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Update On Project (mannlicher) (pic Intense)


littlecanoe

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Just a few recent pics to show the progress of this project.

I took the advice given and slimmed the stock down a good bit.

Let me know what ya think and how much more should be removed.

 

It was more than a little scary to hack a bunch more wood off but I'm really liking the feel of the forearm

as I get it thinned out.

 

Full Length Mannlicher

 

Stock and Grip

 

Forearm Transition

 

I've got some more sanding and light scraping to do to get it ready to finish.

Still have to do something about the trigger guard.

 

lc

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LC, isn't that stock the one you made from a blank of cherry? IIRC it was wood from you or your dad's property. That really looks good. The full length stock on a small ring, especially a Swede, is what my daydreams are all about. It's gonna be a ball to finish.

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LC,

 

Nice work, full length stocks always look classy. There is a old Outdoor Life Book by Jim Carmichel called Do-It-Yourself Gunsmithing and he has a chapter on Styling the European Sporter that is a full length stock with a mid-forend schnabel.

Quite informative with lots of photos. The pics always helped me as sometimes it was tough to visualize what I wanted to accomplish. If you would like to borrow the book just let me know.

Good Luck,

Bob

 

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LC, looks good! i know it can be scary to remove the wood, but it seems to work out in the end. if it were me, i would keep whittlin' on the grip and butt. they appear a bit heavy for the sveltness of the fore end. YMMV.

 

heath

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  • 1 month later...

Several good tips presented above on creating a Mannlicher rifle:

 

Excelent specific instructions on fitting the nose cap and letting it determine the stock thickness back to the receiver.

 

Great advice on the non-straight-line underside of the fore end, rather a very shallow, radiused, concave curve with the peak of the curve about 60% from the receiver and then straight-line to muzzle. Try to see an MS factory rifle.

 

The forward sling swivel cannot be secured to the stock, wood is far too thin. The traditional method is a transverse screw thru a lug beneath a barrel band. This may be the best method (See Z's example).

 

Sights:

Military sight are the fastest method of dealing with quick adjustments for elevation changes, but, are very clunky looking. Shorter carbine type milsurp sights are better. If not acceptable, remove complete rear sight, disassemble, revolve base then replace it upside down leaving a solid sleeve (earlier sight bases do not have center milled out). This preserves the existing barrel inletting for the milsurp sight base.

 

Scopes are best as they put all 3 sighting elements in one dimension. Low magnification is best as it permits a wider field of view, particularly at short range when most shots are made (a deer trotting at 7mph will move completely out of the field of view in a scope set at 9x in one step. But, if a top mounted scope is used, front and rear backup iron sights will have to be higher than military sights to be seen above the tops of the receiver mounted scope bases remaining, if the scope must be removed.

 

Peep sights are closer to the eye, give at least 10ins. greater sighting base, eliminate focusing on the rear sight, and do not cover up the target with notched rear sight leaf (which is why open iron sights cause shoother to shoot high trying to lift the front sight higher to see the target more clearly). Peep sights can have their elevation arm marked to indicate specific ranges for quick changes.

 

Open Iron sights are a no-think habit born of tradition and require the greatest skill and concentration for effective use, also the least expensive sight for the manufacturers to add.

 

Many of todays rifles have no iron sights (cost effectiveness at work), maybe you've have never had a scope get broken or disabled - yet, besides, all of this will become clearer as your vision loses it sharp edge - and it will.

 

Among history's great creative painters, arcitechs, sculptors, and writers, whose work is carefully preserved in museums down through the ages, is the work of gunmakers- also artists. For most of us our great contribution will be our children. But this is not artistry, rather persuasion and reproduction. But on this forum we have at least 3 men whose work is artistic as well as functional. Even if we simply copy their work we can create items which may be charished by untold future generations of our offspring. I'm not an artist, but I'm getting better at copying gun art and it makes me happy as hell. Bill.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ozziemauser,

 

I whittled that one out of a Cherry tree that came out of my back yard. I'm in the process of final sanding and final forming now. I hope to find the time to post a few updated pics of the refinements that I have made. This has been a work in progress. I think that I will finish it though. LOL

 

Bill, I enjoyed reading your synopsis of gun building. I believe that God put in us an appreciation of work that we accomplish with our hands.

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Thank you for the info. on stock. Perhaps I will someday have the cojones to whittle one myself! Yours looks great.

Also, new to Forum (any forum!) and loving it. Trying to get the hang of posting, etc.

Great info. and people seem to know what they're talking about.

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I whittled that one out of a Cherry tree that came out of my back yard.

 

How long did you let it dry for? Did you seal the end grain? Did you have any problems with checking? I tried to age a few small pieces of cherry and it cracked all to heck.

 

I have a couple big trees at the place now that if I ever get around to trimming may donate parts of themselves to my hobby.

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Monte,

 

I sealed the end grain with paint. Then I air dried for a short time and then Kiln dried slowly. I cut the blank to a more generous 3 inch thickness. I should have air dried longer to avoid some warping that occurred in the blank. As the blank was thick I was able to use table saw, joiner and planer (My dad is a furniture builder and has large wood working equipment). This straightened the blank nicely and I've not had any further warp issues since making the stock.

 

I'd recommend the standard 1 year per inch to dry the blanks and then do a slow kiln dry of some sort. You have to be picky there because different species of wood need to be dried at different rates.

 

Sometimes trees will suffer from wind shake. This is where the tree is exposed to a lot of wind and there is separation of the grain vertically. This usually seems to happen between growth rings. This will sometimes only show up after drying as some serious checking of the grain.

 

The problem that I have is having the patience to let the stuff dry! :)

 

 

Edited: Forgot to add. When air drying it's best to make sure that the wood is in a dark place away from the sun. This allows it to dry at a slower rate.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I was inspired to have at it again a few days ago and made some nice progress on the forearm and transition area. The wrist is still a bit fat and I'll have to work it over.

 

I worked the nose cap down to fit the barrel, which is a bit large for a Mannlicher style. However, it turned out better than I thought it would. The schnabble may be a bit large, I haven't made up my mind about it yet.

 

I just wanted to say thanks for the encouragement that you guys gave to keep on whittling. Making this stock has really taught me a lot.

 

Here is a quick update pic:

 

331543425.jpg

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Thanks dj,

 

I'm thinking of your double-set triggers for this one, down the road.

 

Don,

 

I've since trimmed a little more on the grip. I'll try to post a few more pics in a few days to show all the refinements better.

I'll open the grip up a bit on the next one.

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I was looking through a picture album tonight and came across this photo. Hope you won't mind a proud father posting a pic It was made in early July of 06. The little stockmaker was 21 months old at the time. He's going on 4years now.

 

This was the inletting of the top metal. As you can see, the blank was Gynormus!

 

333045952.jpg

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