First custom gunstock

[Lee Persons]

Ok so i want to preface this by saying that i have zero experience taling apart a rifle, as in ive never pulled and action. I have considered bedding my stock but have never commited and done it. I know it is not difficult and i am generally abke to figure stuff out well.

Alright, i got a ruger american ranch. 5.56 and a 16.5 barrel. I want a wooden stock. I have thought hard about buying a boyds pro varmint because i want a vertical grip. That being said, i want the satisfaction of making my own by hand and fitting it to this specific gun.

Now i am no wood smith. I have chisels that are sharp, a dremel, and the will to try. So my questions are this. I have lots of old 2x4s from a house project that are very hard, snap a 3in screw half way in hard, and i was wondering if i could use those if the action bed and top of butt is one 2x4 and the bottom of the butt is a seperate piece glued on. Will this hold or is this a bad idea? I think they may be oak. If that idea is fine, then how to i protect the wood from the possibke shrinking and expanding with the temps? If there a paint or do i need to soak it in something? I do not have a planer or any tool to sand out a flat surface. Is it possible to make a good stock without something to flatten or do i need to invest in a machine. Im totally fine investing, just wondering.

Thanks for readin and appreciate any advice

 

[shortgrass]

I would ditch the idea of using oak or pine, Lee. There are walnut blanks available that are not "exhibition grade" that sell for under $200. Stick with a traditional gun stock wood. Maple for gunstocks is available, too. A good share of the curriculum when I went to school was in stock making by hand from a blank. The hand tools need for stock making are probably not what you have. They are 'specialty' tools. Most of my favorites are made by Dastra Woodscrew, in Germany. I like their "intermediate" sized carving tools. I have some other brands, including some I have forged and hardened myself in my shop. I have been out of school for 26yrs, and I don't make a stock by hand very often. When I do, I enlist the good graces of the local cabinet shop to use their jointer to square the top to the off cheek piece side of the blank. You can "true the blank" with a hand driven jointer plane, if you have the fortitude for such work. I have a band saw in my shop, so I can remove the excess, outside of my layout lines using that. I fit a lot of recoil pads, so the band saw is "needed equipment" in my shop. Your blank needs to be, at minimum, 2 1/2" thick and 34" long to start. After "truing the blank" the next step is the lay-out. Establish where the front guard screw will be, and go from there. I will add that a drill press is a handy tool to have . The front guard screw is 90* to the top of the blank, except for the Ruger 77, where it is angled. You can remove a lot of 'extra' wood to help with getting your inletting established with a drill press. There are as many different ways to make a gun stock as there are men that know how to do the work. Entire books have been written on the subject, and I would encourage you to invest in a few. Authors/stockmakers that come to mind are Dave Westbrook and Alvin Linden. Books can usually be found on Amazon and E-Bay. Just search "Dastra Carving Tools" for tool suppliers. A proper mallet will be needed, also. We started out with about 8 different chisels and gouges in school. I don't know how many I have now, but they cover a 4 x 4 peg-board. There's a start for ya'. Unless you are extremely talented and able to use 'deductive reasoning', you have a long, hard 'row to hoe' ahead of you without having an on-site instructor in your corner. The fastest I have been able to do by hand from a blank is right at 90 hours to inlet and shape. That doesn't include final sanding and finishing or any checkering. It takes dedication to the work to "git 'er done". But, the satisfaction rating upon completion of a well executed stock is unexplainable with words!

 

[bdlesh]

Check Richard's micro fit stocks. They have walnut 95% inlet stocks for $75.00 and up. St ladt if you make a mistake You won't be out of as much money. I am planning on trying one myself. I enjoy the challenge.

 

[Canhunter35]

Boyd's are really nice and if ur lucky you'll have to do some inletting and level the depth of the action. You can also bed it and install pillars and it'll feel like you built it by the end

 

[Alibiiv]

Hello Lee, I have to congratulate you on your interest of building your own gun stock, however I have to agree with "shortgrass", "Unless you are extremely talented and able to use 'deductive reasoning', you have a long, hard 'row to hoe' ahead of you without having an on-site instructor in your corner." Sometimes our skill levels and our endeavors are not on the same level. What you are thinking about doing takes a relatively high level of skill and some really specialized tools. You wrote that you have never glass bedded a stock before, maybe you could start with bedding the existing stock on the Ruger American, you can bed a synthetic stock if you'd like; kits are available for around $30. The reason that I am suggesting to bed your Ruger American is that it will give you a bit of an idea about what you are going to experience starting out from scratch making your own stock. I have woodworking tools and have extensive knowledge and experience using them, for me personally making as stock from scratch is too big of a challenge for me to take on. I am not one to ever discourage anyone's enthusiasm to take a project on, it's just that what you want to try is not as easy as it seems. The suggestion that "bdlesh" was also a good suggestion on the Richard's micro fit stocks. Fitting up a semi-inletted blank will give you an opportunity to get the personal satisfaction of completing a project on your own and also some experience at the process of inletting a stock. Sometimes small steps are a lot better than jumping right in over our heads. Good luck with whatever way you decide to go, I admire your enthusiasm.

 

[shortgrass]

If you decide to start with a pre-inlet I would avoid Richards like they were carrier of some dreaded, incurable disease! You might get a good job from them and you might not. They have lots of pretty pics on their web site, but that's about as far as it goes. There are plenty of other reputable companies that do excellent pre-inletting work. The only problem I see might be the lack of a pattern for the Ruger American. I which case, your existing stock may suffice as the pattern. Only the person doing the pre-inletting can answer that question. Others will certainly disagree with my assessment of Richards, and that is their prerogative. I have always been disappointed with a pre-inlet from Richards.

 

[shortgrass]

The biggest mistake I see when people attempt stock work, is to get ahead of themselves. The order of tasks that you proceed in stock making is of utmost importance. If you get ahead of the work it only becomes harder to complete. There is an easy way (haha!) and a hard way. You need the 'Patients of Job'.

 

[FIGJAM]

@Doublezranch

 

[Edd]

....... The fastest I have been able to do by hand from a blank is right at 90 hours to inlet and shape. That doesn't include final sanding and finishing or any checkering. It takes dedication to the work to "git 'er done". But, the satisfaction rating upon completion of a well executed stock is unexplainable with words!

A late friend of mine made a few rifle stocks. He charged 100 hours labor for making one. That did include checkering and finish. He was picky about the wood he used and the price of the blank you had to furnish to him was normally in the $1000 plus range. His labor rate was $40 per hour so you could end up with a nice English Walnut stock for 5-6 thousand dollars.

 

[bdlesh]

If you decide to start with a pre-inlet I would avoid Richards like they were carrier of some dreaded, incurable disease! You might get a good job from them and you might not. They have lots of pretty pics on their web site, but that's about as far as it goes. There are plenty of other reputable companies that do excellent pre-inletting work. The only problem I see might be the lack of a pattern for the Ruger American. I which case, your existing stock may suffice as the pattern. Only the person doing the pre-inletting can answer that question. Others will certainly disagree with my assessment of Richards, and that is their prerogative. I have always been disappointed with a pre-inlet from Richards.

I have read this about Richard's too. Who have you used that gave you a quality inlet stock? I was thinking of buying one of their entry level grade of walnut and see what happens. But I would like to know a quality supplier for when I do need a nice piece.

Thanks!

 

[FIGJAM]

I tagged DoubleZRanch earlier - he uses a blank and makes his own stock, at least for all of the guns he builds for his kids.

 

[Lee Persons]

Wow thanks for all this advice. And yes, it is a really big undertaking for me. My main problem with buying blanks is finding one with enough wood in the butt for a vertical grip, but that may just be me looking in the wrong places. I have read about partial inletted stocks some but never looked into them. I kinda feel like using a partial inlet stock makes me a "cheat" but i have to be honest with myself in that it does take an immense amount of skill. Right now my synthetic stock is covered in crafting styrafoam for a "vertical" grip, self adhesive medical tape, and a slice of 2x4 to raise my cheek weld. It looks abomnibale but only costed about 10 bucks lol. Are there any pre inletted stocks that are left unshaped? I would like to customize a shape if i could.

 

[shortgrass]

Goby Walnut used to have some large, odd shaped pieces of walnut that might do. I think the problem you're gonna' find is , no one has a pattern for the Ruger American. But, as I said earlier, your existing stock might be used for a pattern. With some phone calls you will find a pre-inletter who will work with you on just inletting with no shaping. They could just pre-inlet the action and barrel channel, then you'd have to do the inletting of the bottom metal to suit the shape you want . For a pre-inletter to do both top and bottom some shaping would be required. There's no 'cheating' involved with using a pre-inlet. Only if you consider cutting that 100hrs from a blank in half. 50hrs is not unreasonable to fit and finish a pre-inletted blank. That's more time than most are willing to put into a stock. I can not help but wonder how many pre-inletted stocks there are sitting in the corner of the work shop or in the back corner of the closet because someone lost interest because it couldn't be completed in a Saturday afternoon and taken to the range Sunday afternoon. It seems to me Goby has a list of pre-inletters on their web site as does Hunterbid.com Usually, only true 'custom' rifles are custom stocked, because of the amount of time involved. Custom stock a Ruger American and it's still a Ruger American!

 

[Doninidaho]

You might consider one of the semi-inlet stocks for your first go around. You are going to want some inletting black, lots of different shaped chisels and some that are inletting specific...especially for the barrel channel. If that goes well, you will have a real good idea if you want to try starting out with a complete blank or plank.