Browning SA 22 butt stock repair

Over the past 30 some odd years I have repaired several butt stocks for the Browning SA 22. The cracks most often start where the stock meets the back of the trigger guard.
These types of cracks are common on these stocks. The reason for the cracks are operator error, most of the time.
Most people hold the wrist of the stock when removing and replacing the barrel. This puts to much stress on the stock and causes it to crack.
The proper way to remove and replace the barrel is to hold the receiver. This way there's no stress being applied to the buttstock.
A good many owners of these fine little rifles know how to properly remove the barrels but sometimes forget when in a hurry.
Here’s one of those stocks that has seen lots of use, not as a range toy but, a hunting gun.
One of our members Bull Nutria, that I have had the pleasure of meeting, contacted me and asked if I could repair his stock.


When I received the stock by mail, l checked it over and saw that the crack ran from the right side , through the checkering , to where my thumb is.


I have seen where people have made repairs by using screws and pins that just don’t look good and sometimes just plain old glue that just doesn’t hold up.
While looking it over, it appeared that it had been glued at one time. Bull told me that he couldn’t remember if he had glued it or not but, it had had tape on it for quite a while.
I told Bull that it wouldn’t be to hard to repair and that I would have it back to him soon. Bull said not to worry about making it look pretty because it was a hunting gun.


Here it is after the first repair was finished. Yes, I did say first repair because, as I started blending the finish to hide the repair, I found a crack on the other side that was just starting just like the one on the right.


In this pic you can see the end of the fiberglass wrapped dowel that goes down to the end of the crack. I drilled a hole, larger then the dowel and used epoxy resin to lock everything in place. Instead of just resin in the crack it now has a 360 degree hold all the way around the dowel to keep the stock together.
The hardest part of this repair is drilling the hole as deep as needed without drilling out the side of the stock or into the magazine tube hole in the stock.


Here’s some pics of the stock after the repairs were done and the finish applied. You can see the second repair in this pic.


I have always found that matching the finish on the SA 22 stock to be a pain. It has something to do with the tight grain English Walnut that Browning used on these little rifles.


The finish dried today and I just applied a coat of wax to the stock.
All I have to do now is find a box to ship it back to Bull. My dog had a little bit of fun with the he box the stock arrived in.
I wish I had taken more pics, but I’ve been pretty busy and had not planned on doing a post on the repairs.
I hope that y’all enjoyed the post and as always, if you have any questions please ask.

 

Thanks Gunny you are an artist when it comes to stock repair. Thanks so much. My old Sa 22 stock is now famous on THR!

Bull

 

You’ve got great skills!

 

Well, the stock is on it’s way home. I had to get another box to ship it back because, the Devil that lives at my house thought it would be fun to play with the box the the stock came in.
Elle just loves boxes.

 

Just change her name to shredder. Once again you made a difficult job look like easy-peasy! If I follow enough of your repair threads I might someday be able to do basic repairs.

 

I can tell you love Ellie, no matter how many boxes she tears up. She must be smart to keep her chewing instincts away from your gun stocks!

 

90% of stock repairs are easy. You just have to break down the repair into steps.
If anyone has a repair that they wish to do, I’m more then happy to help walk you through it.

Elle is very good about not chewing things that are in my shop, but anything in the back yard she sees as fair game.
She got into my old plant containers. She thinks they’re toys.

 

Not arguing with you, heaven forbid, but scratching my head trying to figure out why some folks would think that holding the Browning by the stock would make it easier to disassemble. I always have to use the thumb of the hand holding the receiver to disengage the barrel lock before twisting the two halves apart.

 

I’ve seen many post the lock and the turn the barrel slightly, the grab the wrist of the stock to remove the barrel.
I have seen where a person uses the thumb of the hand holding the barrel to hold the lock and turn the receiver with the other holding the stock. I was told by one that the barrel gets stuck and more force is needed to turn the barrel. I pointed out to him that there is such a thing as anti size grease.
If you have on of these little rifles check the matting surfaces to make sure that they are smooth. The barrel dose not have to be supper tight, just good and snug.
But if you break one, or have a friend that has a broken one, I can repair it. Depending on how bad the cracks are it can cost from $50 to $125 for the repairs.
Now if you have one that needs repairs and you wish to repair it yourself, all you need to do is post some good pics and I will break down the repair into steps and walk you through it step by step. And this is done at no charge.

 

Sounds like you are looking for stuff do do in retirement.

 

I’ve got a bunch to do. I did some cleaning up in my shop today, can’t get much done outside with it raining.
As soon as the weather clears up I have a pecan tree to cut down and cut into bowl blanks.

 

I am waiting for when you decide to arrange all your Mosins by serial number from lowest on up. Then we'll know you are truly retired.

 

Bull’s having a little trouble uploading his pics so, here’s the ones he sent me.