Composite Stock install on Zombie Gopher gun

[Ditchdogger]

Ok so I wanted to build a tactical Gopher gun for the kid last year and could not find a SPS 20" barrel for the life of me. Then Rembo came up with a varmint synthetic. Took it to the range with the kid and he shot a one hole group with it and said no this is good enough.
Then all of a day later Jeff 1911 comes up with a .223 remington that somebody had put together with a 19" stainless fluted shillen barrel well what the hell had to buy that for the kid. The kid says screw you you ain't gettin the varmint synthetic it's mine. Took it to the range and it shot pretty good but I figured it's biggest draw back was the tupper ware adl stock that it was in.
So I figure screw you i am going to build the gun i wanted to in the first place. So my Tactical Zombi Gopher gun started
So I though I would do a bit of a tutorial on installing a composite stock, Now I have read so many different opinions on bedding a stock it isn't funny,
This is the way I do them if you disagree that is up to you, and in no way is this meant to represent a profesional opinion.

So assembled some parts for the build, Wildcat Composites, Carbon Fiber VarTac stock , Pachmeyer 1' decelorator pad and PTG bottom metal and some 10 round AI mags. And the barreled action.

Now the PTG bottom metal needs to be inletted into the Var Tac stock as they come for Remington BDL. This could have been done with a die grinder but it's just cleaner with the mill. It probably could have been a lot cleaner, I could use alot more time on the mill as I have a habbit of turning the wheel the wrong direction all the time. Must be the dislexia.

A little cutting for width and depth and the bottom metal has a loose fit , enough for bedding it later.
And holes drilled for the pillars

Now the cool part was the PTG came with bedding pillars, i assumed this was was to ensure proper depth for magazine clearance and feeding.

Trial fit the action and bottom metal and check for function.

Next step was to glue the pillars in place, and being impatient I mixed some 5 min epoxy with fumed silica which is a thickening agent in the composites industry, so it would stay put on the pillars.

Assembled the gun and put it in the vise for 15 minutes to let it harden. You can see the masking tape on the barrel, I wrap the barrel with masking tape until it just fits the channel that way it keeps the barreled action aligned with the stock.

This is a picture of the stock with the pillars glued in place, you don't need much you just want them to stay in place, and we will call it indexing the barreled action to the bottom metal.

The next step was pretty much the same I used epoxy resin and mixed it with fumed silica untill I got a non runny paste.
I wraped the side with masking tape so it would have just a slight gap around the bottom metal after it was bedded.This just makes it eisier to put in and take out, The excess masking tape was trimmed off with a one sided razor blade where it met the pillars. So no tape on the side that mates to the pillars. It was then waxed with a non silicone wax and for extra measure it was sprayed with PVA (poly vynil asitate suspended in isopropyl alcohol ) or parting agent 13. Same thing Brownells sells for release agent. Almost any fiberglass shop will have it. But it's a class 3 flamable so it's hard to ship.

Next is to goup up the area where the bottom metal is going to go and don't forget to wax and pva your action screws, this includes some wax on the threads in the action. Then place the bottom metal in place and screw the barreled action together, and scrape off the excess paste. I leave the masking tape long around the sides as it helps keep the bedding material fron sitting on the bottom metal and chipping out the sides when you take it out.
Allow to sit over night as the epoxy needs about 12 hours to set up properly. Now this could be done with bedding compound, or devcon, I just choose to make my own cause I got the #### here.

Next day pulled out the bottom metal.

Sanded off the excess material around the opening and drilled out the epoxy that squeezed into the pillars. Now if I were a gunsmith and trying to make money I could probably have bedded the barreled action at the same time.

 

[Ditchdogger]

Ok next up bedding the action, now after buying a timney trigger for my sons SPS sporter and installing it I am no longer afraid to remove a Remington trigger,
But if you have never done one you can always tape off the trigger and and use modeling clay to fill in back cuts and the holes for the trigger pins etc.

Getting ready waxing the action with a non silicone wax , I say non silicone as it will not fish eye the PVA when it is applied.

After makeing sure the barreled action fits and tight spots are removed , you want a " loose fit" . Make sure tha action area is sanded, it does not need to be any rougher than 120 or 180 grit. With true composite stocks the bedding compound will stick like baby crap to a blanket.

With the trigger removed I fill the back cuts and holes with modeling clay, Again wax and PVA if in Doubt wax it and PVA it.

Now what you bed with is up to you , Brownells, devcon, whatever, I use a 2 part Epoxy with Kevlar fiber filler. It's a bit of a ##### to work with but if I want to put a Remington into a Winchester stock and die gring into the integrity of the stock this stuff is tough as nails and is considered structural in the automotive industry for composite repair and bonding. That is the beauty of working from composite blanks you can do almost anything to them and it is virtually impossible to screw them up beyond use.

Ok it is very important to mix epoxy's very well and proportions are critical with Epoxy so follow directions, I know that is tough for us men and the hunter gene people in General. Some people say you don't want the bottom of the recoil lug to touch the bottom and some put tape on the front side if the recoil lug and only bed the back side, I personally check the recoil lug for squareness or will file a draft angle into the lug, only a degree or two is needed, and bed the whole thing. This way it cant move in the stock at all. Warning this makes it difficult to remove

Screw the parts together, enough to squeze out the excess bedding compound. I usually tighten them right up and then back the screws off a half turn so as to not put any pressure on the action, well that is the theory anyway.
Then we are back to letting things cure, this can be sped up with a hot box or just let time do it's thing.
Use a plastic auto body squeege to carefully scrape of the excess and squeeze compound where you may not have had enough.

Now removing the barreled action should not be to difficult to remove if you waxed and PVA'd , I usuall take out the action screws of course
I then go over to a wooden bench and give the barrel a good rap flat against the bench as close to the forend as possible. This usually breaks it loose and you can wiggle it out from there. Remember the bedding is going to be tight around the recoil lug.
Some times you have to hold the stock upside down and place a nylon or uhmw block inside the action through the mag box and tap or pound the action out of the stock the first time. Get as close to the recoil lug as you can as this is where you will get the most resistance.

Sand of the excess and make the corners sharp again and clean up the excess inside with the die grinder or file.

Trial fit all the pieces back to gether and test bolt function, etc. All works , good to move foreward, now the Vartac stock was designed to take a full remington carbon fiber barrel and be free floated, so it has a hellasiously large amount of free float with this barrel.

No big deal, Wildcat stocks have full glass barrel channel so automotive light weight body filler to the rescue. I aquired some printers tin from a print shop and wraped the barrel to give me some free float and keep the filler out of the flutes so it wll come out of the stock again.
Then bedded the barrel channel.

And more sanding

Now onto putting on the recoil pad, clamp it in the vise and level the stock.

back to the good old 5 min epoxy

After you sand the recoil pad and the bottom of the stock with 80 grit sand paper place a bead of epoxy around the perimeter.

Place the pad on the stock and align it with the comb and center it as best you can, then leave it to harden.

When that is complete you can grind the pad to fit, I use a disc sander with 180 grit paper on it. I have used 80 grit on a wheel to rough it out first to speed things up but if you take your time and go slow it will work. The key is to take your time and don't heat up the pad so it sans and dosen't smear and tear the rubber. I have never tried it but one trick I read about was to freeze the pad to make it hard and easier to sand. You can see how more of the pad protrudes from the bottom, this is so there is enough material there to continue the angle at the toe of the stock.

You can see where I touched the stock with the sander, try not to but not a big deal unless you cut through the shell of the stock, it will be easy enough to fix when it is puttied and primed for paint. Later i usually mask up the pad and body putty around the pad and sand it smooth, you can polish up the pad as well by wet sanding it with 220 grit sand paper. One other thing you will notice is the pad is now very hard, because it is glued on there is no where for the air to escape under recoil. So take an exacto knife or a screatch all and put some oil or vasaline on it and cut the pad in the middle a little bit for the air to be able to move.

Now it's time to drill and tap the aluminum blocks inside the stock for the sling swivel studs and bipod mount.

So a quick assembly and some rings and bases to make sure there would be clearance for a 50 mm objective scope.
and check to see how my eye lines up when I throw the gun up as well as laying prone. Found out I was going to need a riser.

Got so caught up thinking about makeing this rise that I forgot to get pictures, So I masked off the stock and waxed and PVA'd the tape and then put down 4 layers of 1.5 oz mat. After it cured and I peeled it off the stock I shaped it on the sander.

Then useing short strand glass in a can and body filler I built up the height until it fit me the way i wanted it to.
Now I thought about cutting into the stock and makeing a set up for it to be adjustable but not everybody has access to a lathe or a mill so I though I would keep it simple, it had to fit me not me and 5 other guys.

Got it to the right height and shape that i wanted and 5 min Epoxy'd it in place.

 

[Ditchdogger]

Ok so on to prep and paint

Ok so again I got my panties in a bunch and things were taking shape so I forgot some pictures. With a bit of body filler I cleaned a few things up like where I touched the stock sanding the pad, and made a clean transition to the recoil pad, and any other flaws, Now this is where it can get interesting , this stock has a nice grip and my hand fits it well, but some of the magilla gorilla"s out there. Well on other stocks I have done, you can put on a rubber glove ,( NO YOU DO NOT PAP TEST THE WIFE, HEAD BACK IN THE GAME WILL YA ) mix up some body filler and put a ball of it in your hand ( the one with the glove on)
and hold the stock till it hardens, carefull not to put to much hardener in it or it will get seriously hot. Now you can shape it to a custom palm swell fit to your hand.

Now I like to use red oxide laqure primer from Canadian tire in the spray can as it dries fast and I can use spot putty on it in a half hour.
so here it is masked up primed and puttied. Time to let it sit over night

Now it's time to wet sand, now unless you are going for a fancy Base Coat Clear Coat paint job 400 grit wet sand paper is usually good enough,
But this is one again where you should follow directions from the paint MFG.

Now I am not a big fan of laqure primer as a primer but it is good as a cover coat and a way to see pin holes in the surface which is why I usually sand it almost completely off again. It sands very easy which is why I take most of it off I do not want a soft layer between the hardness of the gelcoat and the hardness of the paint I like to use.

Now after it is prepped it's time to mask off anywhere you don't want paint, don't try to mask to the edge nobody is that steady and there are to many curves it will stress the tape and want to peel up. Mask it off and invest in some single sided razor blades and just run the blade along the edge like filleting a fish to remove the excess tape it may take a bit of prctice to figure out which way to draw the blade to make a nice clean cut.

So on to painting, I like to use Endura it is tough stuff , the problem for the hobbyist is buying in small enough quantities and they no longer make their texture additive to five it texture and to do the stringy effect like on HS stocks and many others. Lucky for me I used to build parts for the chemists raceing Porche
Down side was the 400.00 dollar pail of Tetra Hydra Furan I needed to make it. I chose a late summer burnt grass tan color with black web.

Unfortunately I have been haveing trouble getting the viscosity right and wound up with more of a specle than a web effect.

After letting it sit over night it could be unmasked, and the glue from the tape likes to stick to the recoil pad , so a little thinner or acetone very carefully on a rag will remove it. Better yet is a little wax and grease remover which usually does not harn the paint especially if you let it sit for a couple of days.

 

[Ditchdogger]

So not quite finnished, I think I will get a tactical bolt knob for it yet and a more tactical style scope for it yet with some more magnification for these tired old eyes. I really envy you guys with 20/20 eye sight. You really notice how being able to see afects your shooting when your sight starts to fade, and I had ####ty sight to begin with. But enough whineing or the wife is going to show up with some cheese and crackers.
So I threw on a Bushnell 5-15 X50 3200 on her and off to the range. The kid had another day off school so time to teach him how to sight in a gun and get some father son time.

So we get to the range about noon after the teenager sleeps, high for the day was to be around plus 6 , I figured it would be windy to get that warm in February but it was amazingly calm. Got the gun bore sighted @ 100 yards. Now this gun shot pretty well before I started this projct. So I hand it over to the kid and tell him I will spot and he can shoot. He fires one shot and it is about 4inches low and 4 inches right. So I explain the whole 1/4 inch per click at 100 thing, and he snaps back 16 clicks up and 16 to the right. Perfect he moves the dials and I said give me one, it's a bit high and a bit left. Good enough lets shoot groups. Now the range trip was a bit unexpected and the kid had used up all the left over round from when we were developeing loads for his 2 .223's so we had a box of winchester white box 45 grain hollow points , some hanloads his gun likes and some of that norinco I bought to feed the AR's.
So I told him to give me a 3 shot group with the winchesters , well it's about a 2.5 inch group. He looks at me and says this thing sucks it don't shoot worth ####, and I know he can shoot. Well I have taken you on this long winded range journey because
anybody out there with a knows it all 14 year old will apreciate this. So about this time I am starting to wonder what i ####ed up on when bedding it, I check all the action screws and scope mounts. Ok I say maybe it's your shooting and not the gun, well that can't be, I get a here old man see if you can do better. So I cross my fingers and hope like hell my hand loads shoot better.

Now the look on his face was priceless, I fired one shot and then a second, he looks up from the spotting scope and says where did that one go, I said I don't know, now I was pretty sure that that shot did not leave the cardboard I would have to have missed by almost a foot. So I fired a third and the look on his face when when he looked up this time and said that hole just got the tinyest bit bigger was priceless. Fired a fourth shot and this time I could see the hole get a bit bigger. And of course I choked on the fifth shot. But I still managed to get some respect that day.

So there is my group with the winchester 45 grain hollow points, I can live with that for ammo in a pinch.

I set the kid up on the next bench and let him play smack the gong out at 300 and told him to get it dirty and hot.
The best gopher gun can still shoot a group hot and dirty. So after the kid finnished of the 40 round box of Winchesters
and another 20 or 40 rounds of Norinco, lets just say the gong hits dropped dramatically after he switched to the Norinco.

So after getting the gun back I tried a 10 round group with my hand loads again. I think it's a keeper

Thanks for reading Hope you enjoyed the write up and if you learned something that might help you or encourage you to try your own bedding project all the better.

 

[heliwench]

Cool write-up. Thanks for posting. Didn't quite fully understand what bedding was all about but now I do.

 

[Sask_Hunter]

Nice job on the stock work! Turned out good thanks for posting this up

 

[albertacoyotecaller]

So what's your phone number? I have a bunch of gunsmithing for you to do!

Greg

 

[Kevan]

Excellent thread and outstanding pictures ! Thanks for sharing.
Are you going to put a pick-a-number dispenser outside your shop door ?

 

[Ditchdogger]

Excellent thread and outstanding pictures ! Thanks for sharing.
Are you going to put a pick-a-number dispenser outside your shop door ?

Nope you need a licence to work on other peoples guns, and I refuse to get one for 1000.00 + dollars a year

 

[Ditchdogger]

So I figured out the paint texturizer and needed to reduce the viscosity, which seemed counter to what would produce a stringy paint.
Didn't show up as well in the picture. But here she is with it's new Vortex 6.5-20 with a mill dot retical. As well as it's new home when it goes out to

Looking forward to getting back to the range, as well as gopher season.