Cracked Stock a Problem?

[Sheridan]

I didn't know the answer to this, but I thought you probably would.

I was over at a friend's house this weekend and he showed me a crack in his ~30 year old wooden rifle stock. The action is held to the stock by two bolts, one on each end of the mag well (detachable mag).

The crack in the stock runs from the rear bolt hole forward to the mag well. From the top side of the stock, the crack is barely visible between the bolt hole and the mag well. From the bottom side of the stock, the crack is less than 1/32nd of an inch wide at the very bottom and closes as it goes up, but is readily visible.

The questions are:

1) Is continued shooting (it's a .270 Win.) likely to split the stock and,

2) If so is it likely to be catastrophic failure during firing

3) Is the crack likely to contribute to lackluster accuracy? (Average groups are ~1 1/2 inches at 100 yds.)

Thanks for your input.

Sheridan

 

[mete]

You could do two things at once. With bedding compound you could repair the crack and bed the action. It is possible that the crack itself is contributing the the accuracy problem.

 

[Badger Arms]

I'd repair it for no other reason than the fact it's easy to repair. Many stocks have cross-pins in this area to strengthen the stock. What you need to do is drill a hole perpendicular to the crack through the sides of the stock. I'm pretty sure Sportsman's warehouse sells stock repair kits with cross-pins. You simply coat the pin with bedding compound and insert it. Next, fill the crack as well as you can with bedding compound. You must then clamp the barrel in some sort of device. I like wood clamps and a cut-up pair of Jeans to protect the wood. You must clamp the crack closed and it will squish out the excess bedding compound. You can and should wipe the excess bedding compound off at this point.

Once the compound dries, you should be able to carefully cut the ends of the pins off flush with the surface of the stock. If you've been careful and done it right, you might not even have to touch-up the finish. Good luck.

 

[Jim K]

Read ALL the instructions carefully when using bedding compound. And then read them again.

If you mess up a bedding job the stock will have more cracks, caused by the hatchet you will have to use to get it off.

Jim

 

[Badger Arms]

If you have an old Savage or other cheap stock, weld the stock to the barreled action! Heck, I've seen it done on a few Mausers. Just degrease the entire barreled action, and 'glue' it in place. Certainly won't have any problems with it that way! Doesn't the Marine Corps do this with their sniper systems?

 

[4v50 Gary]

The USMC doesn't Acraglass their actions to their stocks. Can't service the trigger or safety. Makes it harder to rebuild too.

 

[kimbernut]

Cracked stock

My first thought when looking at a cracked stock is to try to determine the cause of the crack(high area that needs relief,weak wrist area) and remedy that first .Then determine if and/or how you want to bed the stock to the action.
In answer to your questions:
1)Continued shooting as is will most likely(but not always) continue the split.

2)Catastrophic failure is highly unlikely.

3)Accuracy is probably slightly better since the crack developed because some of the uneven pressure has been relieved but it should get better when it is properly relieved and repaired.

 

[1911Tuner]

Hatchet Job

Jim Keenan said:
If you mess up a bedding job the stock will have more cracks, caused by the hatchet you will have to use to get it off.
-------------------------------


ROFLMAO!

Oh yeah...

That was classic...

 

[eclancy]

Sheridan,
You might want to email Stock Doc. He does great work on stocks. I have seen his work and it is about the best around. Here's his email:
[email protected]
He also can be found on CSP. Here's that address:

http://www.jouster.com/
I hope this data helps.
Thanks again
Clancy

 

[sm]

Humm...may not have been the "correct way"...being a poor boy and all, and not familar with bedding compound... similar to Badger's Post.

I drilled tiny holes for cross pins and used "peg wood" ( tad bigger than a toothpick). Clean and dry and used 24 hour epoxy. Light sand and touch up oil finish.

Just used what I had, and wanted to keep as original as could. [ Read : broke, needing to learn and get by] Well, it worked, still able to service the gun and lasted until some fella and I struck a deal and traded.

" I gots a degree in Epoxy 101" ... I earned that sucker.

 

[Clark]

Ken Marsh's web site shows how to fix cracked stocks:
http://www.charm.net/~kmarsh/brass_repair.html