Gunsmithing New bubba gunsmithing project? UPDATE

[Trigger Monkey]

Now that I finished up the HMR project, I was wondering what my new project should be. Then I remembered I had an old HS Precision stock stashed in the attic that had seen better days. I've basically treated this thing with wanton disregard but it could be fun.

So what do you guys think? A little JB Weld, a new recoil pad, a little paint, and she's back in action.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Looks like the start of something.

 

[nightman89]

Going to follow for ideas. I have a takeoff Remington 700 stock sitting in my garage. Not worth my time to sell, don't want to just throw it away.

 

[PDXGS]

MarineTex or JB weld with glass balloons

 

[Mike Casselton]

Open it up to use the Magpul bottom plastic and magazine.
I've done it successfully twice and it won't be the last.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Open it up to use the Magpul bottom plastic and magazine.
I've done it successfully twice and it won't be the last.

Funny you mentioned that, it should be here on Friday.

 

[Downtown]

Going to follow for ideas. I have a takeoff Remington 700 stock sitting in my garage. Not worth my time to sell, don't want to just throw it away.

I've done this more than once. Built a rifle around one or two parts leftover from another project. Wife just rolls her eyes.

 

[PDXGS]

I did one using a Dremel...to prove it could be done....looked like a box of smashed crabs, but it worked!
I used Atlas Gunworx bottoms metal.
Filled in the gaps with epoxy and glass baloons and then sanded the shit out of it.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Ok, the this project is a go and hopefully I'll be making some progress this weekend. Right now I'm working stripping about 12 layers of paint off of it so that's taking some time haha. I did manage to get the stock opened up for the Magpul DBM and it's functioning so, so far so good. I was going to go the standard BDL route but the Magpul DBM was pretty appealing because 1) All my other bolt guns run AICS mags. 2) I wouldn't need to modify the pillar bed height 3) It's cheaper than buying a used BDL set up.

The plans for this weekend are to get it stripped, fill in some holes, and maybe install some flush cups. Ideally, I'd also like to get the recoil pad situation squared away but we'll see. I have a Victor Company cheek rest that showed up today so that'll be going on as well. Minus my labor I'll have about $175 in bringing this stock back from the dead.

 

[ljmontano]

As long was you guys have a Dremel tool gunsmiths will never be out of work.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

The project is coming along, after all the paint got stripped off I noticed there were some areas where the shell had chipped away and the foam core was exposed. The only thing I could think to do was mill out a small pocket out to the where the shell wasn't damaged and fill it with epoxy. That seems to be all done now and between those spots and filling in the holes where the sling studs were, it's been a little more work than I'd planned. Yesterday I filled in those two holes in the buttstock with JB Weld WaterWeld, trimmed and sanded about 1/4" off the back of the butt to clean up that mess, and drilled the holes for the flush cups. Turns out I'm going to have to rethink my plans for the recoil pad, after looking at the one I've got it's just not going to work like I'd hoped and I'm trying to avoid a grind to fit pad.

Plans for this weekend are to JB Weld the flush cups, install the pic rail in the forend, and bed the Magpul DBM to clean up the inletting.

 

[Navy Gunner]

Aw man! You are going to get me in trouble! I’ve a HS Precision stock in my safe that I took off my Remington Sendero around ‘95 or so. I keep thinking I need to do something with it now I’m going to see what you come up with. A build list upon completion would be greatly appreciated by me... My wife, not so much .
Look forward to the updates.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

I'll put together a little parts and cost list at the end, I think I'm going to be about $200 in it by the time I'm done. However, some things I had already, like the flush cups, the 9/16" tap for the flush cups, etc. but I had to buy the Magpul DBM, Victor Company cheek riser, JB Weld, and misc. fasteners. There's also going to be some things that someone else may not want or need to buy like a recoil pad.

I don't have a barreled action for this thing really, not yet, it's just a fun/learning project. Learning experiences like Citristrip hates the foam filler of the stock so don't let it linger while stripping paint off it and sanding down epoxy blows.

 

[ZG47A]

The project is coming along, after all the paint got stripped off I noticed there were some areas where the shell had chipped away and the foam core was exposed. The only thing I could think to do was mill out a small pocket out to the where the shell wasn't damaged and fill it with epoxy. That seems to be all done now and between those spots and filling in the holes where the sling studs were, it's been a little more work than I'd planned. Yesterday I filled in those two holes in the buttstock with JB Weld WaterWeld, trimmed and sanded about 1/4" off the back of the butt to clean up that mess, and drilled the holes for the flush cups. Turns out I'm going to have to rethink my plans for the recoil pad, after looking at the one I've got it's just not going to work like I'd hoped and I'm trying to avoid a grind to fit pad.

Plans for this weekend are to JB Weld the flush cups, install the pic rail in the forend, and bed the Magpul DBM to clean up the inletting.

Apply masking tape in several overlapping layers and then grind the pad. Man up! Reads like a clear plan and good progress, to date.

 

[BullGear]

Sure would be nice to see a few photos of the process.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

I have been a little negligent in documenting the whole process but here is where things are at the moment.

I forgot to get a shot of the grip area but here's the forend with the sling swivel holes filled in and some other areas where the foam was exposed.

One of the front flush cup pockets done and tapped. It's 9/16-18 tap btw for those Grove-Tec flush cups, they'll be epoxied in towards the end after I'm done sanding and what not. I drilled it with a 1/2" drill bit with a piece of tape so I only went in as far as I needed to.

Buttstock area where I filled in the two holes shown earlier with JB Weld WaterWeld and sanded it down. I used a small round file to chamber both the inside and outside of the hole so that when I smashed the putty in there it'd have a better bite and resist any moment one way or the other. In theory anyway.

Cut off the nastiness in the back and sanded it down. I may end up taking a little more off the back depending on how the LOP works out when I get the new recoil pad.

Modified Magpul DBM so that it works with the stock.

This is why the rear magazine guide had to be contoured the way it is, it has to clear the interior receiver bridge.

I'm planning to clean up the inlet for the DBM today so I'll be sure to get pics of that later on.

 

[BullGear]

Looks good. Have you decided what you're going to do with the stock, rattle can, dip or something else?

 

[Trigger Monkey]

It's going to get rattle canned, Rustoleum textured paint will go down first and hopefully that will help mask some sins and on top of that will go camo olive drab and then matte clear. I toyed with the idea of doing some kind of camo pattern but decided to keep it simple.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Just got the Grove Tec for a laminate stock, need to get a tap still. Looks like it is coming along.

 

[lariat]

I really like projects like this. Taking a tool that is well used and giving it a new life is something I never seem to grow tired of.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Ok, bedding the bottom metal now to clean up the gaps so we'll see how it turns out tomorrow. I filled in the lettering with neutral shoe polish, in fact shoe polished it all over and then gave it a coat of Hornady One Shot for good measure. It'll either work or I'll have created a mini-chassis set up. Since I made up a good batch of JB Weld I also installed the rear flush cups, I'm not doing the fronts yet because I have other stuff I need to do up there still.

 

[BullGear]

It's getting real now.

Good luck!

 

[JJlancer]

paint diks on it

 

[Mike Casselton]

paint diks on it

 

[clcustom1911]

I gots me some Bubba the Gunsmith Good Idea Fairy thoughts for when I get back stateside... may do a thread. We shall see.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

It took some coaxing but the DBM popped free without too much trouble and I spent this evening getting it cleaned up. I laid out the center line for the rail also so that will be on tomorrow night's agenda

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Well by golly it's starting to look like something now.

I made some good headway in the later part of last week and over the weekend. So right now the following is done.

10-32 Threaded front rail inserts
10-32 Threaded cheek riser inserts
10-32 Threaded pad inserts
Flush cups installed
Recoil pad shaped
Cheek riser installed.

Since I just made the front rail out of an MLOK rail, I'm going to bed it to the radius of the stock and glue on the recoil pad at the same time. That's basically only to leave bedding the action area and getting this thing ready for paint.

 

[BullGear]

Looking good!

 

[sam4886]

Any mor info on the cheek riser? I've been keeping an eye on this but might have missed it.

I've got a hollow fiber stock I've gotta get a riser stuck on, just curious how you did it.

I've got a Kydex press I make my holsters so I may end up using that.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

The cheek riser is a Victor Company cheek riser. There's enough meat in that part of the stock to embed two 10-32 threaded inserts with JB Weld to secure them along the top of the comb.

These ones, I got them from the hardware store.

Once I found center line I marked the holes and started with an 1/8" drill before stepping up in size until I got to one that was just smaller than the OD of the threads, I think it was 5/16", I'll have to check. This minimized deformation as I threaded them but still gave them some bite into the substrate. I chamfered the hole to give the JB weld somewhere to pool and provide some reinforcement to the outer shell, in theory anyway. I used 10-32 zinc coated flat head machine screws to secure it to the stock. I would've preferred black oxide but the oxide screws have a different head diameter that doesn't jive well with the Victor Company riser.

 

[SanPatHogger]

When I cut my 700 ADL stock to take the magpul bottom metal I did a TON of cut and fit, then cut and fit more. When it was all done with it fit like a glove. Then when I bedded it..... oops... It never came back out. But it fits and works great.
I didn't cut the bottom metal, just the wood.

 

[sam4886]

Interesting, I hadn't seen the victors before.

My b&c sporter has a cheek pad kinda thing molded into the left side, I wonder if the Victor company riser would still work.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Like this?

Without modification I don't think it'd work, the Victor Company has some flex but I'm not sure if would flex enough to set correctly over the Monte Carlo-style hump.

You could probably trim back the leg on the left side to make it work though, it's only plastic so not too hard to cut.

 

[sam4886]

That's the one. Thanks for doing the leg work! That was kind of my worry, I'll keep working on something. For the time being I'll probably go with one of the strap on stock pack things so I can avoid drilling any extra holes.

 

[Mike Casselton]

When I cut my 700 ADL stock to take the magpul bottom metal I did a TON of cut and fit, then cut and fit more. When it was all done with it fit like a glove. Then when I bedded it..... oops... It never came back out. But it fits and works great.
I didn't cut the bottom metal, just the wood.

Had the same thing happen to the first Magpul set I installed, even though I filled the voids with clay and used release agent.
Oh, well.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

This project feels like it's drawing down to a close, I'm probably going to bed the rifle tonight or tomorrow night and hopefully paint it up this weekend. Up above it was asked to post a cost list and this is the best estimate that I can do:

Product	Source	Cost
Magpul 700 Hunter DBM	Brownells	$75.49
Remington 700 BDL Action Screws	Red Hawk Rifles	$17.27
Victor Company USA Cheek Riser	Victory Company	$39.89
Limbsaver Grind to Fit Recoil Pad - Medium	Amazon.com	$38.40
10-32 Threaded Inserts X 4	Hardware Store	~$1
10-32 T-Nuts X 2	Hardware Store	~$1
10-32 Button Head Cap Screws X 4	Hardware Store	~$.50
10-32 Flat Head Machine Screws X 2	Hardware Store	~$.50
JB Weld Gray Epoxy - 10 oz package	Hardware Store	~$14
JB Weld WaterWeld	Hardware Store	~$6
JB Weld ClearWeld	Hardware Store	~$6
Clay	Walmart	~$4
Rustoleum Textured Paint	Hardware Store	~$5
Camo Paint - OD Green	Hardware Store	~$5
		$213.05

Keep in mind that I already had some materials and tools needed to complete this job so it's not a total capture of how much this job cost from start to finish, just pretty much what I needed to buy.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

My week got away from me but I did get the action bedded, now all I need to do is sand it down one last time and get it prepped for paint. I cleaned up the overflow with a Dremel, files, and sandpaper, time consuming but it came out well. I'm going to sand the barrel channel a little more before I paint it.

To help clean up the barrel channel I filled in the holes for the t-nuts but left room for longer screws if I ever need to use them.

Modified MLOK rail, I bedded it to the stock so the bottom has a radius now to match the contour of the stock.

Here's the threaded inserts for the cheek riser that was mentioned above. The front one is a little wonky but it may not look as bad with the paint on it and it'll be concealed underneath the cheek riser anyway. I heated the cheek riser with a heat gun and pressed it down onto the stock to widen the bottom a little, my main reason for doing this was so that it didn't scrape the paint off when I put it on later. The position of the cheek riser also allows me to remove the bolt without having to remove the riser.

I wanted to show this earlier but this this is an example of some of the repairs I had to do on the stock where the core foam was exposed. I used a ball end mill bit on the Dremel to open those areas circled in red up and then filled it with JB Weld and then sanded flush.

The next time I update it should be with the stock completed and refinished.

 

[Navy Gunner]

Looking real good. I appreciate the parts list. This will be exactly what I do with my HS Precision stock in the safe.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Alll done.

The Rustoleum Textured paint didn't hide some of the sins as well as I'd hoped but what I did like about using this as a base is the texturing that it gave the stock. It's kind of subtle and not overly aggressive.

 

[Jake03]

That looks really good. Nicely done!

 

[Mike Casselton]

@Trigger Monkey did you use spacers between the bottom metal and the bottom of the bedding block?

I've done two rifles with this conversion and the B&C needed a bit of shimming to get the spacing correct to allow the magazine to latch in and not rub excessively on the bottom of the bolt.

With the MacMillan, I just cut the pillars longer.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

@Mike Casselton I didn't use any spacers, Magpul and Accuracy International magazines locked up easily and fed smoothly with no modifications.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Maybe it's something with the top to bottom thickness of the B&C bedding block.
It do seem to remember having to space it for BDL bottom metal also, otherwise, factory screws were too long.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

It do seem to remember having to space it for BDL bottom metal also, otherwise, factory screws were too long.

What was the stock inlet for? My HS was inlet for the standard BDL bottom metal and the Magpul DBM is designed to work with that pillar height and use BDL length action screws. It's one of the reasons I chose to use the Magpul DBM vs. another DBM system or buying a whole BDL set up. For the money it's hard to beat.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Both of my sets are actually designed to fit the magpul stock. It didn't say anything about fitting other stocks.
Probably not built for anything else. It might have a small difference in height from their original BDL setup

 

[Trigger Monkey]

I can't believe it's been two years since I wrapped this project up but I got bored one day and decided that I didn't really like the janky front rail set up. I settled on taking it back to a more OEM sling swivel set up. I plugged the hole left by one of the mounting screws and had to refinish the stock except this time I went for a quasi-GAP camo sponge job. Colors are off-brand OD camo, the cheapest flat black paint shoved into an aerosol can, and Krylon camo khaki paint finished off with a few coats of Krylon matte clear. The sponges came from Walmart's craft section and cost as much as two of the cans of paint....

Overall, pretty happy with the outcome though. Pretty funny how far this stock has come from when it was just shoved up in my attic.

 

[camocorvette]

That's nice man. Maybe in 2 years you'll inlet it for a Anschutz rail?
Hahahaha J/K

I love diy gun stuff that turns out well.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

My next project might be making an aluminum trigger guard for my Remington 783.

 

[camocorvette]

Do it. If you have the tools, you can make it.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

I have hole saws, a jig saw, files, a drill press, and a Dremel...I can do anything.