M14 Walnut Stock is loose!!!

Odd Shot

Odd Shot

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I obtained a nice fancy walnut stock for my M305, which fit snug from first install.

I recently spent about a month refinishing it with Tru-Oil, having about 10 coats on it.
It's a thing of beauty, and I'm proud of it.

Problem is, I went to install the barrelled receiver tonight, the fit is suddenly loose!!

We're talking about a millimeter lateral shift of the receiver in the stock, and that's WITH the trigger group locked in.

I never sanded the inlet area. What happened???

Could it be the air is just really dry this winter and it shrank the stock?

Should I get the stock bedded?
 
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Yes, bed the stock or just add aluminum shims to the front of the receiver where it meets the top surfaces of the stock and add shims between the trigger group wings. This will tighten the stock significantly. Don't add any under the heel of the receiver or anything rear of the bolt catch.

Tony.
 
Winters are very dry, people should actually run humidifiers in winter especially if you have hardwood floors the shrinkage is remarkable even outside of the pool.
 
Fretman said:
Winters are very dry, people should actually run humidifiers in winter especially if you have hardwood floors the shrinkage is remarkable even outside of the pool.
Click to expand...

I was surprised that it was actually became loose. Could refinishing it have made it loose?

I have another M305 with a walnut stock (this one from Boyds) and the receiver is not loose in that one.
 
Bedding is your best bet for a permanent fix, my experience with shimming has been very poor, causing accuracy to drop off and shims not staying put.
Try it out as a test but having done it, I don't like it.
I've bedded Chu wood, plastic, USGI wood, boyds and Blackfeathers alike, it's always best to get it done right for proper fit and function.
 
Okay, competitive shooter hat ON! :wave:

Death , Taxes, and Wood stocks..... most predictable.

Wood stocks can ONLY compress (unless you buy a laminated Dupage stock for your M1 Garand like Chalkriver and I did)



For many years I competed with the M14 (real USGI) stocks and even after glass bedding them, I still experienced wood compression. Welcome to wood stocks. Enter the 1970's and now we have resin layers laid up over wood stocks (read: Vietnam experience).

So here we are 40 years from the 70s and what have we learned?

Composite stocks don't suffer from compression characteristics that the clamping action of the trigger group brings. Like many suggestions here, it's time to bed or add a layer of resin. :)

But (big BUT) you are adding the resin / glass bedding material ON TOP of more wood that's likely to compress (over time). ha ha ha ha

And that's why I love working with the USGI glass stocks. They are tough and still CAN be made tougher (see my sticky up above on how to stiffen up your USGI glass stock forend). :)

That is the cheaper approach like I will always show you FIRST. Then there's the McMillan (read: slightly more expensive at $600) M1A Phat Basterd stock. Go to McMillan's website and have a look. :cool:

So you can have it all ways, just depending upon how much you wanna spend. :eek:

Cheers and keep helping the nooobs out there! :wave:

Barney
 
I hear you, Barney. I'm just surprised because when the stock was new a few months ago, it was snug. The receiver has been out of it the past couple months while i refinished it. And now its suddenly loose.

I'm tempted to bed or shim it now, but shouldn't I wait till summer to see if the wood swells out again?
 
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