I've you've been visiting this particular board much you may remember my thread on modifying a Bell and Carlson stock . . .
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...t-mcmillan-a5-my-stab-stock-modification.html
Well, that was my match rifle. Since that project, I've slowly been accumulating the pieces to put together a match rifle for my son whose 13 years old. A friend of mine provided a donor action and barrel - a Savage 10FP with a stainless steel fluted barrel, chambered in .223. I added an aftermarket recoil lug and detachable bottom metal from Savage. Since we didn't have a lot of money to spend on a stock, we opted for a Boyd's Tacticool. Priced at about $100, it wasn't a bad choice to keep the project rolling. I installed pillars and bedded the action to the stock using Accraglass. A fair amount of work was required during the bedding prep to ensure that all five rounds would feed reliably from the magazine. It was definitely not a "drop-in" fit.
Once we had the action properly bedded, we began looking for a suitable optic. Trying to stay value-minded, I kept leaning toward the SWFA line-up of fixed-power scopes. I have had both 10x and 20x versions in the past and each proved to be a worthwhile investment. The 20x had been mounted atop a Barrett 50 BMG and was useful for 1000 yard matches. Where we shoot, however, the mirage quickly takes over during the morning matches. That, and I figured that it would be a bit much for our local matches which max out at about 600 yards. A week or so ago I was able to pick up a used SWFA 12x scope with TPS rings for a good price.
With the scope mounted in the low TPS rings, my son and I are both unable to get a good view through the scope while maintaining proper cheek weld. We took the rifle to the range this morning and ran 15 shots through it just to check the bedding job and see if the rifle would shoot. We were both shooting MOA groups with the rifle paired with some 69gr. factory match ammo. With some more break-in, and maybe some handloading, it should do even better.
This afternoon we began work modifying the cheek of the stock - pretty much following the steps used previously on the Bell and Carlson. Instead of drawing the profile of the cut on the stock with a pencil, I simply laid it out with blue painters tape. I found that technique to work really well - for visualizing the cut and for also following the cut line with the blade. Next, I made a right angle jig to hold the stock. Once the stock was leveled and secure, I cut out the cheek piece on the band saw. After some light sanding of the stock and cheek piece we laid out the locations for the stop collars. Finding the center of the stock was easy as it contained 23 layers of even-thickness laminate. I counted in to the center piece of laminate and center punched it. Since the stop collars are 3/4" in diameter, I chucked up a matching Forstner bit in the drill press. A level vial with double stick tape was secured to the stock to ensure that it set level on the drill press table.
A second level kept us drilling square to the stock in all aspects. While I held everything steady, my son plunged the bit into the stock.
After drilling the 3/4" holes deep enough to accommodate the stop collars, we moved onto drilling the holes that would allow the riser rods some room to move. We drilled these holes slightly over sized, which really wasn't necessary. The holes will eventually fill with epoxy and will be drilled out later on. When they are drilled out, only a 3/8" bit can be used due to the collar's inner diameter. In hindsight, one could probably just drill for the stop collar, epoxy it in place as I've done here, then drill the counter-bored 3/8" hole.
Next up, drill 1/4" access holes for the height adjustment. Using a square, I extended the center lines of each original hole drilled for the stop collars down the side of the stock After center punching the location of these holes it was back to the drill press.
Next, we installed the collars and ensured that the access holes were in line with the set screw threads. We simply installed some 1/4" bolts to be sure.
I wanted to make sure that the stop collars held securely in the stock, so the first step to accomplish this was to undercut the 3/4" holes a bit. I used a Dremel tool with a wood-cutting bit to do this.
I also clamped each stop collar in my vise, released it, turned it slightly, clamped it again, and repeated. This effectively knurled the stop collar, again, providing some gripping surface. I prepped the stop collars for installation by cleaning them with lacquer thinner. Using a q-tip, I applied paste wax to the inside of the stop collar and the threads. I taped off the stock to protect it from excess epoxy and coated the exposed wood with paste wax. The areas coated with paste wax should prevent any lock-up in areas where it isn't desired.
Two sections of 3/8" rod and the two 1/4" bolts were used to secure the stop collars in place while the Marine Tex epoxy cured.
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...t-mcmillan-a5-my-stab-stock-modification.html
Well, that was my match rifle. Since that project, I've slowly been accumulating the pieces to put together a match rifle for my son whose 13 years old. A friend of mine provided a donor action and barrel - a Savage 10FP with a stainless steel fluted barrel, chambered in .223. I added an aftermarket recoil lug and detachable bottom metal from Savage. Since we didn't have a lot of money to spend on a stock, we opted for a Boyd's Tacticool. Priced at about $100, it wasn't a bad choice to keep the project rolling. I installed pillars and bedded the action to the stock using Accraglass. A fair amount of work was required during the bedding prep to ensure that all five rounds would feed reliably from the magazine. It was definitely not a "drop-in" fit.
Once we had the action properly bedded, we began looking for a suitable optic. Trying to stay value-minded, I kept leaning toward the SWFA line-up of fixed-power scopes. I have had both 10x and 20x versions in the past and each proved to be a worthwhile investment. The 20x had been mounted atop a Barrett 50 BMG and was useful for 1000 yard matches. Where we shoot, however, the mirage quickly takes over during the morning matches. That, and I figured that it would be a bit much for our local matches which max out at about 600 yards. A week or so ago I was able to pick up a used SWFA 12x scope with TPS rings for a good price.
With the scope mounted in the low TPS rings, my son and I are both unable to get a good view through the scope while maintaining proper cheek weld. We took the rifle to the range this morning and ran 15 shots through it just to check the bedding job and see if the rifle would shoot. We were both shooting MOA groups with the rifle paired with some 69gr. factory match ammo. With some more break-in, and maybe some handloading, it should do even better.
This afternoon we began work modifying the cheek of the stock - pretty much following the steps used previously on the Bell and Carlson. Instead of drawing the profile of the cut on the stock with a pencil, I simply laid it out with blue painters tape. I found that technique to work really well - for visualizing the cut and for also following the cut line with the blade. Next, I made a right angle jig to hold the stock. Once the stock was leveled and secure, I cut out the cheek piece on the band saw. After some light sanding of the stock and cheek piece we laid out the locations for the stop collars. Finding the center of the stock was easy as it contained 23 layers of even-thickness laminate. I counted in to the center piece of laminate and center punched it. Since the stop collars are 3/4" in diameter, I chucked up a matching Forstner bit in the drill press. A level vial with double stick tape was secured to the stock to ensure that it set level on the drill press table.
A second level kept us drilling square to the stock in all aspects. While I held everything steady, my son plunged the bit into the stock.
After drilling the 3/4" holes deep enough to accommodate the stop collars, we moved onto drilling the holes that would allow the riser rods some room to move. We drilled these holes slightly over sized, which really wasn't necessary. The holes will eventually fill with epoxy and will be drilled out later on. When they are drilled out, only a 3/8" bit can be used due to the collar's inner diameter. In hindsight, one could probably just drill for the stop collar, epoxy it in place as I've done here, then drill the counter-bored 3/8" hole.
Next up, drill 1/4" access holes for the height adjustment. Using a square, I extended the center lines of each original hole drilled for the stop collars down the side of the stock After center punching the location of these holes it was back to the drill press.
Next, we installed the collars and ensured that the access holes were in line with the set screw threads. We simply installed some 1/4" bolts to be sure.
I wanted to make sure that the stop collars held securely in the stock, so the first step to accomplish this was to undercut the 3/4" holes a bit. I used a Dremel tool with a wood-cutting bit to do this.
I also clamped each stop collar in my vise, released it, turned it slightly, clamped it again, and repeated. This effectively knurled the stop collar, again, providing some gripping surface. I prepped the stop collars for installation by cleaning them with lacquer thinner. Using a q-tip, I applied paste wax to the inside of the stop collar and the threads. I taped off the stock to protect it from excess epoxy and coated the exposed wood with paste wax. The areas coated with paste wax should prevent any lock-up in areas where it isn't desired.
Two sections of 3/8" rod and the two 1/4" bolts were used to secure the stop collars in place while the Marine Tex epoxy cured.
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