GunnyUSMC
Member
I’ve been doing stock repair for over 30 years. At one point I was doing just over 100 repairs a year so, there’s not much that I haven’t seen or done.
A few years ago I stopped taking in work for a few reasons. One was to get caught up, two was to get some of my own stuff done, and three, I started putting in a lot of overtime at my regular job and just didn’t have the time.
But I still take in a job from time to time. Most often it’s not an easy repair, but I have a reputation for taking on repairs that most see as a lost cause.
Last month I was contacted by a guy I know up in Ohio. Mark told me that he had a Lebel with a bad forearm and asked if I was willing to take on the repair. I have done work for Mark in the pass and knew that if he was seeking my help, he had something beyond his pay grade.
The problem with the forearm was that it had been repaired twice before. There was an old arsenal repair and then one where someone had glued it back together when it had broken in half.
The hardest repairs I have ever done has been having to fix what others have messed up while trying to fix something.
For those of you that don’t know what a Lebel is, here’s a pic of mine.
The forearm is long, thin and hollow. The magazine tube runs the full length of the forearm.
Marks forearm had an Arsenal repair at the rear band, where a piece of wood had been spliced in. Then the brake just forward of the rear band where it had been broken in half and glued back together.
I told Mark to send it to me and I would see what I could do.
This is what I found when it arrived.
And after an inspection I found several cracks at the front and wood putty that was used to fill the area nuder the nose cap.
I contacted Mark and told him that it was going to take a little time to figure out how I was going to make the repairs.
It took me about two weeks to come up with a plan.
To try and remove the glue and get the stock apart would have caused more damage so, I decided to use fiberglass cloth to reinforce the sides of the stock, but hide it under a wood patch, like an Arsenal repair.
TO BE CONTINUED.
A few years ago I stopped taking in work for a few reasons. One was to get caught up, two was to get some of my own stuff done, and three, I started putting in a lot of overtime at my regular job and just didn’t have the time.
But I still take in a job from time to time. Most often it’s not an easy repair, but I have a reputation for taking on repairs that most see as a lost cause.
Last month I was contacted by a guy I know up in Ohio. Mark told me that he had a Lebel with a bad forearm and asked if I was willing to take on the repair. I have done work for Mark in the pass and knew that if he was seeking my help, he had something beyond his pay grade.
The problem with the forearm was that it had been repaired twice before. There was an old arsenal repair and then one where someone had glued it back together when it had broken in half.
The hardest repairs I have ever done has been having to fix what others have messed up while trying to fix something.
For those of you that don’t know what a Lebel is, here’s a pic of mine.
The forearm is long, thin and hollow. The magazine tube runs the full length of the forearm.
Marks forearm had an Arsenal repair at the rear band, where a piece of wood had been spliced in. Then the brake just forward of the rear band where it had been broken in half and glued back together.
I told Mark to send it to me and I would see what I could do.
This is what I found when it arrived.
And after an inspection I found several cracks at the front and wood putty that was used to fill the area nuder the nose cap.
I contacted Mark and told him that it was going to take a little time to figure out how I was going to make the repairs.
It took me about two weeks to come up with a plan.
To try and remove the glue and get the stock apart would have caused more damage so, I decided to use fiberglass cloth to reinforce the sides of the stock, but hide it under a wood patch, like an Arsenal repair.
TO BE CONTINUED.
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