Multiple cracks in Rem Mod 7 stock

[Blue68f100]

Update on my progress. I have put fiberglass reinforcement in the forearm area to hopefully to prevent any more cracking. I detected a crack in the front pillar area, but do not think it had opened up. This whole area now is fully epoxied with high density filled epoxy. The action has been bedded, ended up with a few air bubbles. I mixed it on the thicker side to keep it from running into mag well area. Still good to go, solid as it needs to be.



The forearm reinforcement. 2 areas with 5 layers of fiberglass matting.




Have the stock cleaned up and ready for the finish. Checkering heavily waxed and masked. I'm going to go with an epoxy finish thinking it will take the abuse better. Will use the fast set hardner with the resin and do multiple thin coats till the grain is filled. All I have to do is catch the tack window (leaves a finger print but does not stick to you) while it's drying to apply the next coat. I can do this as many times as I like and it will cure out as 1 coat. Should be some where around 1.5-2 hr between coats with the fast hardner. I may change over to the slow hardner if I'm having problems with it leveling out. Doing that will extend the time between coats to approx 2-3 hrs.

 

[Blue68f100]

I have finally finished this one up. It's very hard to locate where any of the cracks were at, once I put the epoxy finish on.

The neck area of the stock where the chip came out.




Now for the right side around the bolt area.










The finish you see is the epoxy. I applied a total of 3 thin coats, applying the coats when the previous coat was ready. Which is lives a finger print but does not stick to you, approx 3-4 hrs between coats. After letting it set over night I had to deal with some air bubbles and a couple of runs. So I started sanding with some 320 grit till they cleared up. Then progressed down to 600. At that point the epoxy had not fully hardened and I was able to use a paper towel and hand rub the finish, which gave it a satin look. As the epoxy finished curing out to full harness I had to work down to 2000 grit, before I hand rubbed it. I did not smooth out the stock or remove the dents, dings and scrapes/scratches that was in the stock. I did use solvent to lift the original finish from the stock. So some of these areas have a little gloss where I did not sand deep enough to remove. I applied paste wax to the checkering. The Sling post I epoxied in since they were loose. So they are not going to be removed easily, may require heat to loosen the epoxy, even though I waxed the threads.

Over all it came out looking great. You have to look real hard to find the repairs. The only one showing is the plug and were I drilled a little to deep on the right side. Those came out looking like knots.. This was a fun project..... Learned a lot.

Thank you GunnyUSMC for sharing your knowledge and the guidance on this project.

I have another one coming in for repair, and old shotgun.

 

[Dale Alan]

Looks great , nice to see you saved it . That is a very impressive repair job ,congrats . When I saw Gunny chime in I knew it would be a success .

 

[beag_nut]

Looks good. My only caution (which you may already be aware of) is that epoxy does not resist UV light well. Which is why the Gougeon Brothers always recommended a final coat of a UV-blocking varnish of some sort. My five epoxy-lapstraked canoes all had a couple coats of marine-grade varnish to finish, and they still look good from the 1980's.

 

[kmw1954]

That is an absolutely beautiful piece of work. I cannot applaud you loud enough. Now you want to help me with a bedding job on a Boyds stock?

 

[Blue68f100]

Looks good. My only caution (which you may already be aware of) is that epoxy does not resist UV light well. Which is why the Gougeon Brothers always recommended a final coat of a UV-blocking varnish of some sort. My five epoxy-lapstraked canoes all had a couple coats of marine-grade varnish to finish, and they still look good from the 1980's.

Thanks for the info that should not be a problem, he normally keeps it in some kind of case shielding it.

 

[Blue68f100]

That is an absolutely beautiful piece of work. I cannot applaud you loud enough. Now you want to help me with a bedding job on a Boyds stock?

Thanks for the kind comments.

We are not very close to each other...... But I don't mind helping where I can. There are a lot more knowledgeable people on this sight than me.

 

[kmw1954]

We are not very close to each other...... .

That is certainly a fact, and the suggestion was more tongue-in-cheek but the kudos are still heart felt. Again great work.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

An outstanding job you did there, Blue. All I did was give guidance, you did all the work.
I have fixed more stocks, that people said were not salvageable, then I can count.
A while back I had a guy ask for advice on repairing a Turkish Mauser stock that was cracked at the wrist. I pretty much went over the repair and advised to check for the cause of the damage, just as I did with you. But the guy decided to drill holes across the wrist and insert wood dowels with wood glue. He was able to fire about 30 rounds before his stock started to come apart. He asked for my help again. My reply to him was that he had wasted my time ones, and I had better things to do.
I don’t mind helping others. I’ve been repairing stocks since 1988 and don’t mind passing on what I have learned.
Every stock repair is a little different, but if you break them down into steps and apply the style of repairs I use, you can fix just about anything.
If you ever want some hands on classes on repairs, just bring some broken stocks over to my house and I’ll be more then happy to walk you through the repairs.
My buddy Matt comes down about once a year with several stocks to work on. He stays for a week or two at the house while we work on stocks.
If you need help with anything else, just let me know. And if you would like to visit, you’re welcome to.