A couple months ago Turmite, Mike Turner, and I started a collaboration on a new, to Turner Customs, version of a bench rest stock. A few days later Mike sent me this CAD rendering of the stock.
Without going into a lot of details; mill problems frustrated Mike for the next 2 months or so. Now it seems that the problem are behind him.
This morning Mike sent me these photos of the first stock cut with the new program. There are a couple things to say about this specific stock.
It's not available for sale. I bought it!
It would be considered 'paint grade' due to being slightly off center. Procedures contributed to the mis-alignment.
The stock was sanded with 80 grit to blend some tool marks.
Ill be adding dimensions and weight as soon as I have them available.
Fore end width 3"
Copied directly from Turmite's email.
Length overall 32.5" more or less
LOP 13.5 before buttplate addition
Fore end height 1.725
Butt stock height 3.72
Fore end Length 10.356
Weight??? Unfinished. No idea, but guessing about 3.5 lbs
I'll post more photos when I have the stock in hand and mount one of my barreled actions in the stock.
Then bedding, finishing maybe even some shooting results.
Down the line a bit, there will be a second stock and barreled action added to this thread. It will be cherry, figured maple and spalted sycamore.
***11/22/2014***
The stock shown above arrived at my place this week. Work has kept me from making any progress until today.
The stock will be bedded and pillared. I am using a combination of Raven Eye pillar bedding parts, along with some generic hardware bought at McMaster Carr.
Here is a photo of the parts used to attach the rear tang. This one is a bit different as the screw comes up from the bottom.
The bit on the left is a binding post nut. They come in various sizes and threads. I picked a 10/24 as I wanted the bottom OD, of the binding post nut, to fit the ID of the rear tang. Some filing is required.
The other parts are from the Raven Eye kit. I didn't use the Raven Eye pillar as I had another laying around that required less filing.
This is the bottom view showing the escutcheon and the bolt.
Here is the home made pillar sitting in place.
Nothing is glued in yet. But soon.
More when something happens. Waiting on some pieces.
***11/25/2014***
Here is a photo of the receiver inletting as the stock comes off the mill.
The inletting is very tight when using a Kidd receiver, not so much so when using a Ruger receiver.
***11/28/2014***
Here is how I modified the use of the Kidd rear tang so that you insert the screw from the bottom of the stock. If anyone decides to do this modification one word of advice. Be sure of your thread sizes and O.D.s when ordering the parts. I haven't researched the availability and compatibility of these parts with the standard take down screw or it's escutcheon. Just make sure your bits with fit together.
First a photo of the finished product.
Up above I have a photo of the pieces needed to attach the rear tang from the bottom. Here is a photo with a bit of narrative about each part.
One key piece to this puzzle is the Binding Post Barrel/Nut. The one shown has a barrel O.D. just under .250 but the screw head is too large to fit into the Kidd rear tang. Chuck the part up in the drill press and turn the screw head down until it fits nicely. Once the Barrel/Nut fits correctly, set it aside for a while. You want it to end up like this.
You now need to get the stock ready for the parts.
First operation is to locate and drill the hole from the rear tang down through the stock. Just be careful, use masking tape, when drilling out the bottom of the stock. I used a small drill, 1/8 ", to mark the hole, then opened it up as necessary. You need to do the following in whatever order makes sense to you;
1. Enlarge the bottom of the hole for the escutcheon of your choice.
2. If you use the Raven Eye escutcheon, as I did, you will need to open the hole for the larger screw to pass through.
3. Drill the thru hole for the rear tang screw.
4. Enlarge the top of the hole to fit the pillar you are going to modify in the next step.
5. Turn down and shorten the pillar to fit. Again I chucked the pillar in the drill press and turned it down. Then I used the ol' Dremel tool to shorten the pillar to the correct length. Trim and try it, repeat until golden.
6. Dry fit it all together. Remember the height of the rear pillar must be correct for the front pillar. Don't go with the epoxy too soon. Get it all to fit correctly first. The height of the rear pillar and the front pillar are the critical points. Be sure both pillars are slightly proud of the wood.
When everything fits correctly you can epoxy in the escutcheons, pillars and any spacers you may have needed. You want solid metal from the escutcheon to the top of the pillar.
7. At some point, you need to rough up the inside of the rear tang where the barrel, of the Binder Post Nut, will go. Also, rough up the barrel nut. Epoxy this part in place inside the rear tang. Release agent on the screw, some spacers and pull it all tight. The rear tang does not need to be on the receiver to do this.
Line up the screw driver slot when you epoxy the nut in. It will look lots better than if askew. Note the one shown in the photo above is not glued in yet.
That is kind of it for the rear tang mods. I'm starting to work on a butt plate at the moment. Here is a photo of where I am at the moment, no sanding has been done, nothing has been epoxied in other than the binding post nut.
***11/29/2014***
I have this stock sanded to 220 and have fashioned a butt plate and fore end cap along with a black plastic spacer for each end. The photo below showing the stock as it sits today, the stock has been wiped with mineral spirits for the photo.
A couple tips, for those who will end up finishing one of these stocks.
A rattle can of Rustoleom paint has the exact radius needed to sand the concave surface between the flat on the bottom of the fore end and the top of the stock. A piece of the correct grit sandpaper and some masking tape are all you need. Well, plus the elbow grease.
A second tip. When fitting a butt plate, pistol grip cap or fore end cap; if the stock has any irregularities, like high spots, that keep the plate from getting perfectly flat contact, you don't have to get out the cross cut saw to clean it up. Use either your dremel with a sanding drum or a very sharp paring chisel and relieve some of the wood in the affected area. Just, be sure to, stay inside of the edge by 1/4 " and trim away. In a minute or so you will have a perfect fit for your plate.
Speaking of plates. Butt plate and fore end cap with black plastic spacers.
It's bedding time for this stock. The bedding discussion, for whatever it is, will be in Post #2.
Without going into a lot of details; mill problems frustrated Mike for the next 2 months or so. Now it seems that the problem are behind him.
This morning Mike sent me these photos of the first stock cut with the new program. There are a couple things to say about this specific stock.
It's not available for sale. I bought it!
It would be considered 'paint grade' due to being slightly off center. Procedures contributed to the mis-alignment.
The stock was sanded with 80 grit to blend some tool marks.
Ill be adding dimensions and weight as soon as I have them available.
Fore end width 3"
Copied directly from Turmite's email.
Length overall 32.5" more or less
LOP 13.5 before buttplate addition
Fore end height 1.725
Butt stock height 3.72
Fore end Length 10.356
Weight??? Unfinished. No idea, but guessing about 3.5 lbs
I'll post more photos when I have the stock in hand and mount one of my barreled actions in the stock.
Then bedding, finishing maybe even some shooting results.
Down the line a bit, there will be a second stock and barreled action added to this thread. It will be cherry, figured maple and spalted sycamore.
***11/22/2014***
The stock shown above arrived at my place this week. Work has kept me from making any progress until today.
The stock will be bedded and pillared. I am using a combination of Raven Eye pillar bedding parts, along with some generic hardware bought at McMaster Carr.
Here is a photo of the parts used to attach the rear tang. This one is a bit different as the screw comes up from the bottom.
The bit on the left is a binding post nut. They come in various sizes and threads. I picked a 10/24 as I wanted the bottom OD, of the binding post nut, to fit the ID of the rear tang. Some filing is required.
The other parts are from the Raven Eye kit. I didn't use the Raven Eye pillar as I had another laying around that required less filing.
This is the bottom view showing the escutcheon and the bolt.
Here is the home made pillar sitting in place.
Nothing is glued in yet. But soon.
More when something happens. Waiting on some pieces.
***11/25/2014***
Here is a photo of the receiver inletting as the stock comes off the mill.
The inletting is very tight when using a Kidd receiver, not so much so when using a Ruger receiver.
***11/28/2014***
Here is how I modified the use of the Kidd rear tang so that you insert the screw from the bottom of the stock. If anyone decides to do this modification one word of advice. Be sure of your thread sizes and O.D.s when ordering the parts. I haven't researched the availability and compatibility of these parts with the standard take down screw or it's escutcheon. Just make sure your bits with fit together.
First a photo of the finished product.
Up above I have a photo of the pieces needed to attach the rear tang from the bottom. Here is a photo with a bit of narrative about each part.
One key piece to this puzzle is the Binding Post Barrel/Nut. The one shown has a barrel O.D. just under .250 but the screw head is too large to fit into the Kidd rear tang. Chuck the part up in the drill press and turn the screw head down until it fits nicely. Once the Barrel/Nut fits correctly, set it aside for a while. You want it to end up like this.
You now need to get the stock ready for the parts.
First operation is to locate and drill the hole from the rear tang down through the stock. Just be careful, use masking tape, when drilling out the bottom of the stock. I used a small drill, 1/8 ", to mark the hole, then opened it up as necessary. You need to do the following in whatever order makes sense to you;
1. Enlarge the bottom of the hole for the escutcheon of your choice.
2. If you use the Raven Eye escutcheon, as I did, you will need to open the hole for the larger screw to pass through.
3. Drill the thru hole for the rear tang screw.
4. Enlarge the top of the hole to fit the pillar you are going to modify in the next step.
5. Turn down and shorten the pillar to fit. Again I chucked the pillar in the drill press and turned it down. Then I used the ol' Dremel tool to shorten the pillar to the correct length. Trim and try it, repeat until golden.
6. Dry fit it all together. Remember the height of the rear pillar must be correct for the front pillar. Don't go with the epoxy too soon. Get it all to fit correctly first. The height of the rear pillar and the front pillar are the critical points. Be sure both pillars are slightly proud of the wood.
When everything fits correctly you can epoxy in the escutcheons, pillars and any spacers you may have needed. You want solid metal from the escutcheon to the top of the pillar.
7. At some point, you need to rough up the inside of the rear tang where the barrel, of the Binder Post Nut, will go. Also, rough up the barrel nut. Epoxy this part in place inside the rear tang. Release agent on the screw, some spacers and pull it all tight. The rear tang does not need to be on the receiver to do this.
Line up the screw driver slot when you epoxy the nut in. It will look lots better than if askew. Note the one shown in the photo above is not glued in yet.
That is kind of it for the rear tang mods. I'm starting to work on a butt plate at the moment. Here is a photo of where I am at the moment, no sanding has been done, nothing has been epoxied in other than the binding post nut.
***11/29/2014***
I have this stock sanded to 220 and have fashioned a butt plate and fore end cap along with a black plastic spacer for each end. The photo below showing the stock as it sits today, the stock has been wiped with mineral spirits for the photo.
A couple tips, for those who will end up finishing one of these stocks.
A rattle can of Rustoleom paint has the exact radius needed to sand the concave surface between the flat on the bottom of the fore end and the top of the stock. A piece of the correct grit sandpaper and some masking tape are all you need. Well, plus the elbow grease.
A second tip. When fitting a butt plate, pistol grip cap or fore end cap; if the stock has any irregularities, like high spots, that keep the plate from getting perfectly flat contact, you don't have to get out the cross cut saw to clean it up. Use either your dremel with a sanding drum or a very sharp paring chisel and relieve some of the wood in the affected area. Just, be sure to, stay inside of the edge by 1/4 " and trim away. In a minute or so you will have a perfect fit for your plate.
Speaking of plates. Butt plate and fore end cap with black plastic spacers.
It's bedding time for this stock. The bedding discussion, for whatever it is, will be in Post #2.