New winter project

SingleShotLover · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 6:48 am Post subject: New winter project

I have been wanting to re-stock Dad's 1903 Springfield that I built as a sporter for him in the mid-70s. It is superbly accurate, but Dad later made the mistake of letting his brother install a butt-pad and otherwise dink around with it. This uncle only thought he knew what he was doing and had very poor taste in what he thought was "custom".

It currently looks this way -

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Now that Dad is gone and I have the rifle back, I figured it was time to make it into something other than just a shooter. I had planned to stock in a classic fashion, but my significant other talked me into browsing E Bay. She was looking at stocks with me when this one popped up. Not my usual taste, but then it was a style very popular at the time I originally re-did the rifle. My wife fell for it and, as luck would have it, I won the bid. Not a lot of work on the outside other than final shaping and sanding, but a good winter's project to do the inletting.

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Picture doesn't really do it justice, but the style actually will work very well with recoil and the relatively high scope position on the rifle. The stock was only wetted with water for the picture to show the grain a little better.

Suzanne · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 8:38 am Post subject: Re: New winter project

Very pretty wood, that'll keep ya busy.

Suz

Elvis · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 3:55 pm Post subject: Re: New winter project

that is going to come up just plain ol sexy when finished..keep us posted.

gelandangan · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 5:07 pm Post subject: Re: New winter project

That is a sexy piece of wood!

Vince · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 7:03 pm Post subject: Re: New winter project

That is a damn fine looking piece of lumber mate. I reckon it will come up very attractive with a good hand rubbed oil finish.

You got yourself a good winter project mate. I'll be very interested in seeing your steps in doing the inleting, so plenty of pics mate.

slimjim · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 9:00 pm Post subject: Re: New winter project

Hope you get it quicker than gelandangan hasn't got his eBay purchase!

slimjim · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 9:00 pm Post subject: Re: New winter project

BTW, looks grand! Its going to be a beauty!!

gelandangan · Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 4:27 pm Post subject: Re: New winter project

slimjim wrote:

Hope you get it quicker than gelandangan hasn't got his eBay purchase!

lesterg3 · Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:25 pm Post subject: Re: New winter project

Cool looking stock. Like the flare on the grip, kinda unsure about the Monte Carlo comb would kinda like to see it from the other side. Grain looks fantastic. Keep posting updates please.

MacD · Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:40 pm Post subject: Re: New winter project

Sweet

SingleShotLover · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 8:03 am Post subject: Re: New winter project

lesterg3 wrote:

Cool looking stock. Like the flare on the grip, kinda unsure about the Monte Carlo comb would kinda like to see it from the other side. Grain looks fantastic. Keep posting updates please.

As I said, this isn't normally to my taste, but function-wise should work perfectly. Both the originally posted picture and this one are directly from the seller since his photographic skills are superior to mine. Note that the right side had been wetted to display grain but the left was left dry.

I am limited on this rifle to the S&K scope mount because I trusted a gunsmith in the distant past to drill and tap for standard mounts. He tried to force the tap and broke a small chunk out of the rear bridge and hogged the holes on the front. Thankfully, nothing rendering the rifle unusable, but limiting my options while fostering a serious distrust of local gunsmiths. The mount raises the scope height to the extent that lower comb height forces me to raise my cheek slightly off the cheek-piece. This height of this stock feels like it takes care of that. I won't be sure until I get the action inletted, but just quick shouldering of the stock places my face higher than on the original stock, which is a plus. In addition, I think I might play with some machining options on the mount that will lower that height. If that works, it is a simple matter to lower the comb a bit.

One way or another I am determined to get this old warrior (Rock Island Armory manufactured in 1917 by the serial number) another new life. And yes, the serial number places it in the range of the questionable receivers, but there have been no issues with standard pressure loads, so I'm not concerned.

slimjim · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 8:28 am Post subject: Re: New winter project

looking forward to the progress reports!

Suzanne · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 8:51 am Post subject: Re: New winter project

I'm curious how you're going to clamp this stock and work on it. I've only made one stock from scratch but I found that leaving the shaping for last made it easy to clamp and work on (square stock). In my case the disadvantage was that I didn't know what the figuring in the grain was going to look like until after I did the inletting and then shaped it.

Suz

SingleShotLover · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 9:27 am Post subject: Re: New winter project

Very well padded vise jaws and no rough handling. You are right; it's a lot easier to do the inletting on a band-sawn or rough-shaped blank and then finish shaping. Razor sharp chisels and knives reduce the likelihood of marring the stock by moving it within the vise grip, but care is essential. I prefer working with minimally-shaped blanks for just that reason, but this was too good to pass up.