Who has made their own gunstock?

Improving and repairing firearms. Rifle bedding, barrel work, stock replacement and other ways to improve your firearms.

Who has made their own gunstock?

Post by Ats3 » 21 Oct 2017, 7:15 pm

Eventually wanting to make a gunstock and wondering what everyone else has put together? Bring out some pictures and show off what you've got. What materials did you use? What calibre/action is it for? What might you have done differently next time, or are you thrilled with how it turned out?
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Re: Who has made their own gunstock?

Post by MalleeFarmer » 21 Oct 2017, 8:31 pm

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6140 have a look here
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Re: Who has made their own gunstock?

Post by Ats3 » 22 Oct 2017, 11:26 am

That's not bad at all, keen to see the finished product
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Re: Who has made their own gunstock?

Post by bladeracer » 22 Oct 2017, 12:30 pm

Adoomy3 wrote:Eventually wanting to make a gunstock and wondering what everyone else has put together? Bring out some pictures and show off what you've got. What materials did you use? What calibre/action is it for? What might you have done differently next time, or are you thrilled with how it turned out?


I made my bullpup out of Bunnings aluminium extrusions and hand tools.
Took me a few weeks and fits any short-action Ruger American Rifle - has the .204 in it in the photo.
I bashed it together to see if it would work so I didn't make any effort to tidy it up or minimise the weight.
Without the flash hider it is 860mm overall length. The RAR 22" barrel is 1067mm. In this photo it has the scope, a holo sight, and M16 carry handle and front sight as I was testing all of them. The fox was taken through the scope. The front grip folds to make a comfortable forend and the four-sided pic rails allow fitting rubber covers for gripping and resting over hard objects.

Version Two will be significantly lighter, 755mm overall length and made to take the 10rd AICS mags. I made it the full length with the bolt open so it could be worked from the shoulder. But next time I'll make a separate butt stock that slides over the rear of the receiver for carrying and firing, allowing the bolt to pass through it, but can be pulled out to 860mm to allow working the bolt from the shoulder.

If I cut this one up I could turn it into a better rifle very quickly, but I fluked such an incredible job of the trigger pull I just can't bring myself to mess with it. So Version Two will have to be made from scratch.

I bought an MDT LSS chassis to integrate into Version Two but made the mistake of dropping a rifle into it just to see how it shot before cutting it up. Now I own seven MDT chassis :-)
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Re: Who has made their own gunstock?

Post by Tripod » 22 Oct 2017, 12:57 pm

Hey Bladeracer any chance of a picture of the trigger system please?
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Re: Who has made their own gunstock?

Post by bladeracer » 22 Oct 2017, 1:32 pm

Tripod wrote:Hey Bladeracer any chance of a picture of the trigger system please?


I didn't get any when I put it together. I was waiting on a solenoid to make an electric trigger to try to defeat "bullpup trigger syndrome" but I desperately needed to shoot it, so I threw this together in one night. It's really nothing more than a length of 25mm square tube with openings for various things to fit through it, like the recoil lug V-blocks. It extends from the new trigger to the original Ruger trigger and is completely rigid with zero flex in it. It feels exactly like the original trigger, no creep, very crisp break and excellent feel. I have the solenoids now to do an electric trigger when I'm ready to build another one.

If I have reason to disassemble it I'll try to remember to get photos. I didn't even make a drawing or take measurements as I was just tossing bits in there so I could test fire it.
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Re: Who has made their own gunstock?

Post by Ats3 » 22 Oct 2017, 4:15 pm

I think I'm starting to develop an interest in metalwork bladeracer. Any issues working the bolt?
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Re: Who has made their own gunstock?

Post by bladeracer » 22 Oct 2017, 4:36 pm

Adoomy3 wrote:I think I'm starting to develop an interest in metalwork bladeracer. Any issues working the bolt?


I'm actually a carpenter, but wood is a poor choice for firearms. I have been toying with building an M16 stock and grip to put on a chassis for my brother (he's not allowed adjustable stocks) but haven't made any progress so I bought the Boyd AR15 stock set last week for that.

None whatsoever. The action is entirely untouched. First you need to remove the scope and rail, then just unscrew the two action screws to remove it from the traditional stock and slide the complete barreled action down the tube from the rear end. When you have the receiver aligned with the cutouts for the V-blocks, drop in the new V-blocks and install the new longer action screws. The V-blocks and the two screws are the only attachment of the action. It took me longer to hand file the two V-blocks from 10mm aluminium plate than any other part of the build. Next time I'll just order two steel blocks ready-made from MDT as they ship with their RAR chassis. My V-blocks tie the receiver rigidly into the upper tube and extend right down to the bottom of the lower action.

Because an action is invariably connected to the shooter only along the bottom of the receiver, it creates a moment that causes the barrel to rise. My intent was to fix the top as well by screwing through the tube into the scope mounting holes. But it shoots just as well as it did originally so I never pursued that idea. Having the bore directly in line with the top of the butt plate also helps of course. Because the barrel is centred in the circular tube it doesn't even matter if the sight rails are mounted on top or to one side as they will always be directly above the bore. So it's just a matter of screwing on a top rail nice and straight and aligned with the centre of the tube. I have had the actions out numerous times and the scope retains zero.

I've been looking at building a bullpup chassis for the M91/31 next, but that is very complicated compared to the Ruger. I think I'm essentially going to have to make the centre part of the timber stock out of a chunk of aluminium from the front action screw to the rear of the trigger guard.
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Re: Who has made their own gunstock?

Post by Tripod » 22 Oct 2017, 4:53 pm

bladeracer wrote:
Tripod wrote:Hey Bladeracer any chance of a picture of the trigger system please?

It's really nothing more than a length of 25mm square tube with openings for various things to fit through it, like the recoil lug V-blocks.

How did you get 25mm tube around the Ruger rotary mag?
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Re: Who has made their own gunstock?

Post by bladeracer » 22 Oct 2017, 5:14 pm

Tripod wrote:
bladeracer wrote:
Tripod wrote:Hey Bladeracer any chance of a picture of the trigger system please?

It's really nothing more than a length of 25mm square tube with openings for various things to fit through it, like the recoil lug V-blocks.

How did you get 25mm tube around the Ruger rotary mag?


I didn't, this one is single-shot. I made an aluminium replica of the standard rotary mag that clips into the original stock. It has a hole cut through it to take a simple single-stack 10rd box mag which easily fits through the lower receiver. The mag is made from 65x16mm rounded aluminium RHS. I never got the mag working reliably though (even in the original stock) so I simply made a single-shot follower that sits under the bolt. Drop a round in there and close the bolt. It feeds very well indeed, making single-shots pretty straightforward, especially if you have some rounds in your hand or in loops nearby. Having gotten into the MDT chassis though I think the way forward is to make the bullpup accept AICS mags instead, they're half the price, twice the capacity and far more reliable than the RAR mags. I haven't disassembled the AICS mags yet. I think it might be possible to make them fit between the rails of the trigger transfer bar, but if I go with the electric trigger then I won't need a transfer bar so fitting the mags will be easy.
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