Building my 22lr trainer (LH Savage BTVLSS)

[22lr southpaw]

Well some time ago, (when I had more $$$ and free time) I bought a LH M40A1 Clone from Mike Lau @ Texas Brigade Armory. I had access to a 400+ meter range outside of Pittsburgh and ammo was cheaper.

Today I have less $$$ and I no longer live in the Pgh area. I decided that I should get back into shooting and I wanted a rimfire version of my precision rifle.

Shooting LH left me fewer options, so I selected a Savage BTVLSS as a foundation.

The stock was a thumb-hole however so I elected to switch it out for a rimfire hunter from Boyds. The problem was that this stock is not currently sold for LH actions. Having more time than $$$ and more $$$ than sense, I elected to "make my own."

I was pleasantly surprised how closely the lines of the Boyd's RH match the McMillan M40A1 stock

Part I- "milling" the mirror cuts in the stock

I started by making the cut outs n the left side of the stock to mirror the factory shape from the right side.

I am not a gunsmith. My tools are limited so I used what I had on hand. I first used a forstner bit to place the end of the safety notch. I lined the bit up along the right side wall of the stock and then drilled down through the left.

This matched the location and radius of the butt end of the safety cut.

I then needed to match the cut for the bolt handle. The bottom of this cut is concave and is at an angle through the stock (45 degrees on mine) The table on my drill press is able to tilt, but due to the length of the stock this would not help me. I cut a scrap of 2 x 12 with a 45 bevel.

I then attached the stock to the 2 x 12 scrap using screws through the action screw holes.

I then drilled trough the stock using a 1/2 forstner bit to form the bottom of the bolt cutout.

I next used a razor saw to make the remaining cuts needed to finish the exterior cuts.

To clearance the safety bar, I used a 1/4 forstner bit and drilled a series of holes to clear the left side of the stock. I don't have a picture of this being done, but here is the result.

 

[Tjsr19]

Looks great

 

[noeesp]

Looks like your on the right track. Hope to seethe finished product soon

 

[ShooterToo]

Looking good so far. What are your plans for filling the voids on the starboard side of the stock? Will you be building up the cheek piece or adding an adjustable piece?

As you mentioned in your post they do look a lot alike. How do they feel dimensionally? Does the Boyd's feel as good as the McMillan stock? I like these type threads. They give me ideas and provide someone to bounce questions off if I get stuck in a project.

 

[22lr southpaw]

Shooter too

the feel is a bit different. The Boyd's does not feel as "good", but it is OK. The Boyd's stock feels "smaller". I think partly that is due to the weight difference between the two rifles the Savage is about 7-8 lbs The M40A1 is almost double that. I Know that Manners and McMillan have LH stocks available for this and when I win the lottery I might do this, but funds are limited. Like most things in life I think you get what you pay for.

In an ideal world I'd like to have the savage in an identical McMillan stock but I just can't swing that kind of coin. For me shooting is my hobby so having my trainer be "close" is good enough.

I don't currently have plans to have an adjustable stock piece. I may add a "stock pack" to adjust the comb height later. mscott has some good looking work here http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/showthread.php?t=175024&highlight=cheek+piece that I like, but I don't think I'm ready to attempt to do that

For the starboard side here is what I did to fill it in.

Part II- filling the empty side

I started by cutting a scrap of 1 x 6 to fit the outline of the cut out.

I used a rasp to shape the angle of the projection on the part to fill the bolt cutout

taking a bit and trial fitting it. Remember it is always easier to take a bit more, rather than putting it back.

I used the razor saw to trim off the top. I left a bit extra to give some gluing surface and leave some to sand smooth.

I covered the stock with 3m blue tape to keep epoxy off of the areas I didn't need it.

I mixed some JB weld epoxy and glued the piece to fill the stock. I used tape to hold the filler in place.

I also needed to fill a spot on the bolt cut out on the LH side of the stock.

More to follow...

 

[22lr southpaw]

Well I got it sanded today. I used two tools to shape and sand the glued in block. A sanding block and a Dremel with a rubber sanding drum.

I used the Dremel to remove the bulk of the excess material and then used the block to finish.

The next step is to figure out a way to pillar bed the action of my savage mark II...

 

[22lr southpaw]

Well I after reading MANY Many Many posts... I finally took the plunge and pillar bedded my Boyd's stock I combined several Ideas I read about in a variety of locations.

I started by replacing the middle "lug or boss" that is threaded into the action with a 1/4-28 socket head Allen screw.

I needed to do this so that I would have clearance inside the stock cutout I wanted this so that I could fill some of the inletting to strengthen the stock.

I drilled the action screw holes using the drill press to 3/8 diameter I then fit 1/4 ID 3/8 OD Steel spacer sleeves found at the local hardware store. I placed the action in the stock and then measured the length from the bottom of the action to the bottom of the stock. I cut the sleeves using the drill press and Dremel cut off wheel.

Next I cut a Popsicle stick to made dams to build thickness around the rear action screw and made 2 dams to fit around the magazine to narrow the magazine well and build epoxy around the front action screw. Be sure to wax the dams around the magazine well so that you don't glue them in place.

Then I placed the pillars in place and attached the trigger guard and magazine plate in place with electrical tape. Be sure to wax the magazine plate and trigger guard. I also filled all of the openings with plumbers putty so that the epoxy doesn't glue in parts that will need to be removed.

I also cross drilled the stock in three locations to fit cross stock pins to reinforce the boyd's stock

I then mixed up JB weld epoxy and "poured" it into the spaces around the pillars and filled the area around the dams. This filled in about 1/3 of the magazine cutout.

I then had to wait for the JB Weld to set up...

 

[22lr southpaw]

After the JB Weld set up I removed the tape, magazine plate and trigger guard. I also removed the dams on both sides of the magazine well

It looks a bit sloppy but I used a Dremel with a small rubber sanding drum and a cylindrical stone to shape and remove the excess epoxy.

I ground the excess epoxy down to the surface of the steel pillars and removed the excess around the magazine well

This is the area around the magazine well after filling.

here it is with the action in the stock

One of the flaws I had was this void area around the front pillar.

I think I can fill it when I bed the magazine plate and trigger guard later on.

The next step is to order the devcon steel putty to bed the action...

 

[22lr southpaw]

Life sure gets in the way sometimes... I'm back again and I finally have some pictures of the finished rifle.

I was delayed due to several family issues taking up my "spare" workshop time

After ordering the devcon "steelbed" epoxy I bedded the action following advice here and from guys on rimfire central. I had some pictures of the bedding but they were sacrificed to the computer gods when the "magic smoke" escaped my old computer.

I then discovered the original action screws for the savage mark II were built from pure unobtainuium (12-32 x1) I tried to make my own from 1/4 hex cap screws, but a machinist I am not. I was finally able to order some from midway.

I painted the stock in a digital camo pattern and slapped it together. I mounted the Leupold 3.5x10x40 vari x III tactical on a DIP 25 moa base and it not too bad to look at.



I just need to find the time to put a few rounds through it now.

 

[JMGlasgow]

That looks awesome.

 

[mr2.0]

Amazing job

 

[jakelly]

That thing better SHOOT.

 

[deadmilkman]

Nicely done! A fine example of on site resources getting the job done!

Wes

 

[seagiant]

Hi,
Fantastic! Being 6'8" AND left handed I can feel the pain! I have to deal with the stock LOP issues as well. It's a labor of love to get what you need to feel good shooting.

I admit I would of probably rasped in the cut for the bolt but I'm good with my hands and a file, so trust myself on those thing! Nice job!!!

 

[22lr southpaw]

Well I still haven't found time to take either rifle to the range, so I don't have any photos of the true results, but here are a couple of photos showing the TBA LH M40A1 (308 win) and the Savage Mk II BTVLSS (22lr) side by side.





I thought some people might want to see them.

Thanks for the compliments.

 

[58blackflag]

Very cool project! Nice work.