Recently, I modified the Bell and Carlson Tactical Medalist stock that my Savage 10fp has been living in for the past year or so. Immediately after buying the stock, I bedded the action and was satisfied with job that I did. I’ve been able to print groups in the ½” to ¾” range with it regularly. While the stock shot fine, I wasn’t thrilled with its overall design. The McMillan A5 is what I really would like. After returning home from a recent range session, I noticed that the front sling swivel stud was loose. That’s all it took for me to dive into full blown stock modification.
I began by removing the front “wings”. Seeing as I never “bag” the gun and only shoot prone with a bipod, the wings seemed like unnecessary bulk. I saw a Youtube video where a guy had removed them and the stock looked much better to my eye. I started with the belt sander and then switched over to a palm sander. The sanding removed the wings but also exposed some of the fiberglass mesh as well as some voids. I planned to cover the mesh and fill the voids with bondo or another filler. The A5 has a rounded profile to the stock’s forearm and, at the time, I wasn’t sure if I want to try and replicate that or not. In the end, I decided to leave the sides flat.
As you can see in the pic above, I made a right angle jig to hold the stock for the next two modifications. The jig is simply two pieces of plywood joined at a right angle. The stock was secured to the jig and leveled by eye. I like the look of the off-hand hook molded into the bottom of the A5 so off to the oscillating spindle sander the stock went. I ended up sanding into the aluminum support that extends into the grip area and stopped there. I also didn’t want to go into the hollow portion of the stock, so the hook isn’t as deep as I’d prefer. I further contoured the hook with a CPVC pipe wrapped with sandpaper to make it more “hand friendly”. Sanding behind the hook made the toe area flat and, hopefully, it should ride a rear bag a little better.
Next up was an adjustable cheek riser. This is actually one of those mods that’s more a requirement than just something nice to have. As mounted, the scope sits just above my eye line. I find I have to pick my head up off of the stock ever so slightly for proper eye alignment. Nothing against the kydex-type cheek rests or stock packs, but I thought I could replicate one of the factory adjustable cheek risers. I researched several mods that folks have done over the net. I think what I came up with works well and you’d be hard pressed to do something any cheaper.
I marked out the shape that I wanted on the stock using blue painters tape. Keeping the stock mounted to the right-angle jig, I didn’t look back and hit it with the band saw. I started with the cut nearest the recoil pad and then finished with the front angled cut and horizontal cut in one final pass. It actually came out really square and without much need for excessive sanding to clean it up.
Next came the tricky part . . . how to rig up the cheek piece hardware. Not one to have to wait to order parts, I brainstormed for an idea that would allow me to get this done with locally obtained hardware. I settled on the idea of using shaft collars and steel rod. The collars have small set screws that would allow for height adjustment as long as I could access them. An eight dollar trip to TSC had me a ready to go. I ended up purchasing shaft collars that had a 3/8” ID, ¾” OD, and were 3/8” thick. Once I marked their location on the stock, I used a Forstner bit chucked into the drill press to drill the holes. The front hole required a counter bore to be drilled deeper into the stock to allow for the 3/8” rod that would eventually support the cheek riser. The rear hole was drilled into the void so no second, smaller hole would be needed. After drilling the rear hole into the void, I was glad I didn’t make that cut for the cheek piece any deeper. I finished by drilling ¼” holes into the side of the stock so that I could access the set screws.
I used epoxy to secure the collars in place. Two ¼” bolts were inserted into the set screw holes to keep the collars in place and lined up.
After the epoxy cured, I moved onto making the riser rods and installing them in the cheek piece. The rods were made out of 3/8” steel rod and a flat was ground on one side so that the set screws would have better purchase. I considered using aluminum rod, but this rifle is not regularly carried or shot prone, so weight was not an issue. In addition, the steel set screws would likely damage the aluminum rods faster and lead to their eventual replacement. I drilled 3/8” holes into the cheek piece, keeping it level on the drill press table as I went. I was unsure if my angles would be true and the rods would slide easily in the collars. I accepted the fact that I may have to drill the holes a bit larger and fill in with epoxy should the angles not jive. To my pleasant surprise, everything lined up just fine. I epoxied the rods in place and taped the assembly up to cure.
Shortly after buying the stock, I also purchased a Badger Ordnance rail. I eventually planned to add it to the rifle for easy bipod mounting. With the front sling swivel working loose, and being the catalyst for this project, I turned my attention to installing the Badger rail. You might be able to tell from the pics, but both of the factory studs were not centered. I measured for the stock’s center line and laid out the location for through holes for the rail. T-nuts were countersunk into the barrel channel and cap head screws secured the rail. It should be ready to accept any rail-mounted bipod.
I began by removing the front “wings”. Seeing as I never “bag” the gun and only shoot prone with a bipod, the wings seemed like unnecessary bulk. I saw a Youtube video where a guy had removed them and the stock looked much better to my eye. I started with the belt sander and then switched over to a palm sander. The sanding removed the wings but also exposed some of the fiberglass mesh as well as some voids. I planned to cover the mesh and fill the voids with bondo or another filler. The A5 has a rounded profile to the stock’s forearm and, at the time, I wasn’t sure if I want to try and replicate that or not. In the end, I decided to leave the sides flat.
As you can see in the pic above, I made a right angle jig to hold the stock for the next two modifications. The jig is simply two pieces of plywood joined at a right angle. The stock was secured to the jig and leveled by eye. I like the look of the off-hand hook molded into the bottom of the A5 so off to the oscillating spindle sander the stock went. I ended up sanding into the aluminum support that extends into the grip area and stopped there. I also didn’t want to go into the hollow portion of the stock, so the hook isn’t as deep as I’d prefer. I further contoured the hook with a CPVC pipe wrapped with sandpaper to make it more “hand friendly”. Sanding behind the hook made the toe area flat and, hopefully, it should ride a rear bag a little better.
Next up was an adjustable cheek riser. This is actually one of those mods that’s more a requirement than just something nice to have. As mounted, the scope sits just above my eye line. I find I have to pick my head up off of the stock ever so slightly for proper eye alignment. Nothing against the kydex-type cheek rests or stock packs, but I thought I could replicate one of the factory adjustable cheek risers. I researched several mods that folks have done over the net. I think what I came up with works well and you’d be hard pressed to do something any cheaper.
I marked out the shape that I wanted on the stock using blue painters tape. Keeping the stock mounted to the right-angle jig, I didn’t look back and hit it with the band saw. I started with the cut nearest the recoil pad and then finished with the front angled cut and horizontal cut in one final pass. It actually came out really square and without much need for excessive sanding to clean it up.
Next came the tricky part . . . how to rig up the cheek piece hardware. Not one to have to wait to order parts, I brainstormed for an idea that would allow me to get this done with locally obtained hardware. I settled on the idea of using shaft collars and steel rod. The collars have small set screws that would allow for height adjustment as long as I could access them. An eight dollar trip to TSC had me a ready to go. I ended up purchasing shaft collars that had a 3/8” ID, ¾” OD, and were 3/8” thick. Once I marked their location on the stock, I used a Forstner bit chucked into the drill press to drill the holes. The front hole required a counter bore to be drilled deeper into the stock to allow for the 3/8” rod that would eventually support the cheek riser. The rear hole was drilled into the void so no second, smaller hole would be needed. After drilling the rear hole into the void, I was glad I didn’t make that cut for the cheek piece any deeper. I finished by drilling ¼” holes into the side of the stock so that I could access the set screws.
I used epoxy to secure the collars in place. Two ¼” bolts were inserted into the set screw holes to keep the collars in place and lined up.
After the epoxy cured, I moved onto making the riser rods and installing them in the cheek piece. The rods were made out of 3/8” steel rod and a flat was ground on one side so that the set screws would have better purchase. I considered using aluminum rod, but this rifle is not regularly carried or shot prone, so weight was not an issue. In addition, the steel set screws would likely damage the aluminum rods faster and lead to their eventual replacement. I drilled 3/8” holes into the cheek piece, keeping it level on the drill press table as I went. I was unsure if my angles would be true and the rods would slide easily in the collars. I accepted the fact that I may have to drill the holes a bit larger and fill in with epoxy should the angles not jive. To my pleasant surprise, everything lined up just fine. I epoxied the rods in place and taped the assembly up to cure.
Shortly after buying the stock, I also purchased a Badger Ordnance rail. I eventually planned to add it to the rifle for easy bipod mounting. With the front sling swivel working loose, and being the catalyst for this project, I turned my attention to installing the Badger rail. You might be able to tell from the pics, but both of the factory studs were not centered. I measured for the stock’s center line and laid out the location for through holes for the rail. T-nuts were countersunk into the barrel channel and cap head screws secured the rail. It should be ready to accept any rail-mounted bipod.
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