today I had to figure out what to do about a sling.
I read a bunch of threads on various forums, and I thought the solutions were pretty bad. You can buy a sling that attaches to the tube magazine. I thought that was a recipe for a bent magazine. Some people stuck some kind of T-nut in the stock. That looked somewhat better.
I decided to try something else, and it worked, so I will share it. No photos until tomorrow.
I bought a typical stud set. The buttstock screw is a wood screw. No problem there. The forward stud is a machine screw. It's about 0.190" in diameter, and it has a round knurled nut about 3/8" in diameter that goes inside the stock. It won't fit in a Marlin 60 stock, because the nut and the end of the screw would be in the magazine's space.
I took a belt grinder and ground the nut down until it was around 3/16" high. Most of the nut was superfluous. A nut only has to be about 1 screw-width wide in order to work. I kept the knurling and ground both ends of the nut.
I got a 3/8" Forstner bit and stuck it inside the stock, to make a cavity to hold the nut. It wouldn't fit well enough to permit the use of a drill at first, because the groove in the stock is U-shaped at the bottom. I stuck the point of the bit into the wood to anchor it, and I turned it by hand until it cut the sides of the inside of the stock to the point where the bit rested flat on the wood. This put the point into the wood, which would hold the bit in place during drilling.
After that, I put the bit in a drill and drilled a cavity just deep enough to sink the nut completely. I went slowly and stopped often to measure.
When I was done, the nut fit into the hole and did not protrude into the magazine space. I took a drill bit about 0.195" in diameter (I forget the exact size) and drilled down through the Forstner hole, through the stock (for the machine screw). I put the stock against a piece of waste wood with paper towels underneath to keep the wood from scratching the stock. This kept the wood on the underside of the stock from tearing out when the bit emerged.
This gave me a perfectly centered hole on the outside of the stock for the machine screw.
I put the screw in the hole, put the nut in the cavity I had made, and tightened the screw in the nut. It tightens fine without epoxy or Titebond or anything. I didn't need pliers or any other aid. It fits great. I have about 1/4" of wood between the nut and the outside of the stock, so there should be plenty of wood to hold the stud, even if I wrap the sling around my arm to shoot.
Tomorrow I have to grind the screw down and make it shorter, because it protrudes past the nut. This will take only a few minutes.
I have high hopes that this fix will last, and it will not bother my magazine at all. It came out well. No significant bubbation of the stock, even when viewed from inside.
Comments welcome. I'm hoping this will be helpful to other people. It was very easy and requires few tools. The Forstner bit is probably available on Amazon for 5 bucks. If you don't have a belt grinder or belt sander, you can use files and/or stones. A bench grinder would work. Even a Dremel would work to grind the metal.
I have some very nice machine tools, but I moved last year, and they haven't caught up with me. This is why I did it the caveman way.
I'm pretty excited about the gun. It shoots great, the trigger is a pleasure to use, and now I can use a sling. With the cheesy Bushnell rimfire scope and the UTG mount, it's about a $300 .22, but I think it's worth it.
