Part 4
Inletting of the action was to follow with initial mark up and then numerous test fitting and dremel work following the initial cut in with the router. This was not the neatest bit of work but as I intend to bed the action (after the initial test firing) then the messy bits will be taken care of.
A lot of this work was done on the workmate following the initial routing cuts on the router table.
- action inlet.jpg (180.12 KiB) Viewed 11447 times
For the final penetrations for the trigger and magazine, holes were drilled on the corners of each marked up opening and the material cut out with a hand held coping saw. This was required due to the limitations in depth of cut of my router. The penetrations were then cleaned up with the dremel and a hand file.
Once this was done, the action needed to be fitted into the stock to allow for the safety catch operation and a cut out for the action bolt. This was done with a combination of the dremel and a saw.
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As can be seen in this photo, the trigger doesn’t stick out very far and therefore some timber needed top be removed for the stock to allow for this. I identified this as a potential issue when I first recrived the stock as the stock ws much deeper than the original lithgow (but still within Silhouette stock regulations)and the hand grip seemed a little short). The stock was marked up and several cross cuts were made and the remaining material chisled out and the area cleaned up with a rasp, shaping file and scraper blade.
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Area to be removed from stock for trigger and magazine areas.
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Nearly finished aside from trigger guard and applying the finish
The original trigger guard and magazine floor plat would not fit this stock due to the radical differences in stock designs. As metal working facilities were limited (hacksaw, files and dremel) I decided to work with aluminium as this is relatively soft, easily cut, shaped and formed.
I found a nice extruded section of heat soak from a plasma TV that my son was pulling apart for electronic components and I decided that this would make a nice guard – especially as the texture would provide a non-slip surface. The guard was cut and formed first off and then the floor plate was cut as a second piece therefore I could cover all openings in the timber. This was held in place with little timber screws. The image below shows a slightly crooked and rough guard – this was addressed with a subsequent remake and tidying up of the stock prior to inletting the guard and oiling the stock. The guard was painted with a flat black paint to match the dark colour of the barrel, receiver and scope.
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First fit of guard
The rifle was then assembled for a final once over before it was stripped for painting, sanding and oiling.
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Final assembly before stripping for final finish application
Following sanding to 320 grit and then a 0000 grade steel wool polish, 3-4 coats of Tru-oil stock finish was applied to provide the final finish of the stock.
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Final assembled rifle.
Issues if I do it again
Apart for the time locked away in the garage doing the work, the main issues encountered and to be addressed on the next one are as follows:
1. Improved mark-up practices – use of more contrasting marking pen, finer marking pen and a final mark up using a marking knife
2. The factory finish on the stock was not as good as I had hoped with a couple of places needing more work (not really seen until final inspection). I would spend more time on the coarse sanding
3. Keep all tools sharp – including dermal bits (this is good work shop practice anyway but it is surprising how far you will go with a blunt tool until thinking about changing it)
4. Measure-cut-check-measure-cut-check etc small steps at all stages and if possible get someone else to have a look over it through the process – you may be too close to the work and miss something simple.
Hope this is of interest - happy to answer any questions.