Summer 2021 stock repair fun

[GunnyUSMC]

Just about every year my buddy Matt comes down to repair stocks. Last year we worked on about 24 stocks in two weeks.
This year Matt only has a week to visit. He arrived Sunday night and we got started Monday (yesterday) morning.
Here’s the eight Carcano stocks that he brought to work on. Some are very dirty and needed a little cleaning up.


Now there are the Purists that will have a cow if they see someone do more then wipe a stock off with more then a dry paper towel. Some people think that the filth on the surface of a stock is patina, but to tell you the truth, the filth on the surface of the stock if just filth. Patina is the aged surface of the wood. As long as you don’t remove the surface of the wood, you will not remove the patina.
Now for the cleaning of the stocks. I started with four of the stock. For a cleaner I used Purple Power deluded 50/50 with water. You don’t want to use it at full strength because, it can bu hard on the wood.
Here’s Matt spraying down the stocks.

I used my dog’s pool to wash the stocks.

You just want to lightly scrub the stocks, you’re just removing the filth from the surface.


Here’s the stocks after the first cleaning. They will get another cleaning later in the day.


I would say that those stocks were very dirty. Going to have to change the water.


These stocks have several repairs that need to be done. It would take several post to cover each one so, I’m just going to post some of the work as we do it.
While I’m typing this Matt is shouting Success! over at the work bench. We have been fighting with the front action screw on a Turkish Mauser since yesterday, and he just got it to break loose.
I’ll try and post more a little later today.

 

[Blue68f100]

GunnyUSMC glad to see your still around and doing your magic. I always learn something when you post.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

GunnyUSMC glad to see your still around and doing your magic. I always learn something when you post.

Thanks for the kind words. I don’t have as much time to devote to stock work as I used to, but still seem to get a bunch done.
In this post I’m just going to skim over the work we’re doing, but if anyone sees something that they would like more details on, just ask.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Today we did some more cleaning.
Here’s a Turkish Mauser stock that Matt said wasn’t very dirty.
I sprayed it down with cleaner and then rubbed it by hand.


OMG Look at all that patina


Here’s the Turk stock getting a light scrub.


Me making handguard soup


Most of the Carcano stocks had rust on them that had to be cleaned up. I had to repair and clean some of the buttplate screws so that they could be removed.
Using a small file, I recut the top of the screw slot and then dug out the sand and dirt .

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Here’s some pics of some of the repairs we will be doing tomorrow.
Most of the Carcanos have small cracks at the tang or the back of the trigger guard. But I have learned over the years that big cracks always start off as little cracks.
On this one, you can see the crack about a half inch in front of my finger tip. It started at the tang and runs down the side of the stock.


Here the crack is just under the surface of the wood and will be a quick easy repair.


Another crack at the back of the trigger guard.


A small crack at the tang that is opening up, but that’s nothing compared to what’s going on on the left side of the stock.


The crack starts at the front of the action and runs to the tang area. The little dry area is the only thing holding it in place.


Turkish Mauser handguard.


This Turkish Mauser was fitted with a new handguard at some point in time. The sides of the stock and handguard were filled to make them match. I cleaned the stock. It was the dirty one I posted earlier. Next I’ll reshape the area @nd blend the finish to make it look good.

 

[H&R Glock]

Thank you Gunny for the great pictures and interesting work. BTW do you still have your dog?

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Thank you Gunny for the great pictures and interesting work. BTW do you still have your dog?

Still have both dogs, Turk, my old Border Collie, and Elle, the Texas Heeler I got last April. She was 7 months old when I got her.
Turk is to old to go riding around these days, but Elle is almost always with me. Here we are in my truck together.


Going to post some more on the repairs later today.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

The bad thing about cleaning up stocks is that you find all the problems that the dirt was hiding. Last night we did a lot of drilling into stocks with different size drill bits at some very odd angles. Today we started of with making dowels from bamboo skewers and chopsticks.


Here’s the Carcano stocks that we worked on.


Here’s the first one. I decided to deal with the one that had the most damage first.


Here it is after the clamps were removed. I just have to dress up the repairs.


We had to make a run to the hardware store for some brass screws. I forgot where I put the ones I had.
The screws were cut to make threaded rods for support the repair behind the recoil lug area. Both of these stocks had cracks there and at the tang.


The repairs still need to be dressed up and the black modeling clay removed.


You can see the modeling clay used to fill the rear action screw holes.

 

[twarr1]

Awesome work. Great pictures. Keep them coming!

 

[GunnyUSMC]

We also worked on the handguards that we cleaned up. The worst one had old glue that didn’t hold. I used a pick to remove the glue.


Here’s the first handguard with the glue removed and the cuts made where fiberglass cloth will be used to reinforce the repairs.


Here’s another Carcano handguard.



Here’s the Turkish handguard that is almost split in half.


We’ll be making the repairs to the handguards tomorrow.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Oh! I forgot to post the pics of drilling and cutting on the stocks.


Hard to see the crack.


A little denatured alcohol helps to show you where they are.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Here’s Matt Boning the Turkish Mauser stock that had been filed to make the handguard and stock match. I already posted picks of the cleaning of the stock. After it dried I used a hand file to reshape the areas that had been filed flat.


Here’s the stock after the Boning was finished. The surface is nice and smooth now. It will take a few days for the soaked in oil to come to the surface. Once it does, the stock will be darker. I’ll take some more pics of the stock tomorrow to show the color change.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Here’s the Turkish Mauser stock. I blended the area where the handguard and the stock meets to even out the colors. The stock is a little darker and will get even darker over the next few weeks and the color will even out some more.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Here’s the Carcano stock that was split down the side of the action, after being dressed up.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

If anyone has a question on any of the work that I’ve posted, please feel free to ask. It doesn’t matter if it a how, or a why question, I’ll be more then happy to answer any questions. Don’t worry if you think your question isn’t that important because, someone else might have the same question. Remember, the only stupid question is the question not asked.
Now for some more pics of the work that we’re doing.
Here’s the stock for a N.E.W. M91 Mosin. Matt had called me a couple week ago and told me that he found the rifle at a shop for a great price but the stock was cracked. I told him to get it and bring it with him and I would fix it.
This type of crack is very common on Mosins and really not all that hard to fix. You just have to make sure that you stop the crack. I call this type of crack a running crack. It starts off at the tang and runs back up to the front of the stock.



Most of the time someone will use nails, or screws to try and fix it, but that only causes more damage to the area and does nothing to stop the crack from running.
What you have to do is get epoxy into the crack and then put dowels into the stock along the crack and one forward of the end of the crack. The last dowel is to stop the crack.
Here’s some of the holes I drilled into the stock. You need to take your time because, the side of the stock is thin and you don’t want to drill through the side.


I also drilled one from the bottom .


Here it is after the fiberglass wrapped dowels were epoxied in place.


Wax was used on the surface of the stock to make clean up easier.


Here it is after the repairs were dressed up


Sometimes you can’t avoid having to remove some material from the surface of the area that you are working on. But it can be blended to match the old finish. I’ll try and remember to post pics after I blend the area tomorrow.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Here’s some more pics.
Matt said that I chipped out a piece of wood by the sling swivel, but to tell you the truth, I think it was his own doing. I just told him to stop his wining and I would fix it. I forgot to that a pic before I started, but basically I just cut the chipped area square and then fitted a piece of wood to it and epoxied it in place.


Then I trimmed it up and finished it up with a file. Now I just need to blend the area.



Here’s that Carcano stocks that had the cracks running down from the tang. I’m pretty sure the four dowels will keep it together for several years to come.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

Got tired of hitting the "like" button, thanks for the education!

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Got tired of hitting the "like" button, thanks for the education!

LOL , I’ll be posting more tomorrow. We have five stocks complete already.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

Gunny, someday when I get the balls to realize my defeat , I will be contacting you through a PM about a gun stock that has been troubling me. Okay?.

 

[Wolfshead]

Gunny, amazing work!
I’ve done a (very) few stock repairs and I’ve just learned so much from this thread.
Thank you for sharing your expertise

 

[herrwalther]

Thanks for the pictures and taking the time to explain your process Gunny. Learn something new every time you go on a stock repair bender.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Gunny, someday when I get the balls to realize my defeat , I will be contacting you through a PM about a gun stock that has been troubling me. Okay?.

Why not just create a post on it and I’ll do my best to help. That way others might benefit from the information.

Gunny, amazing work!
I’ve done a (very) few stock repairs and I’ve just learned so much from this thread.
Thank you for sharing your expertise

You should check out this topic.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/a-little-road-trip-to-the-cmp-south-store.835226/

Thanks for the pictures and taking the time to explain your process Gunny. Learn something new every time you go on a stock repair bender.

I have an open door policy. Any forum member is welcome to come by to do stock repairs.
I meet Matt around 10 years ago over at Surplus Rifle Forum. SRF used to have a big get together every summer called Shutzenfest up in Ohio. The last one was in 2012. I went five years in a row. I got to meet a lot of the forum members and make a lot of friends, Matt being one of them. Each year I would do some type of repair class at the get together. I have always enjoyed helping and teaching others about stock work.
If anyone needs help with a stock repair, just start a topic and send me a PM to give me a heads up, and I will help out as much as I can.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Here are two of the Carcano stocks that we finished up today. These are two of the four Carcano stocks that I cleaned with Purple Power.
This pic was taken today after the repairs were dressed up.


Here they are after being Bonded.


And here they are after a coat of BLO was rubbed into them. Tomorrow they will get a coat of Tom’s 1/3 Mix.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

I ended up drilling 28 holes total in 12 different stocks. In all that drilling I only made one mistake.
While drilling into the butt of one of the Carcano stocks to secure some stress cracks, I drilled through the surface of the stock.
Matt didn’t seem to be to happy about me putting an extra hole in his stock, but I told him that I would just fix it to make it look like an old arsenal repair.
Here’s one of the old Arsenal repairs on one of the stocks.


Here’s the repair that I did to fix my mistake.


Here’s the repair before I added some age to blend it.


Here’s the repair to the stress cracks in the butt.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Here’s that Turkish handguard that was almost cracked in half.