I don't know which of those two projects is cooler but I got's to ask. The "wood"-like parts on your bolt action, are those printed or some form of composite like Trex milled to shape??
Alinwa -
Howdy, once again ! I appolige for the delayed responses. Had superb WX here today, and took the opportunity to work outside all day.
Hey... no flies on YOU ! The fore end, butt stock, and removable cheek rest are pieces cut from a 5/4 composite " deck board ".
The materiel ( to me ) reminds of composite dunnage they used to hold pallets off the ground in the MILITARY. I believe the manufacturer calls the stuff a composite, because the deck board is made using a polymer + wood dust. One side has a faux wood grain pattern, the other a fine diamond pattern.... but not one as pronounced as wood checkering on rifles.
I got the 3' extruded aluminum " I " beam from a local area building supplies place for free. It is a re-purposed central structural component from an outdoor deck railing system ( CERTAINTEED ). Different profile plastic outer rail " sleeves " are slipped over the central beam, to complete the deck rail using this system.
I liked the robustness of the rail's side walls and central webb. All I had to do was orient the beam to form an " H " in cross section view. The central " valley " accomodated the barrel, and to float the action.... all I had to do was a slight relieving on the inside upper corners on both inner sidewall above the webb.....just enough to
provide clearance between the beam and the action.
I am power tool averse, and did all metal grinding and hole drilling w/ an electric drill, drill bit; and an rotary file. These were used to provide holes for using drywall screws to attach the fore end and butt stock. The 5/4 deck board is rounded on one edge, which I put facing downward to accomodate shooting using a rear bag. * It just so happened that the 5/4 board's thickness just fit inside the lower valley of the aft end of the rail. I put some RTV on the flat edge, before attaching the buttstock w/ screws.
You'll note that I used the complete width of the deck board, to provide sufficient rifle'm buttstock height. All I di to fine tune thqt height, was use a strip cut from the rounded edge of the deck board..... to fashion a removable " cheek locator ". After removal of the cheek locator, the rifle can be cleaned from the breech, w/ the cleaning rod transiting fore N aft just above the central webb of the aft rail upper valley.
For simplicity sake, I placed a trigger finger access cutout on the leading fwd facing edge of the butt stock using just 2 cuts . Note that all deck board cuts were made using a hand mitre box & saw. I put some stock tape on the bottom of the forend, which I cut to 2 3/4" wide because that's the width of fore end my front rest bag will accomodate. I also placed stock tape on the lower aft edge of the buttstock.
Did you notice what the trigger guard was fashioned from ? It is a galvanized conduit hanger, that I hammer formed into an " L ". It is secured to the buttstock's lower leading edge using one large #3 Philip's woodscrew.
Beyond the holes I drilled in the central webb to allow mounting the fore end and butt stock using drywall screws, the only other access cuts made were those made to accept the recoil lug; and to allow cleraance & access for the trigger & trigger hanger. I made the access cut long enough to allow on-rifle trigger removal / re-install,
which negates need to partially-disassemble the rifle when trigger removal / re-installation is needed. I used a rotary file in the electric drill, to make a small reliefe grind in the aft RT upper rail side wall; to provide a small clearance for the bolt handle.
The barrel " clamp " is 2 plumber repair plates sandwiched together. The clamp the barrel to the upper edges of the fwd upper central valley of the beam. I used carriage bolts ( that I had a local Amish blacksmith grind one side off the 4 heads )..... along w/ double-up torque plates I co-opted from "U"- bolts..... and nylon-insert lock nuts...
to provide the clamping means. Nuts are torqued to 24 in lb. The carriage bolt head grind was necessary to clearance the inward-facing radius of heads from the inverted "V" angle of the clampin plates.
When I spec'd the 29 " SS Broughton 1-8 6mm, I had them leave a longer straight section above the breeech; sepicifically to allow use of this clamping method. I did not know when I ordered the barrel , just how much fwd of the action I would end-up moving the clamp ? The barrel is 1.375" diam @ the chamber straight section; and is a Palma taper. During range testing, I kept relocating the clamp further fwd in 1/4" incremements... to tune-out undesired verticle. After initial start w/ the aft clamp edge butt-up against the recoil lug; the clamp only had to be moved 1/2" fwd.... to get rid of any verticle grouping tendencies.
I use a Ken Farrel 20moa scope base and his 1" rings, to mount my T-36XR w/ 2.5X optical booster. I am currently shooting the rifle using a Jewell 2oz.
When I was not able to find a short cut-off section of the deckboard, I was forced to have to buy an entire 8ft long board. The board plus the rotary file bit and the clamping hardware set me back $50; since I had to buy 4 ea "U"-bolt assemblies..... when all I wanted were their 4 torque plates . All the rest of the stuff I already had.
I really really like the set-up, and doubt I will go back to a traditional stock for any future varmint / target rifles I might have.
If you'd like, I can send some pics of my CVA " Hunter " .35 Remington single shot project. I am setting the rifle up for shooting off a bi-pod and rear bag. The bi-pod will mount via use of a " quad rail ", where the barrelled action is centered within the rail using a section of extruded aluminum tubing ( 1" ID - 1 1/2" OD ) . The barrel is secured to the short section aluminum tubing ( to allow interface of the rifle w/ the inner central quad rail ) using screws that pickup the scope base holes on the top of the barrel. The rifle w/ its aluminum adapter are integrated w/ the inner central quad rail via use of screws that pickup mounting screw holes already present on the quad rail.
*** Like the barrel clamp / bi-pod mount I used for my Marlin M-336 XLR, the idea for the CVA"s bi-pod mounting arrangement is to prevent direct pressue on the barrel from the bi-pod. So, the CVA too, is a quasi floated action set-up. I have filled the hollow butt stock w/ modeling clay, and intend to use 1" scope rings and 1" diam steel rod or 1" bolts to add weight to the rifle. The scope rings would hold the heavy rods / bolts, and mount them either side of the quad rail.
I am going to try to integrate a heavy plastic " spoon rest " atop the buttstock, and offset to the Rt. The cupped spoon rest will serve as an locating reference for the Rt cup of the ear muffs I wear when shooting. One of the great travesties of modern rifles / rifle shooting is that there has been little effort directed at accoodating ear muff' cup clearance off the top of the butt stock. This includes benchrest rifles, even though their stocks usually feature a low / flat comb.
With regards,
Kevin 357Mag
