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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Internal Stock Repair-opinions Please


Ron J

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I finally got around to working on the Higgins stock. The wood under the action is broken and oil soaked. Someone put a 3/8 dowel through it to help, but the real problem was incorrect inletting. Anyway, I'm taking out much of this wood to repair it. It will be hollowed top to bottom and all the way back to the mag box once everything thats bad is removed.

The question: Should I try to make a wood replacement and epoxy it in? It will end up all small sections with not much "hold" to the original stock.

or: Leave the dowel, clean around it and fill with epoxy. This will need to be done in steps creating dams along the way.

What do you guys think?

Also I'm thinking the devcon steel putty is the ticket here. Is there a specific number for this one? Devcon has many.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Ronpost-466-1235917907_thumb.jpg

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I think I'd do a mortise and block repair. Chisel out a rectangular block mortise leaving shoulders where the front of the mag mortise ends and extending to the bottom of the inletting. Epoxy a wood block in and run a stock reinforcing bolt thru the whole affair.

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Does the dowel extend through to the outside? If not, I would use a piece of key stock in epoxy. I would drill the stock with small, shallow holes angled in different directions to give the epoxy some grip. I would roughen up the keystock to help the epoxy adhere to it also.

 

The cartridge this thing is chambered in should be considered. If a pipsqueak, most any method will work. What I discribed should be good for an '06 or so, but for a traditional elephant gun cartridge, I would be reluctant to trust a repair. LL

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Bob, the cross pins in it now are .500" ebony caps over a .375 dowel. Crossbolts have .437 dia heads. There also isn't much meat to have the head and a cap within the sides. This assumes I understand what you're saying. I like the block in a mortise idea myself, but there will be alot of smallish sections. The cross dowel is not right behind the action lug either, like it should be. It's back a little so there's another thin section that will get sandwiched where the pounding is the greatest. Keep in mind this is what my mind is thinking - I haven't done this before.

 

LL - It is in fact a 30-06. It's one of those FN's that was barreled by High Standard and sold through Sears under the JC Higgins name.

 

Thanks for the input so far, guys.

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Does the dowel extend through to the outside? If not, I would use a piece of key stock in epoxy. I would drill the stock with small, shallow holes angled in different directions to give the epoxy some grip. I would roughen up the keystock to help the epoxy adhere to it also.

 

The cartridge this thing is chambered in should be considered. If a pipsqueak, most any method will work. What I discribed should be good for an '06 or so, but for a traditional elephant gun cartridge, I would be reluctant to trust a repair. LL

 

 

I agree with LL - keystock epoxied in, secured with small holes drilled at angles in both keystock and stock to provide grip. Make sure the recoil lug is flush against the key stock if you have it abut the recoil lug. I'd probably consider the keystock as a "reinforcing filler" and have epoxy or glas abut the recoil lug since it "flows".

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Bob, the cross pins in it now are .500" ebony caps over a .375 dowel. Crossbolts have .437 dia heads. There also isn't much meat to have the head and a cap within the sides. This assumes I understand what you're saying. I like the block in a mortise idea myself, but there will be alot of smallish sections. The cross dowel is not right behind the action lug either, like it should be. It's back a little so there's another thin section that will get sandwiched where the pounding is the greatest. Keep in mind this is what my mind is thinking - I haven't done this before.

 

LL - It is in fact a 30-06. It's one of those FN's that was barreled by High Standard and sold through Sears under the JC Higgins name.

 

Thanks for the input so far, guys.

 

Ok, I got it now. What do you think of this? Drill out the ebony caps and cross-pin and then do the block/mortise repair. Next, drill thru the old dowel holes and insert/epoxy a short .375 dowel on each side into the block. Finally, drill thru the dowels and block for a crossbolt. Install crossbolt and use black epoxy/thin ebony to cap the ends. If you do it this way the dowels will transmit recoil across nearly the full width of the stock.

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Ron

 

Been there done that.

 

I like bits and pieces of what's been suggested so far.

 

Here is what I'd do.

 

Get that damn dowel out of there and replace it with a cross bolt.

I mean a bolt like a #12 or a 1/4". Figure on capping the ends.

Or you might use a carriage bolt , flatten and blue the head and just

cap the nut end.

 

 

Forget about any additional wood blocks.

Just fill the entire thing with epoxy. The cross bolt will be like

rebar in concrete. The epoxy will be stronger, denser, more homogeneous

than trying to piece in another piece of wood.

 

If you do the heads of the cross bolt right, they will keep the sides from

pushing out under recoil.

 

You can separately epoxy that broken piece back in on the bottom before you

begin your fill operation. It is below the bearing point of the recoil lug on the receiver.

 

Tips

 

Clean, Clean , clean; tape ( masking ) and then wax the magazine before the fill.

rough up the wood, Wax the receiver, never seize on the screw threads.

See if you can cut in some vertical shoulders along each side so that your epoxy

fill actually has an edge to bear on under recoil. I'd like to see the fill piece have a

general 'T' shape such that each end of the top of the T 'rests' on some of the side

under recoil.

 

Good luck, may the force be with you!

 

Craig

 

P.S.

 

I think that I showed you some of this at the pig roast.

 

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