Re-building a 303 sporterized stock?

[H Wally]

Hey all
So I was wondering, has anyone resurrecteda bubba'd enfield by rebuilding the wood hacked off? I ask because I am in possesion of a lot of beech, and other types of good wood, tools, and technical knowledge, as well as a sporterized lee enfield No1 Mk III that was simply hacked vertically several inches in front of the rear sight. Since there is only barrel and then the nose cap, I was wondering if anyone had done this, orrrrrrrr would like to post several pics of the wood on and off their Lee, with and without nose cap etc (and tapemeasure in pics too please). I think I could make a really good looking rifle by doing this, save myself money I don't have, and then there would be a thread for others in the same boat.

Here's a pic of what I'm working with:

 

[tiriaq]

You'll need the rear sight guard and its screw, the nosecap and related screws, the plunger and plunger spring, and the front handguard end piece. The splices to restore the stock and handguard should be done under the band, so that the splices are hidden. The forend splice should be reinforced with dowels, etc. Then if you can get a good colour and grain match, the restoration will be unobtrusive. The exposed barrel and the middle band look parked. Is the rifle a Lithgow? If it is, the wood will likely be either coachwood or Queensland maple. I'm on dialup, and uploading and posting photos is painfully slow. If you want, PM your email address, and I could take and send the photos you are looking for.

 

[H Wally]

I had been considering doing a long dogtooth fix, kindof like a pool que, or has that been done elsewhere and looked awful? I thought that as far as stress goes it would be too much to put under the band, since it would be pressing on the weakest point, hence why I thought about the dogs tooth, where it would be very long points to take the stress.

 

[tiriaq]

Some Finnish MN stocks were made with a long finger groove joint just in front of the receiver. A splice under the band can be reinforced so that it is structurally acceptable. A splice not under the band is essentially impossible to disguise.

 

[Sgt Striker]

Don't waste your time and money.... There are still enough extra stocks floating around, that you could just replace it with..... Unless you're planning to do this, just for something to do, as it will and no falue to the rifle, as far as a collectors piece would go.

If this rifle was super rare, ya go for it, but she's not...

 

[H Wally]

I was thinking of it as a fun way to deal with the problem, also, I am a uni student, so any more than $10 is a seriously large sum of money. Plus I like woodworking, so should be fun.
H Wally

 

[englishman_ca]

I have done it. A lot of work, but a lot of satisfaction when completed. To some it doesn't make sense to spend hours making something when you can buy a complete used replacement for just a few bucks. But I know where you are coming from. If you have time as your main resourch and you know how to carve, why not?

As an alternative to pins, dowels or finger joints, cut back your forearm to about two inches in front of the barrel band. Saw the wood to form a tennon just inside both sides of the barrel channel and one cut bellow. Locate the vertical join to the forearm under the barrel band. Make up your front section and mate it to the parent wood with an open mortise, cut slightly larger than the tennon by about 1/16 inch on all three sides, match the channel.

Apply epoxy to the joint and assemble to the action with all metalwork and bands. A sheet of food wrap on the barrel will ensure the thing will come apart. The barrel in the channel will line things up, the epoxy will take up the clearance in the joint. The join will be invisible with the rifle assembled.

Forget using photos for your dimensionals, the profiles are quite tricky. Beg steal or borrow a forearm as a pattern to copy.

Happy whittling!