Custom Stock Making

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sMatthew

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I am looking to make a custom gun stock for my Ruger 10/22. I realize that there is a million aftermarket options however I would like to construct something that is uniquely my own.

Maybe my google-fu isn't as good as it used to be, but there appears to be a lack of good guides, or summaries of common pitfalls encountered during the process.

I am not inexperienced at wood working, however I have never tried to make a custom stock. Would anyhow who has tried this be able to point me in the direction of guide or books?
 
Do a search here.. Bob Forteneir (hopefully spelled right) did some follow alongs.. He got out of it awhile ago.. Maybe a search of his name might yeild a email for him.. Ifin he still hangs out... He was very good at what he did.
Leroy
 
sMatthew said:
I am looking to make a custom gun stock for my Ruger 10/22. I realize that there is a million aftermarket options however I would like to construct something that is uniquely my own.

Maybe my google-fu isn't as good as it used to be, but there appears to be a lack of good guides, or summaries of common pitfalls encountered during the process.

I am not inexperienced at wood working, however I have never tried to make a custom stock. Would anyhow who has tried this be able to point me in the direction of guide or books?
Click to expand...

There is a lot of trial and error involved in making gun stocks. I've been doing it for 8 years now and still learning new things all the time. The first consideration is what type of shooting you're going to be doing. If you shoot the gun mostly prone you're going to want less drop at the heel of the stock than you would shooting it standing up.The reason being when your laying down your shoulder and cheek are nearly parallel on a horizontal plane and when your standing or sitting at the bench your cheek is higher than your shoulder. Next consideration is drop at comb, if your using a scope it will be higher than with open sights. Length of pull ( distance from the butt pad to the trigger) will depend on your stature and what feels comfortable to you also you want to have the scope nicely centered over the action in most cases which also factors into LOP.
Inletting can be done several different ways, the easiest of which is a stock duplicator or better yet cnc mill. A router works well, you'll need to make yourself a jig so you can slide the router back and forth and side to side in a controlled manner. The underside of the stock is not so easy as you can't slide the router far enough back because of the grip. Here at the very least a drill press with a milling table comes in handy. As for knowing how far to go and how deep you will need to take measurements off your stock to determine.
As for shaping, the sky is the limit. I start out with an angle grinder and take off the excess then use rasps,a variety of files, dowels wrapped in sandpaper,sanding blocks, rifflers, chisels, gouges and probably a few tools I missed to get the job done. Shaping is an art and it takes a long time to get it, at first your stocks will look blocky and 2 dimensional but over time you will get that 3rd dimension an will eventually make a jaw dropping stock that is truly a work of art. Good luck and if you need any advise don't hesitate to pm me.
 
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Thank you Timmy for a well thought out, reasoned response to the OP's question.
Great advice! I too have been planning to tackle this type of project since I was given a fine stock blank of curly maple. Looking forward to others contributions....
 
I am still at it, search my post and there is a lot of step by step and tricks I share. Feel free to ask if yu have question.

Basically, square your wood, do the inletting for the action, next inletting for trigger area, once you have a square block f wood with an action properly bolted in place, carve whatever shape you like !
 
Lots of awesome information and support here, I'll be sure to .

I am looking to make the custom stock to fit my lanky arms for all purpose shooting. I was intending to model it after the factory stock that came on my weatherby s2 as it fits me quite well.
 
Cutting the wood away from the block is the LAST step. It's also the easiest. It's all the planning and layout and checking you do before that which determines your success. Bob's threads on his stocks lay this out solidly. Notice now much of his threads pertain to the layout and jigs and tricks that ensure accuracy with the least risk. THAT is the true magic of his work. The final step of actually removing the wood is by far the least important part.

So plan and measure lots and think ahead on how to achieve what you're trying to do. Very seldom is success ever achieved by "just doing it". You may get away with it once or twice but in the end disaster will strike unless thought, planning and jigging are used before the first chips fly.

The inletting is the step requiring the most skill and equipment. It could be done with gobs of previous wood working skill and some mortising chisels. But most would suggest that at the very least careful use of a drill press and some forstner drill bits at the very least would be handy. Better yet is a milling machine and some brand new two flute cutters so the edges are sharp.

The inletting is the critical part. The rest is just cutting things away until it looks like a rifle again. And the inletting will be easier if you start with the blank still in it's flat and square form so you can hold it correctly. Again, Bob's threads show this very well.

I know that none of this is hard and fast "do this with that" sort of information. But without knowing your ability level and what tools you have available it's tough to suggest anything specific.

Also since at least one of you has said that your wood working skills are pretty raw I will finish by STRONGLY suggesting that you make your first and probably your second as well from cheap lumberyard wood. You WILL make mistakes in your first one or two times through all the steps. And it's much better to make those mistakes on $3 worth of wood than $30 or $300 worth of wood.

And if nothing else working with the $3 prototypes means you won't hesitate to cut the stock a little further for the outer shaping or bondo it up if you take too much off and want to try a fitting area a little fuller again. So these cheap and dirty building wood prototypes can serve as guilt and anguish free hack and cut prototypes to get the fit of the various areas just right. Then you can move on to do the same with the fancy blank knowing what you're doing will have a far better chance of success and that the final product will fit well instead of being too boxy and bulky because you were afraid of taking too much off.
 
Practice practice practice.

I'm a huge fan of Bob's work (hey bob! long time no talk hehe). I've looked at his threads and everything is planned and meticulously executed. Truly inspiring.

If I've learned anything from watching and talking with Bob, it's this: Do everything that needs any level of precision while your piece of wood is straight. Hence why every is saying to do the final shape at the end.

Here's the path I followed. I took a woodworking class a couple of years ago. I then tried to carve out something decent out of a 2x4, then out of a 4x4 (8ft long) glued back onto itself (4x8 4ft long)...none of these resulted in anything useable, but they were good practice. I then settled for altering my existing stock, bonus! The inletting is already done for you and the shape is already done as well, you just need to alter the things that bug you ;-) I thinned out the forearm, installed an african blackwood tip, etc.

It was rewarding, and it was an attainable project. It might be a good avenue for you too...

Fish
 
Lots and lots of fantastic advice. I have been thinking that I'll try and 3d cad this stock first. When I like the look of then I'll generate principle views to trace onto the wood 1:1 scale. Has anyone gone down this path and has a model they could share?
 
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