doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com stock building

Stan, that is one heck of a job you did and the level of detail is very good. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have left that piece but good for you. Certainly can't hurt being there.

Craig, I appreciate your thoughts on this. You're not seeing things wrong. I just put the action together to see how much space was being taken up. This receiver is SMALL with a lot packed into it.

It hasn't been very easy to get a good pattern of the top tang. The receiver has a squarish section under the tang that has to be let into the stock. In addition there is a nub (for lack of a better word) at the bottom of the receiver that needs to be addressed. This sort of makes me think that I need to get the tang let down into the stock and then work the receiver back until it mates up with the face of the stock.



Then as you say I'll start fitting all the other parts.

Kirk

Typically, the "heading up process" starts at the rear of the action body. In the vertical plain.

I use a plexiglasss cut-out approximating my desired stock shape, and I trace it on the blank.

In that moment, I am identifying figure, knots, grain flow, and sap wood, to get what I want where. Slide the plexi glass around, see what is possible.

Here's where that impacts you.

The comb angle vs the plane of the rear of the action.

Your first plumb cut sets up everything else behind it.

Don't screw up the blank with the first cut.

When you have that plumb cut made, you can start letting in.

I cant tell from your pictures, but I think you'll be going ahead first, and then letting the top strap down into the blank.

Check out some You tube videos for AyA or Purdey's, they show enough heading up to see how to avoid a first cut malfunction.

CZ, thanks for the reply. Spent a bit of time looking through videos and while I've some things of interest, I've yet to find one that shows what I'm looking for. Lots of videos so I'll keep looking.

I'm going to take some more pics of the action from different angles and post them. Hopefully that will make it more clear what I'm dealing with that has me going Hmmmm.

Kirk

I thought you might reply.
I looked at the H&H video where they make a DR. 6:50 in you'll see the square cut head and the top strap being sunk in. Then the square mortise you are worrying about.
Lots of blacking and tapping.

The thing to remember is that these shotguns are machine made. There's a machining order that allows their quick manufacture.
Some have no draw between the plumb cut and the shoulders of the action, so the fit between them should approach perfection. Or they pound themselves.

Kirk, I think what the example CZ is showing is that the top strap is rolled down into the blank until the back of the action meets his starting reference cut.

I don't think you can drop straight down and still be able to jump undercuts. Also, if you inlet the top tang, then work straight back to bring your reference cut filled in above your lower nub, the tang will climb out of its inletting because of its downward pitch.

Maybe, try it out on one end of your poplar, and flip it over to try a different approach if needed. You may not need to make a pattern of your tang, but it could end up being a bunch of scribing, rescibing and spotting.

I used David Trevallion's articles for guidance, starting with a Crescent, and a straight grained piece of walnut.
All that blacking is part of the fun.
Learning which tool can do what for you is part of the rest.

I could never be as aggressive with a gouge as a bench pro at Purdey's. They hog some stock. Absolutely merciless.

It's well worth the time profiling grinding sharpening and honing all your chisels as sharp as you can on the best water stones you can afford (�20 from eBay works pretty well!) sharp tools rarely wonder rip out wood or slip and make an unintentional cut. Only remove the high spots. Don't let the soot build up too much.

They are really fine locks, Eric. I have two of them, also. But, I have one other percussion lock that may well be built to a higher level of precision, though not as highly polished. It is a custom lock built by Bob Roller. It took me a half hour on the phone to convince him to build me one, many many years ago. Absolutely awesome, and a bit quicker lock time than the Schillinger, IMO. This particular Schillinger is on a 1 1/8" Douglas XX barreled, 13.9 lb. .45 cal. buffalo gun. It has shot 5/8" groups at 100 yds. Thanks for the comments.

Good luck with the stocking, kirkp. Please take pics and keep us posted along the way.

All my best, SRH

CZ, did some looking for the video you mentioned but have a question for you. What is a DR model or would you happen to have the link handy? I found this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUXoNUzAyvk where about 7 min in they are inletting a action but then in the course of a second they go to a different completely inletted action.

If you take a look at the side view of the action I posted above, you can see a rectangular shape just under the tang. Also note at the bottom of the action where it isn't square but has a small radiused area. This creates a small point that needs to be set into the face of the stock. This leads me to think that the action has to be at the correct vertical height before it can go back.

This next pic is a oblique view of the action which shows the rectangular section a bit better.


This last pic shows the action butted up to the stock for what it's worth.


You also mention some articles by David Trevallion. Where bouts can they be found?

Craig, I like what I think you're saying about rolling the action back. Now just figure out how to do it. I was toying with the following idea. Use the tang pattern and position it where I am fairly certain it will end up. Start inletting it down to the correct depth. I was thinking that I could then start rolling the action back. Not sure if that's clear but it sort of jives with what appeared to be happening in the H&H video I posted. It would seem to me to be much easier if the face of the action was flat instead of having that little tip protruding.

Well back to video searches for now.

Kirk

Found something tonight that might be of interest. I was messing around with the gun checking how far off face it was. I got to thinking about using the proper shells in the gun and how the depth of the chamber can influence this. Got me curious so thought I'd measure chamber length but as it turns out there isn't one. What I'm saying is that it wasn't bored out. Anyone ever seen anything like that?
Kirk