Garand stock - needs some tightening

[SKScanuck]

I have an original Winchester Garand stock that is a bit loose on the action. I was thinking of taking a dremel to it where the trigger group goes in and putting some JB weld in to raise it a bit (in a area you won't see when it is assembled). It has been like this since I bought the gun. I've never done the repair as I am hesitant to touch the original stock.

Option two is to put a new boyds on and keep the original stock as is.

And it is all Winchester except for barrel and sights (VAR). No, it is not for sale. It is my holy grail.

Thoughts....

And yes, I'll post some pictures later.

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

shimming Garand stock

Options three and four are to reach into the recycle bin for an aluminum Coke can. Cut some strips to pinch between the stock and trigger guard, and the stock and the receiver heel. Not as pretty as a flush fitted stock, but no 1944 black walnut will be harmed by Mr Dremmel.

 

[purple]

There are 2 areas of Garand stock fit which are most liable to wood compression leading to a loose fitting stock. One is with the 2 sides on the bottom of the stock where the trigger housing seats against the stock. The other are the interior surfaces of the stock where the rear "legs" of the receiver contact the stock. The military fix for this was to cut out the wood in these areas and to glue in wooden blocks which were then re-shaped to restore a tight fit. In the later days of Garand use the US military used glass bedding to restore the required amount of tension for the trigger housing.

To restore a tight fit behind the rear legs of the receiver which will prevent fore/aft movement of the receiver in the stock, you can cut thin wooden shims and glue them to the 2 stock bearing areas until tightness is restored. For the trigger housing area you can also glue wooden shims of sufficient thickness to the bearing areas until proper vertical tension is restored. There should be enough tension here to allow you to feel it as the rear of the trigger guard passes the trigger as the guard is swung upwards to lock into the receiver. A temporary fix to restore tension here, short of glued in shims, is to cut strips of those magnetic advertising stickers and place them against either side of the trigger housing before installation.

One big reason for a loose fitting trigger guard is because of worn locking lugs on the trigger guard. These should be fully round. They do tend to wear flat from prolonged use. The fix here is simply to replace a trigger guard having worn lugs with another one that has full, unworn lugs. These lugs should be greased to prevent undue friction and wear when the trigger guard is closed and locked up into the receiver.

The glue in shim approach behind the rear legs of the receiver as well as the use of magnetic shims between the trigger housing and the stock surfaces are quite unobtrusive. A purist would always say "do nothing to the stock", but this would be a minimalist approach. Under no circumstances should the top surface of the stock be sanded or shimmed to restore vertical tension. The correct solution is always from the bottom.