Gunsmithing $15 adjustable cheekpiece

[Wannashootit]

Just finished my first stock build from scratch. 4 layers, 1/2" Okoume plywood w/West System epoxy. Cutting and shaping wasn't a big deal, but inletting is a bitch. Guess it gets easier with experience.

Wanted an adjustable cheek rest, decided to go with integral so I cut the stock...

A couple of grade 8 bolts, drilled and tapped into the upper piece. Drill the stock, and perpendicular holes for the locking bolts.

A couple of blind nuts, cut the bolts to length, then Dremel in a slot for a screwdriver... and voila... it ain't rocket science, right?

 

[Bryan27]

Re: $15 adjustable cheekpiece

Looks great! Don't know about the purple though.

Do you have any pictures of the build?

 

[Wannashootit]

Re: $15 adjustable cheekpiece

Yeah... I know about the purple...
Every other rifle we have is either Duracoat black, Camo, or factory.
Given it's a bench gun, my sons told me to go with something "wild"...I was kinda leaning towards a bright red, but I got outvoted.

No pics of the work in progress. I laminated four layers of 1/2" Okoume together with West System to make the blank. Took the Choate Tactical stock we have another Savage in and traced the forend of the stock, then looked at the McMillan A3-A5 as a n inspriation for the back end. Cut her out with a jigsaw, and used a router to relieve the thickness of the butt, and did the rest of the shaping with a palm sander. Nuthin' special. But I DO have a huge appreciation for what's involved in inletting.

Smiths that can do that, have my respect. It's one thing to be working with plywood where you can fix your fuck-ups with epoxy and fillers, sand it all down and paint it- a whole 'nother ballgame to be working with some guy's ultra-rare hardwood stock. It's also much easier when you know you're going to be bedding it- just gouge it out, and let the epoxy bedding make it all perfect!

 

[Jimlaw83]

Re: $15 adjustable cheekpiece

Looks great! Any detailed pics of how you did the locking bolts?

 

[Wannashootit]

Re: $15 adjustable cheekpiece

The locking bolts are just blind nuts, available at any hardware store. Just thread them into the perpendicular holes. The ones I got were odd-size threads, I found some thumb-screws of proper pitch/dia, and cut them off to about a 3/4" length to thread into the blind nuts.

The biggest issue, natch, is getting the bolt holes precisely vertical, and parallel- and lined up top and bottom. Drill press is of course a must. I tapped them by hand after drilling, cut them to length, and screwed them into the upper stock.

I was "off" just a tad out of parallel- and needed to "open up" one of the bottom holes in the stock just a little bit so the bolt wouldn't bind. Not a big deal when all was said and done- once you screw the bolts into the blind nuts and tighten them against the bolts, nothing moves...solid as a rock.

 

[Jimlaw83]

Re: $15 adjustable cheekpiece

Interesting, thanks much! I have been experimenting with different ideas for integral cheek pieces on 2x4 chunks before cutting into my stock. Yours seems rocking, so I may give it a whirl. Problem is my stock is hollow fiberglass/Kevlar, so I may need to dam it up and fill with jb weld or something to make it solid for drilling/tapping.

 

[Wannashootit]

Re: $15 adjustable cheekpiece

Look into West System products if you go that route.
I've used them for years, in boat building projects.

JB is great stuff, but very heavy- and would be expensive to fill up a stock void.

You can get a wide variety of fillers with West System, from very low density glass microballoons (used for fairing/easy sanding- I used this for the stock fairing before painting) to high density metals like powdered aluminum for added strength (and conversely, very difficult to sand).

Or, you could probably go a much cheaper route, and just use plain old polyester fiberglass resin and chopped fiberglass filler (called "kitty hair").

 

[Rprecision]

Re: $15 adjustable cheekpiece

Barney ?