10/22 Custom rebuild Fajen DU stock surprise

[Master Blaster]

Well I have been finally bitten by the 10/22 upgrade bug, and I decided to take the plunge and upgrade my 10/22 carbine to a tackdriving sniper weapon.

So I ordered one of the stock and barrell packages from Midway :

Adams and Bennett 18" blued .920 bull barrell, Fajen DU (drop in unfinished stock) coffee colored thumbhole silhouette stock.
Power custom scope mount. I did not order the trigger kit because my trigger pull is about 3.5 lbs with the stock trigger, and the trigger is pretty good already(surprisingly) from many thousands or rounds fired over the 7 years I have owned the 10/22.


I expected to have to do some sanding before I finished the stock.
Yesterday it arrrived and I opened the box and was surprised to find just how rough the stock was. It had alot of tool marks (cnc router bit tracks), and some tearout of the Oak grain. Its sandable, and they left extra wood in the shaping. last night I began with the 100 grit sandpaper and made significant headway after a couple of hours.

I have been doing wood working as a hobby for about 20 years, and I have made quite a few pieces of large furniture, I have a table mounted router, and it seems to me that they were either using a dull bit, or feeding the work too fast. Its sandable, but I am surprised by how rough the stock was. I have 2 orbital sanders, but the nooks and crannies and the shape of the stock make using the orbital almost impossible. I Imagine that at the factory Fajen has pneumatic vibratory sanders with special pads shaped to fit the nooks of the stock.

I know others here have ordered the DU Fajen stocks, and I'm curious how rough your stock was. The toughest part to sand is inside the thumbhole, small pieces of paper and lots of elbow grease.

I now need to decide how I will finish the stock, I hesitate to use dannish oil or wax finish because I want the stock to have some protection from moisture and chemicals.

Oil based polyurethane would be the most durable finnish, followed by water based poly, I have used alot of minwax's products on furniture, but never on a gun that may be exposed to oils and solvents. The other choice is using some shellac that I will mix myself from flakes, and apply with a polishing pad in several very thin layers. The shellac will provide the best looking finnish, but can be damaged by alcohol, as can the water based urethane. shellac is reversable and repairable, much more so than urethane.

I have also used carver tripp environmentally responsible dannish oil finnish on a couple of tables and bookcases, and a cherry blanket chest, and it has held up to wear pretty well.

As far as bedding goes, I hear bed the barrel not the action is the way to go. I will see how it fits first, rather than using acraglass I may just use some marker or blue on the barrel and see where the high points are and adjust the stock with sandpaper to get a solid bedding of the barrel to the wood (looks like it won't take much adjustment).

So what have others used as far as finnish and bedding?

Thanks

 

[sturmruger]

10-22

Welcome to the 10-22 Club. When I bought my first gun at 12 years old it was a 10-22. I have since bought three more. I have a 10-22 for every situation. Target shooting, night shooting, squirrel shooting, and very fisrt gun that has not been modified in any way. I have refinished a couple of factory stocks with tru oil. It can usually be bought at most guns shops.

I don't know if you have ever been to this site or not, but I would check out Rimfire Cetral It is the most comprehensive site I have found for learning allot about customizing Ruger 10-22s. Good luck with your stock work. Try to post pics when you get it done.

 

[Sisco]

I just finished mine up, put the last coat of tung oil on it last night.
My stock (thumbhole sporter) had some rough places around the thumbhole but overall was not bad. Wood grain has some features I don't like; there's a dark spot on one side of the receiver.

Sounds like we both got bitten by the bug about the same time. I put a 10/22 together for my son using a Hogue Overmould / A&B barrel combo from midway. Also added the Volquartsen hammer.
That was so much fun I had to build my own. Got the Fajen stock / A&B blued compensated barrel combo from Midway, the VQ hammer, Power Custom scope mount. Forgot to order a recoil buffer but it should be in soon.
My bedding job with Acraglass gel went bad, ended up with 2" of bedded barrel chanel and nothing under the action. Almost didn't get the action out of the stock! The barrel is completley free-floating past the bedding. Some people advocate a pressure pad about 2-3" at the front of the stock.
I'll shot it and see how it acts, may need to do some more bedding.
I'll post pics later today after I get it all together. Hope it shoots as good as my boys, we're getting sub 1/2" groups at 50 yds with Federal bulk ammo.

 

[Sisco]

Got a photo this afternoon

 

[sturmruger]

Good PIC

Ok I am super Jealious now. I have been meaning to get a thumbhole stock for some time now. I love the finish you have on there it really make the grain stand out.

 

[zahc]

I have some stuff called gym seal that they use on Gym floors. What do yall thing of that?

That compensated barrel is sweet.

Almost forgot

I love the stock. I'm still waiting for green mountain to make more barrels. Everyone is out of them. I'll have to scope it one of these days too.

 

[444]

Sisco, that is a beautiful rifle. Nice job.

My custom 10/22 is a range gun, so I finished the Boyd stock with spray on polyurethane. It is very high gloss, but that is what I wanted.

 

[zahc]

444-

you need to post a pic with everyone else.

 

[Sisco]

Master Blaster; not trying to Hi-jack your thread here.
Thanks for the comments on the finish. Eight coats of Formbys tung oil.
Zahc; When I was shopping for stocks I saw the one you're using but never saw a really good photo of it - looks good.

 

[444]

zahc
My gun pictures are terrible. I guess with as much time as I waste sitting around the house, I could take the time to master it, but until then, I gave up. Even the ones that I take that look decent are too big of a file to post.

I sent my gun to CPC and had it done. He did the stock trigger, jeweled the bolt, installed a Douglas premium heavy barrel and threaded it into the action. I installed the oversized trigger pins, a bolt buffer, and a Weaver 36x scope on it.

The one I am really anxious to get is an integrally suppressed 10/22 that I ordered in December and I haven't gotten it yet. I am going to put a Kidd trigger in that one.

 

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

Ok, now you've gone and done it, dagnabbbit...

I have to start scrounging around for a 10/22 base to build one of these on. I have no excuses now. I gotta keep up with the Siscos. You've got me hitting all the websites looking at titanium goodies and carbon fiber barrels and custom laminated stocks.

...although a suppressed barrel sure sounds like a great idea.

Regards,
Rabbit.

 

[Master Blaster]

Well I finished my project, I ended up doing alot more sanding/shaping than I anticipated, some of the tearouts in the stock
made me wonder if these stocks are seconds (Dull BIT at FAJEN??).

The finish I settled on was 5 thin coats of shellac I mixed from flakes
(1/2 JE MOSER superblond, 1/2 Orange). This covered the several small tearouts that were too deep to sand out .

I assembled my barrel and receiver and mounted a 3 moa red dot, to the power custom weaver mount (which is great).

I was surprised at how heavy the gun is now. VERY heavy.

So next I need to see how it shoots, maybe Wednesday, today we have a birthday party for my son who turns 5.

One of the things I loved about my old 10/22 was how short light and handy it was, but because of mediocre accuracy, lately I did not shoot it much. So the short light and handy is gone, lets see if it was replaced by accurate.

I will try to post a picture soon, and an accuracy report as well.