Opinions on stock reinforcing bolts vs dowel

Longwalker

Longwalker

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I have a lovely old Brno 21H with a very slim stock. The stock has a hairline crack just behind the recoil lug, from the front action screw hole into the magazine well. I understand that I can add a steel cross bolt to reinforce this area, I already have several rifles so equipped.

But I was looking at my shop tools, and it would be very easy to just add a wooden dowel installed with epoxy or Gorilla glue crossways completely through the stock near the recoil lug. Tape before drilling, clamp while the glue sets up, then clean up the excess glue and sand flush, stain the end & re- finish the plug and the small area of disturbed finish. I would prefer the look of a flush wood plug to a steel bolt head. I think it would be strong and never need re-tightening like some stock bolts that I've had.

Any reason to put in a more traditional steel bolt instead??
 
Sounds like a good plan. I've used smaller dowels to stop receiver / tang splits from continuing on in shotguns. Drilled em, glassed em in , worked like a damn! Been 3 yrs and I use the old O/U quite a bit. The cracks never started up again.
Too bad you couldn't get a dowel from the same or similar material...might be easier to blend it.
 
You can do so, but my advise is to use a matching walnut dowel... a cross threaded pin also wworks, was it brass or SS.
Dowels can be made with special bits or from a square piece you force through a sharp edge hole.
 
I like the look of both .. metal or wood dowel. The nice thing about the wood dowel is that you can always drill it out later and replace it with whatever if it doesnt work out the way you want.

BTW another option which Sako did (factory new) to one of mine (a Finnsport 2700 .338 Win Mag) ...they have the normal metal crossbolt at the recoil lug and another at the wrist ... but the wrist crossbolt was countersunk to enable two wood plugs to cover the metal .. the wood plugs were subsequently checkered along with the rest of the stock so they virtually disappear... pretty slick I thought
 
If you want a matching dowel, remove the button plate, buy a dowel plug. " hole saw" (I don't know if that is the right name) but anyways, you can drill a dowel pin from the under side of the butt plate. It should match pretty good. Put the button plate back on, and nobody will ever know! Nobody but you. Hope that helps.
 
Lee Valley sells the tool you are talking about to drill out a plug from matching wood. I don't know how well it would work for a hard wood like walnut, but likely it would work a number of times to begin with at least.
 
quinnbrian said:
If you want a matching dowel, remove the button plate, buy a dowel plug. " hole saw" (I don't know if that is the right name) but anyways, you can drill a dowel pin from the under side of the butt plate. It should match pretty good. Put the button plate back on, and nobody will ever know! Nobody but you. Hope that helps.
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Except that the plug face will be end grain, and the surrounding wood will be side grain
 
I don't think it is practical to match the grain in this case. I plan to use a standard hardwood dowel for two reasons: the end grain of the maple/birch dowels that I can buy is very fine, and you don't notice the grain. It will soak up stain and look darker than the wood of the stock. The result will look like a darker "dot" of wood.

If I cut a dowel out of walnut, across the grain to give me a match to the grain on the side of the stock, it will not add much strength as a cross bolt. The grain must run length wise along, not across the dowel to do add enough strength. If I use a Lee Valley plug cutter, it will never cut deep enough to make the entire dowel. Or were some of you suggesting that I install a short dowel and then cap it? Not sure that is worth the trouble, but it could work to make a less conspicuous reinforcement.
 
I have installed bolts countersunk enough to cap off with wood plugs, if you match the wood/stain and are careful to line up the grain, they almost disappear.
 
If it were mine, I would install the cross bolt internally so it is not visible from the outside.
Or, countersink the bolt from the outside edge and fill with black epoxy.
I am personally not a fan of the look of the wooden plugs, but that is a matter of taste.

These pics are from a HVA 46, that is as trim as your BRNO.
Warm the epoxy and the stock up a little so that it soaks into the wood grain, it'll be rock solid.


 
JMHO - FWIW but a dowel looks like a quick repair (in my eyes) but a proper cross bolt looks like it belongs.
The hidden bolt / drill rod would be my first option. But to each his own. --- John
 
Cleftwynd said:
I have installed bolts countersunk enough to cap off with wood plugs, if you match the wood/stain and are careful to line up the grain, they almost disappear.
Click to expand...

Ive done the same thing before, it works great, especially with the matching wood if you can get it close.
 
Moose Masher said:
If it were mine, I would install the cross bolt internally so it is not visible from the outside.
Or, countersink the bolt from the outside edge and fill with black epoxy.
I am personally not a fan of the look of the wooden plugs, but that is a matter of taste.

These pics are from a HVA 46, that is as trim as your BRNO.
Warm the epoxy and the stock up a little so that it soaks into the wood grain, it'll be rock solid.


Click to expand...

Thats a great way of doing it, I never thought of that before. Thanks for the tip!
 
I used Acraglass died brown, and bedded the lug and chamber area at the same time.
I don't have a finished picture, but it looks just like a normal bedding job.

I was pointed in the right direction by members Mauser98, Guntech and Why Not?.
 
Moose Masher said:
If it were mine, I would install the cross bolt internally so it is not visible from the outside.
Or, countersink the bolt from the outside edge and fill with black epoxy.
I am personally not a fan of the look of the wooden plugs, but that is a matter of taste.

These pics are from a HVA 46, that is as trim as your BRNO.
Warm the epoxy and the stock up a little so that it soaks into the wood grain, it'll be rock solid.
Click to expand...

Moose masher wins! this is the best suggestion, and what I'll do. thanks to all who contributed!
 
kevin g said:
Did you put some bedding in the bolt slot first and THEN shove the bolt down into it.
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Yes, I filled the recess and the area to be bedded first.
I also coated the bolt before installing it.

I experimented with different bolts and threaded rod to get a piece I was happy with.
The nut was hammer fit in place, then the bolt head and nut were ground to make a flat "I" shape.
I think that was a 1/4" bolt, degreased before and after shaping.
 
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