Gunsmithing Voids in Stocks?

[cornhusker]

You know how some stocks have those stupid voild{openings} in the forend of stocks?
Well what would be good to fill them in with? I was thining of maybe body putty,
or J B Weld..Thinking it will make the stock stiffer..Any suggestions on this ?

 

[...]

whats the stock made from?

 

[demolitionman]

I've heard of people using Rokite in the forends to add weight to dampen recoil heavy rifles. I'd personally prefer a simple muzzle brake....

 

[cornhusker]

I guess it is some type of plastic or whatever savage uses..

 

[...]

just ditch it and buy a fiberglass stock.........or even a boyds laminate.

all attempts ive seen to 'sure up' plastic stocks suck.....and they are always still flimsy afterwards.......you cant make a silk purse out of sows ears.

so far as im concerned, all plastic stocks should be thrown away immediately upon arrival and be fitted with something half way decent.

the problem is 2 fold.

1) most epoxies dont stick well to plastic.....even the stuff "made for plastic" sucks.......

2) once the epoxy sets up, its rock hard.......and the plastic will still be able to flex, meaning over time, the epoxy will loosen and start to crack and lose hold.

 

[buffalowinter]

Cut an aluminum tube to fit and fill around it with acraglass, devcon, or similar.

 

[Zebra]

It depends if you are trying to keep the weight down or not but the ideal material for filling voids in stocks imo is urethane foam. It comes as a two part liquid that turns into a solid foam in 5 mins when mixed. They come in various densities depending on how rigid or heavy you want it. An 8lb foam is like a soft wood when cured. A 2lb foam is softer and lighter but either would increase stiffness of a synthetic stock. This is what many of the fiberglass and carbon fiber stock makers use as fillers.

If you don't care about weight, you can also use epoxy putty.

 

[delfuego]

Tic-Tacs.

It will drive everyone around you nuts

 

[Wannashootit]

I've bedded a smallish number of polymer stocks, due to the lack of a good chemical bond as noted above you need to rely on a mechanical "lock" more, I drill a shitload of angled divots down into the polymer (after thoroughly degreasing- platics use release agents) and then use a more viscous epoxy mix to be sure it flows down into them. But, doing this on a forend isn't going to help stiffness IMO.

I'm skeptical that you've got adequate depth to work with, but I think Rick's suggestion is a solid one, routing a channel for an aluminum tube that would be lightweight and stiff.
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