Gun Stocks

Smis Five Creedmoor

Smis Five Creedmoor

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Anyone got good tool recommendations for making one's own gun stocks? For now I wanna keep it simple by making one for a simple rimfire rifle (Savage MkII).
 
Smis Five Creedmoor said:
Anyone got good tool recommendations for making one's own gun stocks? For now I wanna keep it simple by making one for a simple rimfire rifle (Savage MkII).
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That's pretty non-specific. You can make a stock from a solid block of wood with simple carving tools, but that is a hard way to go. What are your goals? Nicer wood, a specific purpose stock like benchrest or PRS, a different shape that suits your geometry better, something else?

I've looked at making a stock for a mongrel Savage Mk.1 action I have and I was planning on making it out of laminations of birch plywood. Tools used would be a bunch, starting with a bandsaw, router table, angle grinder, die grinder and probably others along the way along with various hand tools.


Mark
 
mmattockx said:
That's pretty non-specific. You can make a stock from a solid block of wood with simple carving tools, but that is a hard way to go. What are your goals? Nicer wood, a specific purpose stock like benchrest or PRS, a different shape that suits your geometry better, something else?

I've looked at making a stock for a mongrel Savage Mk.1 action I have and I was planning on making it out of laminations of birch plywood. Tools used would be a bunch, starting with a bandsaw, router table, angle grinder, die grinder and probably others along the way along with various hand tools.


Mark
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Well, if I'm being more specific, I'm thinking more "biathlon style" stock, but I'm more interested in giving it a try first and foremost.
 
Smis Five Creedmoor said:
Well, if I'm being more specific, I'm thinking more "biathlon style" stock, but I'm more interested in giving it a try first and foremost.
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Fair enough. What tools do you have now? There are lots of way to skin most cats, so it may be most practical to alter your methods and work flow to suit what you have to work with now. Do you have any experience with woodworking?


Mark
 
You mention Biathlon style.
Laminated was mentioned.
Consider Baltic birch from Home Depot.
There are Biathlon rifles with laminated stocks.
Cut out the layers with a jig saw - even a coping saw. Inletting can be roughed in with the layers. Use a good wood glue to laminate the layers. Shape with rasps. Finalize inletting with chisels, scrapers. Epoxy bed. Sand, finish with a good varnish.
I will attach photos shortly of a target rifle stock for a .308 Nielsen MN300 I made this way. Easy and it works. Easier than starting with a hardwood plank.IMG_1885[1]stock.JPGIMG_1886[1]stock2.JPG
 
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Smis Five Creedmoor said:
Anyone got good tool recommendations for making one's own gun stocks? For now I wanna keep it simple by making one for a simple rimfire rifle (Savage MkII).
Click to expand...
Your best tool is a bit of homework: https://www.amazon.com/Recreating-American-Longrifle-5th/dp/B077T55CS4

Yes, something quite different than what you are doing, but the principals are exactly the same.

You can get the job done with a few chisels, a gouge or two, a rasp or two and a spade or forstner drills. A good spoke shave is gonna save tons of time and wear on your rasps.
For measurement your dead minimum is a good steel 6" machinists rule, a marking gauge is extremely helpful as well, you will probably find a striking knife is more helpful than a pencil in most cases.

Life will be much easier with:
- a good router (not a trim router) and guide system - handy to have and probably do have anyway
- a decent bandsaw, way overkill for one project but super useful
- a good drill press

Hardwoods are gonna be tough on your edged tools, anything you try to get from home depot/can-tire or princess auto won't do the job. If you are planning on laminated - even more so.

If you are laminating plywood, I'm not sure (I don't know) that home depot plywood is gonna do it - hit a proper lumber yard and see what sort of quality marine grades they have. or better yet buy a laminate blank. - my concern here are voids in the laminations - don't know, I use cabinet grades for jigs/fixtures ... never considered it for a stock. again, I don't know.

again if you are going the laminated route - you will want to leverage that router as much as possible, it is going to be really slow and tough going with hand tools.

That book BTW - has a tool recommendation section.

1738431688784.jpeg
 
I use sockets wrapped in sand paper to finish my barrel channels, those angle grinder sanding disks are a must (excellent for shaping)

I will also make jigs for my router out of plastic or MDF for cutting my mag wells and trigger inlets.
 
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Let your fingers do the walking. There are companies with CNC machine tools, with duplicators, with layups, and prepared blanks. There is a non-sponsor company in the US name starts with a B and rhymes with Lloyd. See what they've got, and even if you decide to customize their work, you have avoided all the issues of inletting.
 
Thinking back almost 30 years to the first stock I ever made(sheesh, that makes me sound old), the one thing that wish I'd learned earlier was how important it is to do a good layout and then keep the centerline visible through the whole shaping process. It's very easy to loose symmetry when doing freehand shaping.
As far as tools go, that depends a lot on what you already have. Roughing out can be done with almost anything. Chainsaw, angle grinder (with a carving attachment or very coarse soft pads), axe, draw knife, belt sander, bandsaw, dynamite, you get the point.
After that, a couple of good rasps would be my pick for "most important tool".
Then lots of good sanding blocks and lots of sandpaper.
 
OP has not mentioned what he has in the way of equipment, or skill set.
A bench with a vise is a good start. Even a Workmate.
He wants to make a basic stock for a basic .22.
It wouldn't make sense to buy a drill press, CNC setup or a host of other power tools, nor is it necessary. A basic stock can be made with basic hand tools. Its nice to have lots of equipment, but it isn't necessary.
 
A shot of my bench, excuse the mess. Everything I need/use lives there lol.

Power tools are awesome for guys who know how to use them. I’d hate like hell to attempt personally though without a lot of experience first. To screw up one of these blanks would be quite costly. In saying that, I do plan to jump into a milling machine hopefully this summer now that I know I’ll be doing this hobby more and more.

My main tools, straight edges are #1! #2 is David Westbrook’s book. It teaches where the proper stock lines are and how to make everything flow proportionally. There’s nothing worse looking then a stock that looks like a crooked club, imo.

#3 would be sharpening those tools, that was a task to learn itself for me, good stones and learning to get an edge will go a long ways. Dull tools make for screw ups.

A mix of flat chisels and a few gouges, a handful of palm chisels, a small block plane, Jerry fisher scrapers <<< a must!, along with any other scrapers you may build to tackle certain areas. Barrel channel scrapers too! Inletting guide screws, to be sure you’re setting the metal into the wood straight and square, inletting back, or other means of marking. Iv been on the same can of Jerrow’s since my first stock. If you can find it the stuff goes forever. The Shinto rasp is another great addition. It moves wood in an awful hurry, but it won’t keep things flat as it flexes a little. A set of calipers and dividers are useful too.

I have a few threads on the Rockskide of stock builds start to finish, learning threads mind you. They may help if you do jump into a stock blank.
 

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tiriaq said:
OP has not mentioned what he has in the way of equipment, or skill set.
A bench with a vise is a good start. Even a Workmate.
He wants to make a basic stock for a basic .22.
It wouldn't make sense to buy a drill press, CNC setup or a host of other power tools, nor is it necessary. A basic stock can be made with basic hand tools. Its nice to have lots of equipment, but it isn't necessary.
Click to expand...

I disagree.

Even an incredibly complex and artistic stock can be made with hand tools ..... ;)
 
tiriaq said:
OP has not mentioned what he has in the way of equipment, or skill set.
A bench with a vise is a good start. Even a Workmate.
He wants to make a basic stock for a basic .22.
It wouldn't make sense to buy a drill press, CNC setup or a host of other power tools, nor is it necessary. A basic stock can be made with basic hand tools. Its nice to have lots of equipment, but it isn't necessary.
Click to expand...
ah, apologies
I got most of the hand tools mentioned, as well as a dremel.
Got a scroll saw too.
 
Smis Five Creedmoor said:
ah, apologies
I got most of the hand tools mentioned, as well as a dremel.
Got a scroll saw too.
Click to expand...
If you're starting from a blank, you will need some sort of brute force tool to get down to the outline. I used a 1 inch chisel and a mallet on my first one, and can't exactly recommend it. A bandsaw rules at this, but it needs to be a biggish one with a wider blade to be able to handle thick cuts. Thick cuts will cause a narrow bandsaw blade to wander.
Even a carefully wielded chainsaw will do the job, just have to be super careful!
 
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