McMillan Stock Problem

I

ivo

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I have a McMillan A-5 stock that the rear sling swivel stud has come out.
It is the screw in type approx. 1/4" x 1" coarse thread screw stud, all of the threads inside the stock are gone.

I know this is not the first time this has ever happened so what have you guys done when this has happened to you.

Would especially like to hear from gunsmiths.

Thanks in advance
Ivo
 
swivel stud

It can be resecured by using a good epoxy bedding compound. Marine Tex , Steel bed, Devcon, even J-B Weld work well. If you give the stud a coat of paste wax you will be able to screw it out again if you want. If you don't anticipate ever removing it don't wax it and it should hold indefinitely.

You may want to remove some of the existing material around the existing hole length to anchor the bedding compound under the skin of the stock more strongly.
 
The strongest way to fix this is to drill a 3/8" hole, in from the butt to past the stud location along the bottom of the stock. Epoxy in a piece of 3/8" aluminum rod and fill the remnants of the original hole. When hard drill and tap 10-32 for a machine screw stud, you may need to thread the stud more using a die. It will not come out to easily when repaired this way.

When we build stocks we build in aluminum blocks to drill and tap for studs. We do the job so it will never need to be fixed.

www.robertsoncomposites.com
 
Ian Robertson said:
The strongest way to fix this is to drill a 3/8" hole, in from the butt to past the stud location along the bottom of the stock. Epoxy in a piece of 3/8" aluminum rod and fill the remnants of the original hole. When hard drill and tap 10-32 for a machine screw stud, you may need to thread the stud more using a die. It will not come out to easily when repaired this way.

When we build stocks we build in aluminum blocks to drill and tap for studs. We do the job so it will never need to be fixed.

www.robertsoncomposites.com
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Ian, is your only lightweight stock that one with the monster cheekpiece or do you have other lightweight hunter models?
 
I think at last count we had 34 different models, or so I was told. We have a number of hunter type stocks. Our biggest problem is keeping the web site up to date, which it is not. We make many styles for other companies and these are the ones often not listed although most of them we can sell in Canada. Is there any style in particular that you are looking for? We often build to different weight limits depending on what the customer wants.
 
IVO

Installing an anchor like Ian suggests is a common technique if you can get in from the back side.

In the event you can't, you can always use a dremel tool or drill with a 1/8 shaft with a ball or cylindrical cutter which is a larger OD. say 1/4 or 5/16" go into the original hole and with the cutter and remove as much inside material as possible. Stay away from the outer fiberglass shell. You could probably drill multiple holes at various angles and start pivoting the drill bit around to remove internal filler.

You can back fill with Decon or even acraglass.

Two options:

One, use a wood screw with release agent generously applied. Coat it lightly with the same acraglas or devcon and insert it into the hole at the proper position. A bit tricky getting alignment perfect.....but it can be done. Once cured remove it, clean up your work and reinstall. If you have blk die or die to match your stock use it.

Two fill to a convex contour, cure and shape. Before this step you might what to thin a mixture of regular acraglass and poor some of it into the hole to coat the fibre fill or core really well. Trying to put a putty type or gel epoxy into the small hole can be difficult. You could go with a liquid acraglas with a bit of the floc for the entire hole. Find a tap and matching drill for the machine screw style stud and drill and tap a new hole once the epoxy has cured. Use a long machine screw uncle mikes stud and make sure you go deep with the original hole - at least deep enough to ensure you drill and tap enough epoxy to hole the screw. The steel or stainless steel epoxies or acraglass with steel are great and strong, but difficult to get into a small hole....

If you need any long machine screw studs, let me know.
 
Why don't you give McMillan a call. I ordered an A-5 directly from McMillan and couldn't be happier with the stock or their service. Their stocks are guaranteed so a phone call wouldn't be too much.
 
Thanks fo the replies Ian, Joe, Stocker and EC.
Jerry how have you been, the Leupold MK4 you sold me is working out great!

Looks like I may have the problem solved, I epoxied the stud back in and it seems to be working out so far but if not I'll have to anchor it in as was suggested by Ian and Joe. I figure I can get in from the top, underneath the adjustable cheek piece or from behind the recoil pad, if I really have to.

Thanks again,

Ivo
 
ivo said:
Jerry how have you been, the Leupold MK4 you sold me is working out great!
Click to expand...

Doing good man, how are you keeping? Glad to hear you're enjoying the scope. Turns out I should have kept one of those 2 Mk4s for myself after all. One went to you and the other to acrashb, then I bought a VLS .243 a few months later and had to go out and buy myself a Black Diamond 6-24x40 to glass it :rolleyes: .

Glad you got your swivel stud problem resolved for now.

Cheers,
Jerry:)
 
Ian Robertson said:
The strongest way to fix this is to drill a 3/8" hole, in from the butt to past the stud location along the bottom of the stock. Epoxy in a piece of 3/8" aluminum rod and fill the remnants of the original hole. When hard drill and tap 10-32 for a machine screw stud, you may need to thread the stud more using a die. It will not come out to easily when repaired this way.

When we build stocks we build in aluminum blocks to drill and tap for studs. We do the job so it will never need to be fixed.

www.robertsoncomposites.com
Click to expand...


Pretty much the same idea is to use a wooden dowel about 2'' with a 10-32 locking nut glassed into it [the kind with the nylon top] . It never hurts to err on the side of over kill with sling stud bases.
Glenn
 
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