2216 is some good stuff. We use it as a bonding agent in the aerospace industry.

 

I have a lot more to do on the gun. I'll post more later. Please feel free to give suggestions. I saw the ural that Ret built in the sticky index. i was wondering how that soft bedding came out. Did it improve accuracy?

ret here.....I love an intrepid project. You'll have a rifle that fits you better, which means you'll shoot better. >>> The soft bedding will almost almost always work better. I found an improvement across all brands of ammo. Here is the source of my experiment. The problem is many ( or most) gun guys do not vary from traditional form often. I used to be like that myself, when I did gs work professionally.

Chances of recracking are high because the reasons for cracking have not gone away, you addressed result. It may last or may not. You might want to either drill and epoxy a single screw from about where rear action screw is located and extending out the grip cap or same with a wooden dowel and several more at dowel pins various angles, crossing through the sides. ( forming an "X") I used method #2 for my ural project.

Begin drilling from receiver side to the grip cap side.

It's your rifle...so decide and move forward. I assume your purpose is shooting off a bench?

Type of wood you attached to sides?

ret

 

thx

Thanks for the advice. I think i will drill the grip and install a screw.

Yes my intentions for the gun are heavy bench gun. Dad has his ural that is staying mostly the way it is. If I choose to try other matches (3 position) I would use his. My gun is strictly going to be a bench gun.

For that reason i was considering adding weight to the stock. I am a bit twitchy and i think more weight would help.
My idea was to use a spade bit and drill a large hole into the foreand and into the buttstock, then add lead shot and epoxy to fill the holes. I was hoping to add approximately 3-5 lbs to the gun.

The wood i bought for gluing to the stock is poplar. I knew i needed hardwood. and chose the cheapest straightest board i could find at home depot (i dont have a planer). my wood working knowledge is quite limited. The gun is going to get a full paint job when its so i figured ugly poplar would be ok. Thoughts?

i have not glued it yet in case im making a mistake.

 

Poplar will work ok.

Regarding the single screw....have you thought about the actual amount of remaining material for a screw to hang on to between the inletted portion of receiver and the crack?

You do not actually know where the crack is, only where it shows. How do you think you'll address this?

ret

 

I had the stock apart

Once I had removed the original screw I was able to see the entire crack as the stock was in two pieces. It has approximately 1 inch of wood between the bottom of the inlet and where the hole will meet the crack.

I have a good amount of experience with fiberglass. I believe I am going to glass over the entire area. I think the grip will be very strong after that.

What about the poplar? Think it will do?

 

Might work......

You plan on leaving grip area full diameter?

Poplar should work ok.

ret

 

I think I will reduce the size

I'm going to reduce the grip by a good amount, then glass, then use epoxy void filling compound for custom fit grip.

 

Sounds like a plan to me.

Looking forward to seeing the progress and learning a few tricks.

ret

 

more work

Dent filling. using epoxy void filling compound.

Apparently this stuff is called "smurf" I wonder why...

Gluing boards.....

Shaping

Here's where I'm at now.

More voids to fill... i should have thought it out more. I keep changing my mind.

The shape is not final, it needs filing. though it is close.

 

continued

Adding weight to the forend (im still going to add wieght to the rear). These are stacks of washers totaling about 1 pound. I drilled holes with a spade. I Tried to get the washers close to flush to make things easier in finishing.

Here is the bottom the next day after being filled in.

Fitting grip with action in so i know where my trigger is.

I tried the fit over and over with the action still in the stock (and with the butt pad). I'm removing extra material too... I still have to add fiberglass and void compound. I also think i have decided to go with Rhino-liner on the hand grip. and i will also be painting the barrel with a hammered finish. the rest will be red with some extra details...

This crack stops at the knot. i will remove more material and fiberglass over it.

Replaced screw and epoxied it in.

Just below flush with action inlet.

Grip came out too short. I'm adding a block of wood on the bottom

I used epoxy and a couple small nails... I used a punch to drive them about an eighth of an inch below the surface of the wood to make sure they would not get in the way later.

I will post more soon, Thanks
Snipe

 

scroll saw

I had a scroll saw in the past. I recently sold it. I wish i had not now.

I want an adjustable cheek piece. My best idea yet is to make a wood jig to get the cut straight using a jigsaw. One piece of wood on each side of the butt stock in the shape I like.

Anyone got a better idea?

 

More work done.

I have spent a lot of time working on this rifle since my last posting. I have also found out that this project takes more planning than I expected. I figured it would only take me a week or so., but it seems it will take quite a bit more time.

Here are some more photos...

After gluing the grip extension on I rasped the area until I got a shape I liked.

I have never tried using fiberglass on wood. It cane out well though I believe. I had access to some really good resins, but they had to be cured at a minimum of 180 degrees. Needles to say that wasnt' going to work. So I ended up with good ol' boat resin. The resin is very strong but brittle. Using multiple layers of fine weave glass should provide the best strength and be the easiest to apply.

If you want it to come out decent there is a process... First you sand the area to be repaired to remove the high spots and smooth things out a bit. Do not polish the area just make it less bumpy, It will help keep bubbles away. Then set up your work area and put on gloves and have spares nearby unless you want resin EVERYWHERE.

I like to mix the resin with a little less activator tan recommended. This improves the resins workable time. be sure you get enough in it though or else the resin may never harden. I have never had problems when using 3/4 the reccomended ammount. This will also prevent it from getting too hot. Careful with this stuff, I have personally seen resin smoking it was so hot from using too much activator.

After mixing your resin apply a liberal coat of resin to the stock, then saturate the cloth in resin complete. when completely saturated the glass will become nearly transparent (this can take a minute or so). Once full wet apply the glass in the middle of a piece first, then work towards the edges as to remove bubbles. After I applied the first coat I allowed it to cure (6 hours) then i sanded down the high spots. Thick areas of resin and glass build up quickly when layering fiberglass. Appy second coat (if desired) in the same manner as first coat.

The resin

Here are my patches cut to fit.

This is the good stuff (thanks dad). Those frayed edges lay down thinner.

First coat

Sanding

Second coat

Hope that helps anyone interested in fiberglass repairs

OK now it was a bit more light shaping and sanding. Followed by the epoxy hand grip. This stuff is realy cool. Its 2 part similar to JB weld but it has microballoons in it also. They are little tiny glass spheres that decrease weight and add rigidity. It mixes like play dough and applies like it too.

Lots of extra epoxy. Its easy to take off but it takes 24 hours to ad more and let it cure.

sanded some

Dad showed me how to use a buffing wheel today, i had never used one. really easy to use and the stuff came out looking a lot shinier.

I was fiddling in the garage looking through some hardware and found these....

They looked to be perfect to use on the adjustable stock. So i started planning how to get this to work.

This was a trick.

If the vertical shafts that the cheekpiece rides on are not perfectly parallel they will bind and not work properly. So I had to figure out how to get them parallel. The way I did it was to drill the holes before I cut the cheekpiece off. While it was secured in my gun vise I then drilled the holes. then I cut the cheekpice off with a jig I made from angle iron I had laying around. I just screwed it to the stock (with pilot holes to prevent cracking). The remaining holes are easy to fill.

Now that its cut i will glue in the bushings first. then i will drop in the bolts (heads cut off) and glue them in from the top using tape to center the bolts in the now oversied holes in the cheekpiece. Whew that took me a long time to come up with, seems simple now.

pics

heres the jig in action

And here it is cut off. it came out pretty darn good. this picture does it no justice. i did not expect to get a cut that straight with a jigsaw.

oops too many ... next post sorry

Now i must sleep, this posting stuff takes forever. i juust got done with a long night of unsuccsessful fishing too, i'm beat.

 

Cm-2 stock

:bthumb: Been folowing your thead, nothing beats doing the way you like it and doing it yourself. Am excited how the looks/shape will it end up. Great job! BTW are you going to paint the stock? Don' stop now, I learn some ideas/techs from this. Tnx Noyp.

 

thx

i appreciate the kind word. and yes i will be painting the stock.

 

Forgot

I forgot to mention i drilled and filled the crack on the side. you can see what i mean in some of the fiberglass photos. I do not know how bad this crack is but i did my best to find the end it. I then drilled it out with about a 1/4 bit about as deep as i could without hitting any inlets. After that i filled with high grade epoxy to just below the surface, the filled with void compound. I am pretty sure its very strong.

The fiberglass came out welll and i believe that the repair is quite strong too. I almost fell when i was working on it in the garage and i caught myself on the butt of the rifle while it was chucked in a vice. It survived intact (and so did I). Hopefully it will never be subjected to such punishment again though...

 

Thank you

Thanks Flysalot. What do you fly? Lots of these chemicals are used in the aircraft industry. I bet you some of them like the 3m 2216 epoxy are on every single plane you fly (if you are a commercial pilot for a major company).

 

grip coating

After reading more I am starting to lean away from rhino liner. Krylon has a non skid product that I might try on a test board. I have also heard of using combinations of sealant or resins and a grit medium like walnut shells.

Anyone got any great ideas?

 

More

I have done some work on the cheek piece. this is how the hardware setup will work.

and this is the cheek piece ( sorry its sideways)

OK we are getting somewhere now. I decided that I needed a set screw for the adjustable cheek piece. I tried to drill the bushings and they were as hard as I have ever seen. I think I could hear the bushing laugh at me when I hit it with a regular drill bit. the bit did nothing more than put a tiny dent in the steel after about 1 min of drilling with lots of oil and pressure. So a new strategy was needed. (I don't have a carbide bit in the right size, that would be another option)

If the bushings are harder than the dill bit your not going to be able to drill.... so I'll make them softer.

I tried torching the bushings until red hot and then letting them cool slowly in the air(annealing). By doing this we reverse treatments that the bushing has had in the past to make it extremely hard. If you were to heat it cherry red then drop it in mater or oil it would have almost the opposite affect.

It worked well the steel is much softer now. Go slow with the drill and use lots of oil. we want that hole just right for threading, There is not a lot of metal to work with.

But be sure you read the box for your taps correctly and use the right drill bit. or you will have to drill 2 holes like me.

After drilling the bushing with the correct drill I used a hand tool to tap the hole. If anyone wants to know more about threading let me know and ill put up a link or something.

You can also see in the picture above the color change from heating the bushing. If iI' not mistaken this is caused by oxidation and is a good indicator that you got it plenty hot enough to anneal it.

Next I found a driil bit just a bit larger than the head of the screw to drill down into the stock from the side. I drew some guiding lines and just put a board under the stock to help me steady it in the drill press. I did not use any clamps this time, but it is important to get this hole straight or the set screw will bind against wood. I guess I got lucky as it fits just right now.

I then epoxied the bushing into the wood. But first i greased the screw with crisco just in case it got epoxy in the threads some how. I also used very little epoxy since i dont want it making a mess of the holes. The bushing fit quite tightly into the holes so the small amount of glue should work fine. I only put enough on both surfaces (wood and steel) to leave a very very thin layer on each. Once its in drop in the set screw and make sure everything is lined up just right and leave it alone for 24 hours.

 

Getting there

Well I painted the barrel. I used rustoleum hammered silver. he finish is not as hammered or even as I would like, but it looks good and i think i will keep it like this.

I began by sanding the barrel with 320 grit sandpaper. I did not remove all the paint, that russian paint was stuck on really well. I figured it would only give me more bite.

The barrel almost looked like carbon fiber when I was sanding. The indentations are caused by hammer forging. (funny right, hammered finish on a hammered barrel.) At the muzzle end it had been turned down to receive a front sight. That leaves you with a little lip of steel we need to make disappear. There is also a bunch of little bits of glue in the same area from gluing on the front sight.

So how do we make all that crap go away?

I used primer, and sanded in between coats. By laying the primer on in many coats and sanding in between, one can get rid of those small blemishes. This is the same technique used on cars.

After sanding the barrel I put a tie-wrap through the rear action screw hole to give me a place to hang it from. I then taped off the muzzle and the front face of the action. Then I also taped a plastic grocery bag around the rest of the action (dont want any paint messing things up).

Next I degreased with a fast evaporating aerosol degreaser, and blew the barrel dry with compressed air.

Now its time to shoot some paint.

Painting is an art... it takes practice to get this right. I tried everything on a test board too as i was unfamiliar with these particular paints.

Use spray paint with care. Over spray can travel a good long way before settling on your car, or other valuables that over spray seems to be attracted to. I shot the paint in an alley behind my house about 25 yards away just to be safe. Then she got hung up in the garage to dry between coats. Make sure to let the primer dry long enough between coats. If you don't the primer will feel dry but is still pliable and will sand very poorly, and you will have to shoot that area several more times to get it right again. So be patient, at least 20 minutes between coats (this is when i grab a good local brew and a cigarette).

As the primer builds up you lightly use the sandpaper to even things out. Your just trying to knock down the high spots. I ended up with 3 coats on most of the barrel and about 3 or 4 more coats at the muzzle end to get things smooth.

I let that dry. I moved on to another project. I want this rifle to sit heavy on the bags. So my shaky hands have less affect on my shooting. I already have a few great rifles that are lightweight. I pulled apart some old shotgun shells and pulled the bird shot out of them. I then drilled some large holes in the butt stock to put it in.

The drill press gods were angry with me today and I accidentally tore some of the wood off at the top of the hole I drilled. Not good but also not a big deal either. I will just fill it in later on.

After drilling the holes I measured how much shot I could get in the holes. Then i mixed the shot with just enough fiberglass resin to coat the shot thorughly. And spooned the mix into the holes with a paper funnel. Finally i filled it with extra resin to just below flush (make sure not to use to much activator or you could burn the stock). If my calculations are right this rifle will weigh between 13 and 14 pounds when done.

I will post pictures of the finished barrel later after i pull the tape. I will write more about the hammered finish too.

 

Your doing a fine job there beercan.
I use auto body bondo on rifle stocks and works very well.
I think you selected the perfect rifle for your fun project...

Keep use up dated when ya can....OK

Swiss

 

thanks

Thank you swiss, I'll post more soon. I really enjoy hearing what y'all think about it.

My father just bought his first decent scope today too. It's a Weaver t-24. He was set on buying a Mueller 8-32, But i found a guy nearby selling a new in box Weaver T24 for $245 dollars. He even has the receipt so i should be able to use the warranty if anything is wrong. Now he'll be able to see the targets!

 

Kurt,

I'm really enjoying watching the transformation of your CM-2. Your step-by-step photos are outstanding. Keep up the great work.

Mike

 

Thanks mike.

I shot primer yesterday and she is looking sweet. currently wet sanding.....

I have a lot more to post soon.

Thanks again

 

Began finishing.

Ok, so a lot more is done now,

I decided not to use the galvanized bolts in the cheek piece. I found some stainless rod laying sround and I was lucky it was an exact fit... I Chucked it in the drill press and attacked it with sandpaper to make it smaller and polished. Then i cut some grooves around its circumference at one end to give the epoxy more to bite on. I repeated this process so I had 2 rods the right size and fit to fit into each bushing. I checked that they would move easily up and down in the bushings, then glued on some washers...

The washer will give me metal to metal contact when the cheek piece is closed. I sealed the inner diameter of the washer to the bolt with a small amount of super glue.

Next I dropped each rod back in place and put some more super glue on the top of the washer to make a seal against the wood on the bottom of the cheek piece. I held the cheek piece in place where I wanted it for about a minute. Let it dry for about 15 minutes. Now its all sealed so the epoxy will not run out of the bottom of the hole (2216 is runny for a long time after mixing).

Now it was time to glue it in. I put tin foil over the wood just in case things got messy.

Fast forward 24 hours, and the glue is all set up and seems to be quite strong. The bushing came out just parallel enough i guess, as it moves up and done with only light finger pressure. I' am going to grind a flat on the side of the rod that has the set screw. This will allow the set screw to contact all the threads.

Then it was on to filling in my @#$% ups from the drill press.

After that I realized it was time to begin finishing the rifle
So the first thing i did was bondo the grip. When mixing bondo you only need the smallest bit of hardening cream... it takes getting used to. Since i have not used bondo since i was about 14 i tried it on a test board and it applied well, so it was on to the rifle.

Also when mixing bondo after you apply it to the area you are working on you will usually have some left over. I lightly run my fingers over the stock and feel for depressions. when i fingd them i wipe some extra bondo in them. Its difficult to find all the low spots until you get some paint on it then they all show through. The more you can deal with now the better. Sanding primer coats will only remove the smallest blemishes.

After the bondo sets its time to sand it down.

Funny how many colors the stock is now...

The bondo sets in about 15 minutes so this process doesn't take too long.

After I was satisfied it was pretty smooth all over the rifle (an hour using 280 grit sand paper), its time to shoot a coat of primer. this primer coat will reveal many more blemishes. Once the stock is all one color it is much easier to see.

I taped the holes for the cheek piece bolts.

Cut off excess tape...

Next i installed a hook in the butt on a spot that will be covered, under the mounting plate for the butt pad. I was sure to drill a pilot hole, I don't need any more cracks.

Now coat it with primer.

After the primer is dry a light sanding with 280 grit revealed many more blemishes. Bondo them.

Here is a photo of the hammered finish on the barrel. After looking at it more i think i may redo the paint on it. One almost has to count the passes of spray to get it even enough.

Now i am sanding and coating the stock in primer repeatedly to get her straight, more on that later.

 

Thanks for posting this how-to. It looks like it is coming out great. I am looking forward to seeing the finished rifle