Curious if this stock is repairable. Pics included.

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Rossiter93

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Hello all.

I have a surplus USGI walnut M14 stock in my possession that I want to use on my rifle. My only issue is a couple of fine cracks I found just behind where the back end of the trigger guard sits in, that go about half way through the wrist. I'm just looking for opinions as to whether or not some of you folks with more stock experience than myself would say it's repairable or if I should just leave it as a wall hanger like it is now.
If it is repairable, does it look like something I could do myself? I like to tinker and I'm fairly handy.

Thanks in advance.

Here are the pictures -
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it could be drilled and brass pinned with glue/epoxy as a standard repair. pins need to pass thru the whole stock width.
As it is I wouldn't use it without repairing it.
I've seen many war time rifles with brass pin n glue repairs
you would need 3 by the looks of it , drill right thru stock in size that coresponds with repair pins
see if the crack will flex and accept adhesive
then apply adhesive to the holes and pins and push them thru. trim them to length and tap them flush.
never done a pin n glue repair myself but should be just the ticket for that crack
 
For sure - that crack is clean and close together.
I use a fine tipped "needle" or syringe with a thin "super glue" (I use the stuff from Lee Valley).
Inject into the crack on the upside of the crack and allow to come out (a little) everywhere the crack leads to. Wrap with surgical tubing and allow to set.
I apply paste wax on the outside and inside where I dont want the glue to stick if it pops out of some unknown place.
Be sure to inject slowly as you dont want to make a mess.
BTW - get some glue remover while you are at it and have it handy to clean up any that gets on the wood or your fingers.
If you really want to, you can pin it across the break with a 1/8 inch brass threaded rod. Drill a slightly undersized hole and apply some glue to the pin and use a drill to turn the pin in. Cut off at surface or slightly below surface, a dab of filler to match the wood and you have a break that will be next to impossible to see.
 
Awesome. Gives me something to do to keep me busy.

I'm planning on stripping and refinishing the stock with tung oil, should I strip before I repair? I'm just not sure if using strippers afterwards would compromise the adhesive in the repair
 
I second farshots gluing recommendations with this little addedum (sp?). I just repaired a stock with similar cracks as yours. While using a fine tipped syringe (bought at the pharmacy), I also use a small flat bladed screwdriver, knife, or what-have-you on hand to CAREFULLY lift up the cracked piece to get the glue in as far as you can to make it as strong as you can. As for the rest of his recommendations, I do like the idea of using wax or such on the outside where you do not want the glue to stick. Mine were basket cases, so I did not care about excess on the outside as it was getting completely sanded down. And If pinned, I have used wooden dowels for pins, as I have them on hand.

To answer your question on stripping before repair, I would say no. If you get excess glue outside, you have to sand it then anyways. No use doing it twice.
 
I would not use any sort of cyanoacrylate glue (super glue) it performs poorly under situations that involve shearing, torsion or impact nor does it perform well in cold extremes or bond porous materials(wood) well. What you are dealing with here is a receiver trying to shear off part of your stock.....

Epoxy would be a good second choice, but IMO you might consider something designed to bond wood AND has some elasticity after it cures, a good quality wood glue. Titebond III comes to mind (not elmer's or Canadian Tire brands!)

Reasoning is that wood glues are designed to have some elasticity after cure to allow the bonded pieces to move (and move they will!) and well they are designed to specifically to bond wood! :)


If you can get a syringe in there/pry the crack apart a bit you should be able to get some wood glue in there. Try to avoid thinning it. clamp with rubber tubing (that was an excellent suggestion) I use cut up bicycle inner tubes, and pin it with a brass screw - if you place it strategically you may even be able to turn it into a design feature.
 
Not sure others are aware that, that stock has cracks on both sides. I wouldn't waste my time unless it was for a small caliber rifle. Put that one back to its wall hanging position.
 
tigrr said:
Not sure others are aware that, that stock has cracks on both sides. I wouldn't waste my time unless it was for a small caliber rifle. Put that one back to its wall hanging position.
Click to expand...

Do you really think so? To me it appears to be the same crack pretty much bisecting the stock.... I'm pretty sure he can put a large screw up through the pistol grip heel & completely hide it in the refinishing. Hard to tell from the pics exactly where the crack is headed.

I mean if he uses a fairly beefy screw (think lag bolt-ish size) and uses it as a mechanical connector rather than a pin - he could countersink it enough to hide it with a plug. possibly consider epoxy bedding the rear of the action to even out future forces.

then again - I don't know what an M14 stock runs these days :)
 
I'm with Sean69. PVA glues like Titebond III have a bond strength in the area of 3000 psi and, in my opinion, are ideally suited to jobs like this. I have used PVA's on many similar breaks - some gun stocks but mostly furniture - with excellent results. Two or three suggestions:
If a military stock, it is likely oil soaked. Use a solvent to flush as much of the oil as possible out of the break and let it dry before attempting to glue.
If the break will flex, glue can be worked pretty well throughout the break by working some glue in while holding the break slightly open and then repeatedly opening and closing the crack. The break doesn't have to flex very much - 1/32" is more than enough.Repeat the glue and flex operation several times until glue appears on the other sides of the crack.
Another messier but effective method is to hold the break slightly open and work some glue in and then hit it with compressed air, repeating several times. Glue is going to fly, so be aware of your surroundings.
As a final point, in stress tests of PVA glue joints, the surrounding wood typically fails before the glue joint.
 
I'd strip the stock first and try and make sure all the oil is out of the wood in the repair area. Once it's clean I'd try and wedge or flex the split open as wide as possible and then use a good wood glue or epoxy and wrap it tight with surgical tube or even tightly stretched electrical tape. Possibly a clamp of some sort if you can get it to seat on the stock in a manor that will help.

Definitely worth trying to fix. I wouldn't pin it unless the repair fails down the road.
 
I think lee valley sells some sort of kit for fixing cracked chairs, essentially it is a syringe with metal needle and some heavy duty glue in it, that may or may not be help
 
What on earth is this crazy obsession with SCREWS????? This isn't 1950.

I have repaired a lot of stocks in far worse shape than that. The repairs, when done properly are next to invisible as long as no bits are missing.

There are all sorts of GOOD glues available from different sources. USE one of those and follow the manufacturer's directions for best results.

One type of epoxy many people don't think of using as glue is glass bedding compound. Some of these, such as Brownelle's Acraglass or just about any fiberglass resin can be thinned down and injected into such cracks easily. Sometimes it might require a bit of force to separate the interior for proper cleanup and to allow more resin to be injected. I find it also helps to warm the wood up first.

SCREWS???? The Dollar Store carries some very capable clamps with soft jaws to hold the piece together properly while the resin sets.

Now, SCREWS, along with glue were and may still be used by armorers to repair military stocks. Some also used wooden dowel pins ala Lee Enfields.

Seeing as it's an M14 stock. I don't recall seeing one that had any visible stock repairs. That is likely just a lack of up close and personal experience on my part.

In the end, the less intrusive and visible the repair the better IMHO
 
Surgical tubing would be my first choice for clamping. Lee Valley carries it. Large rubber bands are a close second. I keep a cookie tin full of them near my bench for just such projects. Loop a bunch of them together and it's the cat's meow. I have rarely had luck using clamps on this type of project. The pressure points are much too restricted to draw everything into place. I see no value in using pins or screws in this type of repair if glue can be worked into the break.
 
Clamping is an art in itself when it comes to non square surfaces..... I have quite a few different clamps including some less common types and sometimes I use them together in unorthodox ways..... :)
I agree with the surgical tubing but often just use electrical tape as it is quite effective.

Preparation and dry test runs with your clamps of choice is the way to go.... with wood glue you can even hold it by hand for a few minutes to help if things are shifty but that's not ideal. What you don't want to do is clamp it down and walk away for a few hours, need to make sure things are lined up correctly if there is a chance of shifting ( not going to happen with this stock crack) and keep checking for the first 15 minutes or so.
 
There's no need for screws. As others have suggested, use a syringe to apply wood glue into the crack, which can be pried open enough to admit the tip of the applicator. Can-down's advice to use electrical tape is worth following. It will be more effective than tubing and much easier to put on.
 
grauhanen said:
There's no need for screws. As others have suggested, use a syringe to apply wood glue into the crack, which can be pried open enough to admit the tip of the applicator. Can-down's advice to use electrical tape is worth following. It will be more effective than tubing and much easier to put on.
Click to expand...

Yep - electrical tape has pretty awesome clamping power if you stretch it out as you apply it. We used to hold steel cables weighing several hundred pounds with it until they could be cemented into the bore hole.
 
It would be best in my opinion to inspect the stock and discover whether this problem will simply repeat itself, or whether it's a problem at all. The crack may never move. Or, it may recrack again quickly. Are the lugs in the action bearing properly? Are the action screws fitted properly? Is the grain of the stock any good? Is the wood of the stock any good? For instance there's a good chance the stock is split inside the action. There's a good chance that the wood itself is of poor mechanical quality -- most domestic and especially American industrial walnut is quite poor. So as soon as you start hammering out rounds it cracks again.

Diagnose it first. A crack isn't a crack, it's an engineering failure. Why did it happen, is it a problem, can it be repaired, and can it be repaired economically?

All of the above fix suggestions will work. Predrilled, countersunk, and plugged brass screw probably the strongest, fastest, and most likely to hold. But my guess is the recoil bearing surfaces inside the action mortise are worn.

If it was my gun I'd ignore it.
 
I think the Lee Valley product that is being referred to by Farshot is a product designed for re-gluing chairs, so it’s meant for wood. It’s exactly what came to my mind for a crack repair. Of course if the crack is “gapped” open and there isn’t wood to wood contact then the pinning makes sense.
 
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