There have been many changes in the last year or so. I decided to start my own business and I no longer work along side Bailey Bradshaw. We still talk and visit often so no hard feelings on either end. I acquired my own shop many months back and have been doing renovations to get ready. There are still many small things left to do, but the shop is at a point I can begin gun work.







Behind my work bench I still plan on doing overhead cabinets with a small lean-on gun rack. Hopes are to also be able to hang stocks below the cabinets for finish work.

The bench by the mill that is untopped will be topped with a steel sheet. Plans are to put the furnace on it and do welding on it. Anyone care to help lift the furnace?

Not pictured is the front office/gun room.

Now on to the important stuff. I don't do many bolt guns having been dabbling with the double rifles at Bradshaws. This customer is a member here and a young wiper snapper at that. In fact some of the reasoning behind him going with me was the age correlation; him being two or three years older than me(24). I hope this gun sees a lot of use in the field as he works in Tanzania.

He bought the metal work from another fellow member, then sent it to me. Im not sure who has done the metal work until this point. We decided to go with a English style stock, very open grip, short forend, and trim for .404 standards.

Here I am drilling the holes and roughing the inletting on the mill:



Metal hand inletted the rest of the way:

Plans are to fill the inclusion on the barrel channel with matching wood:



Did some 2-dimensional work today:

I did a bit of rough shaping yesterday. I don't have the floorplate so I cant finish the shaping of the magazine area which is why it looks bulky still. I will get the floorplate in and finish the shaping and refining. Ammo is on the way, plans are to shoot the irons in before doing finish work.

Looks like a fine looking rifle in the makings!

Ifn I was a bit closer, I'd help you lift the furnace.

Aaron, good to see you over here. Nice project you have started there. Looking forward to seeing it come together. We need more young blood in the custom rifle trade. Wish you all the best.

Nice Vise.

John

My favorite style of rifle and beautiful to look at even when unfinished.

Nice work. Your workshop looks like someones living room.
Mike

Good Morning Aaron. Consider using a dowel rod into the grip from the action side of the project instead of a metal rod. I use/make either 1/2" or 5/8" to re-enforce my stocks from straight grained English walnut. I glass them in using Acra-glass. Going from the grip side can pose problems in getting the stock secured/aligned properly during boring. Also please give me a call. It is time to discuss the ACGG.

Thank you all for the kind words. Dennis, when would be a good time to call you tomorrow?

Aaron, I am in the shop 9-5 officially. You know how that goes!

So 8am-9pm

I like it, a lot.

This brings up a bespoke stock making question I've been wanting to ask.

I see it done two ways -from a solid blank as shown here -or by modifying a donor stock which is then duplicated. How do most custom stockers do it? Is it a matter of personal preference?

It depends on one's training and abilities to make money fastest. Some stockers are really adept at making stocks quickly from a block. Some have not mastered that skill so a pantagraphed stock allows them to make money in business. I do not own a mill. Nor have I learned how to master that machine. Aaron did a great job of using his mill to enhance his skills and shorten his work time. Neither is right or wrong. The project I am going to stock depends on if I use a duplicated stock or not. I just finished a Boss 20 S X S from a block using hand tools. I have a 1897 Remington to upgrade and it is duplicated so I get the correct period shapes right.

On this one I didn't have a pattern, so that choice was made for me. If I had a pattern or was intending to make a somewhat standardized stock pattern/rifle line I would make a pattern and duplicate.

What I didn't show is how far I can really go with the mill. One can go so far as to get most of the rounding done.

My first step is to cut the side profile, then I flip the blank 90 degrees and mill the widths; width of magazine area, width of forend, width of the butt, grip width. By taking the vise off the mill and blocking/clamping the blank one can set the correct angles to do the taper on the forend, butt, etc...With careful placement of the blank you can even start the rounding of the butt; toe to back of grip and heel to the noe of comb.

The pics below are me just milling the widths. Notice the blocking and clamping of the blank. This blank called for neutral cast and no cheek-piece, which made things easier. Blending, swamping, and further rounding is done by hand. machining the blank as far as possible makes for an incredibly consistant base to work from.

That’s interesting. Thanks.

Aaron -

I have a G&H M70 in .404 and that is of course odd because it is a later (probably 50's) rifle in the classic G&H style and a .404 on a M70. The barrel contour is way to heavy but it shoots like a benchrest rifle and is very comfortable to shoot. I will try to get a few pics up and one of the follower. Nice work.

Gunmaker,
That is nice work.The shots of using the mill are interesting. I was lucky enough to watch Erik Reis( was Master Stockmaker for FW Heym at the time)in his private shop at home a few times.He also had a mill he did some of the inletting on,but he removed the excess wood from the outside with a band saw. I was absolutly amazed at how quickly he shaped it up.He marked the contours on the blank with templates an by hand.I was impressed by how well he could follow the contours in the tight places, in addition to the speed. This was freehand,so there was no "setup time" involved.
Mike

Time for an update. The customer hasn't put a rush on anything and slowly pays as he is allowed. He has the same problem as I; young, broke, and both starting new businesses!

Since my last post the gun has grown extended top and bottom tangs, scope mounts for Talley QD rings, some checkering, and a preliminary quick polish to get ready for engraving. The rifle was handed over to the fairly new but very capable engraver John Todd while at the DSC show. I hope to have it back in four months time.

I was able to find an up and coming freelance model to hold the rifle while I took some pics(not really).

I didn't take a picture of the top tang polished up, but here it is in a raw state. I learned adding extended tangs after shaping a stock is a royal PITA...I plan to tidy things up on the top tang with a laser welder upon getting it back from the engraver. Please ignore the screw, I like to hold off on making nice screws until just before going to engraving. This picture was taken a while ago and doesn't show the new proper screw.

That is impressive! You like challenges with that top tang. I can't imagine how hard that muhst have been . I'm inletting a very simple shotgun action tonight and though it is 100,000 times simpler, it will not be as nicely done as that.

How long is that barrel? I like long barrels and that one looks almost long enough

26" barrel on this one. I agree on barrel length, 24" is as short as I like to go on my rifles, even with short English forends.

I get concerned with barrels less than 30"...

But I'm mostly a singleshot guy, so my idea of "normal" is a bit distorted.

Nice rifle, I wish I was that good. I'm working at it.

I think ive got a 28" Rigby contoured 7mm barrel around here somewhere.

"I plan to tidy things up on the top tang with a laser welder upon getting it back from the engraver. "
Sorry, I wouldn't be showing things that you need to make excuses for. …And that's the stock with the horrible forend grain, isn't it?

The work looks good but that simply isn't enough...

Wow, Gunmaker, I think you should be pleased that you weren't asked if it was made from aluminum.

Keep us posted as the project continues to progress, please.

Great looking rifle. I'd love to have one built for me in that style. And I'm sure you'll make everything right before delivery. Keep the photos coming.

I don't know much about bolt rifle forearms, but I see nothing even close to "hideous" about that one. I like the profile. As far as I can see, the grain is good where it counts and the rest is decoration.

I agree I think it's nice looking. Most important is if the customer likes it then that is what counts.

I saw you posted your rifle on the Nitro Express forum and got a positive response from Dorleac. That's really saying something because his company builds the finest British style rifles I have ever seen.

I totally agree about that, this rifle was loosely styled after one of theirs.

I highly respect the Dorleac's and their work.

It is a pleasure to view pics of something truly custom made. Thank you.

That's a fine looking rifle already. The stock blank is exactly right for that sort of use.

Stunning. That's what rifles are for.