doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Stock Question

I was looking for a light 20 gauge sxs to use for turkey hunting 6 years ago and came across what I thought was a bargain in a Fausti that had been imported by Traditions. It had the features I was looking for, except it had a straight stock instead of the pistol grip I wanted. I figured I could get used to it, but disliked it enough that I seldom used the gun.

I have been watching for a pistol grip stock since I bought it, but have never seen one for sale. A couple weeks back I found a guy with 2 stocks for a Winchester 23 that he was almost giving away, so I bought them. I got him to measure the ends and decided I could fit one to my gun. One of them had 2" cut off and I thought it would be good to practice on before trying to install the decent one.

I found out quickly that stock makers earn whatever they charge. I've enjoyed working with it, but it's harder than I expected. Here is my question - is the recoil supposed to be primarily on the wood behind the stock bolt block? That looks to me like the only part of the Fausti stock that is substantial enough to handle recoil, and it's even more so with the Winchester stock adapted to it. The other places that the stock touches the action has such thin wood that I'm afraid it could crack if it absorbs any recoil.

The wood on the Fausti stock was left proud to the action; I had planned to try to fit it, but it's so thin that I think I should leave it proud on the new stock.

I am thinking I should glass bed it, taking care to do a good job with the wood behind the stock bolt block. If this is what is supposed to bear most of the recoil then the thin wood in other places shouldn't matter. I have bedded several rifles, but never thought of doing a sxs shotgun.

This is a cheap gun and certainly not worth paying someone to restock. I obviously have no experience in stock building, so thanks for any help.

I am not at all familiar with a Fausti, or what it might take to cheat and adapt a Winchester 23 stock to fit. But you are correct to think that recoil is likely to crack thin sections. Ideally, the more surface area of dense end grain that you can get inletting contact with on the rear of the action, the better. The only place to avoid contact is where a wedge effect might split the stock, as at the rear of a tang for example.

I have seen where a gunsmith built up thin or weak areas in the inletting, where it wouldn't be visible, with small blocks of walnut epoxied in place. Then this added walnut filler block is headed up as if you were starting from a blank. Sounds like good practice if you can pull it off.

Thanks Keith, I should have posted a picture. You can see where the wood will contact the action, and it looks like to me that most of the recoil has to go to the block and the tangs that hold it. The Winchester stock is not as thick as the original at the front where it fits into the action.

I am thinking that it shouldn't matter if I bed it well. But since I have never done such a thing, I thought I should ask people who know.

fev fallout

While the block the through bolt goes into is the main recoil lug the mating of the stock where it meets the action is important to spread the recoil forces over as much area is equally important.

Thanks Mark, I got my bedding materials out and found they were mostly too old to use. I ordered a new kit and will plan to bed both stocks. It's good that I have the short one for practice. I have some walnut I can use to glue pieces to the inside of the front of the stock to reinforce it in the manner Keith mentioned.

There are also add on pistol grip extensions that could be added to the original stock.

if your bedding material is acraglas put it in the microwave 1 min or less at a time till soft the use it.

Thanks for the tip. Put both the resin and hardener in the microwave? What about the release agent? All 3 have become solid. I added some alcohol to the release agent, but it doesn't appear to be dissolving very well

Thanks for the info, but I've worked on this one too long to give up on it. I'm concerned about the strength of it, but I think bedding it should take care of that.

For release agent, I use automobile paste wax,,the 'soft' kind. Use a common toothbrush to apply liberally to the metal and let it dry. Never had a problem.
There are lots of other alternatives that people use, but that's just my offering.

On those rounded rear tang ends,,before you apply any release agent you can carefully lay over a piece of common scotch tape, 2 layers if you wish. Just cover the radius of the curve and cut it off as it blends into the straight sides of the tangs. Then apply your release agent what ever it it right over the tape and the surrounding metal.

The idea is that the tape layer(s) will produce a nice even relief of a few .000 at the rear of the tangs to avoid cracking from setback should it still happen.
It makes a nice clean job of it and is easy to do.

Up front you can if you wish very gently taper the sides of the frame inward,,very gently..
That's called draft on the part. Here it will keep the stock held tight to the action and tangs. You only need a few degrees of draft,,hardly noticable and no matter how much you file in, it won't change the side outside contour at all anyway. Only the very small top and bottom frame to wood contacts will show the taper.

Be careful enlarging the contact areas by adding glued in wood at the head of the stock beyond what the metal of the frame is.
You may be trying to boost the strength, but you may block the operation/rotation of the hammers to the rear or sometimes the bolt retracting.

There's plenty of contact surface on that action. Square it up a little to even better make flat surfaces even if you don't add any draft. Careful glas bedding and a full draw on the stock bolt will have it secure.

Have fun with it..