New DIY lightweight stock

[kshunter]

That's a way cool design! If durability in the field is no issue, which it looks pretty durable, that would make one heck of a mountain rifle set up! The design and concept is really amazing! I cant wait to see where this project goes.

Caleb

 

[ejg]

I'm an industrial designer for an appliance company, so we have a decent shop.

I'd love to see some pictures of your set-up, if that's possible? Specifically how many cavities/forms you use for molds, and how you stick them together!

.

sorry for the late reply, btw. I am in Houston area for a few days, back in Ireland end of the week.
send me a mail [email protected] and I can show some pictures of products,

Fired a shot yet with the new stock? would there be a different sound from the hollow rear section?
edi

 

[mountainman56]

Tagging in. Very interesting indeed!

 

[chalkeye]

For the P2 prototype I made an insert inside the stock around the sling stud area, because it broke out in P1. Unfortunately I rushed, really and it's poking through a little bit, but that's an easy fix for P3:

Test fitting of the action went pretty well - because of the large step size I specified getting the parts cut (to reduce time & cost) they still needed quite a bit of hand-fitting.

Measured twice and cut once doesn't really work if you measure the wrong thing:

 

[shortgrass]

Question,,,,, how much time would you estimate, from 'glue-up' (including the time to glue the two halves together) to being ready to wet sand, to fill the pores?

 

[IdahoCTD]

Why not foam fill the voids to help with the hollow sounds? A buddy of mine does prosthetic work and uses a foam that weighs almost nothing. I'm sure it is similar to what the carbon fiber stock makers use. Another idea.....why not use a small aluminum insert for the swivel stud bases. It will be much stronger in the end. Other than that it is a cool stock and a great idea. I hope it works out as it could revolutionize wood stock use for light guns. Even if you had to use a 3rd piece between the two sides that wasn't hollowed out as much, making it more of a laminated stock, it would still be fairly light yet add a spine to strengthen it.

I'm curious about the amount of time to get it machined and then glued up as well.

 

[chalkeye]

I'm not sure about machine time I'm afraid - I would guess around 2 hours per side, but it depends a lot on the feeds & speeds he was using. I think there were concerns about the timber chipping out so that might have forced him to feed slower.

The glue up is pretty straightforward - can seal the inside and glue the halves in an afternoon. Finishing the inletting takes a bit longer, but should be adjustable for larger clearance on the CAD for next time which will reduce this.

I'll look into the foam - the hollowness isn't as much of an issue on the P2 prototype. I'm loathe to introduce any more weight than necessary but it might be worth it.

I am using flush cup swivels for the P2 so should be much stronger. I'd quite like to install them on the side of the stock too, but need to experiment with the placement.

 

[ejg]

Side flush cup position would be ideal on COG line if the complete rifle with scope would be lying on it's side. I try to get the COG on the centre bore line on all of my hunting/tactical rifles. Your stock is also very light meaning your COG will also be high and therefore position the flush cups as high as possible. Stock will limit that of course. Also front flush cup as far forward as possible.
edi

 

[chalkeye]

Side flush cup position would be ideal on COG line if the complete rifle with scope would be lying on it's side. I try to get the COG on the centre bore line on all of my hunting/tactical rifles. Your stock is also very light meaning your COG will also be high and therefore position the flush cups as high as possible. Stock will limit that of course. Also front flush cup as far forward as possible.
edi

I had planned on placing them at these locations (though on the non-bolt side):

Are you suggesting these should be higher at the rear?

 

[ejg]

Higher in the back would be what I meant. Kind of when the rifle hangs on the sling horizontally that it does not twist too much, one will not get it balanced but a bit closer. As long as it doesn't conflict with the top recoil pad screw if you use one.
My guess a good inch higher than you have it drawn.
edi

 

[chalkeye]

Noted. I'll try taping an old sling on in several spots and see how it hangs before I go drilling anything.

 

[TC338]

Tagging in on this one. Would love to have something like this for my Howa 308!!!

 

[rickiesrevenge]

That looks really nice.

Aaron

 

[chalkeye]

Bit of catching up to do here - mostly recovering from my catastrophically dumb mistake. If you missed it, there's the perfect amount of clearance to cycle the bolt, but not enough to remove it! It's pretty embarrassing, but that's what prototypes are for.

First step is to chop out the absolute minimum of material required to remove the bolt:

You can also see here that I've bedded the action.

Then comes blending the new shape in. A lot of work with rasps, files etc:

This was a bit scary as I was more or less free-handing the design, rather than having spent hours working it out in CAD and letting a robot do the fine work for me.

Then I shaped a plug to go in the cavity that was left behind, and glued it in place. I should have taken more care with the fit of this, as I'm not really happy with how it turned out - but the next prototype won't have this mistake to cover up, so I'm not too worried

When the epoxy had cured, I started sanding off the machining marks and smoothing things down.

Because the timber is so sensitive to grime and dirt, I layed down a thin coat of epoxy just to seal everything up. Really brings the colour of the wood through!