doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com French gun stocking

Help! A friend of mine brought this over to me the other day to restock for him. Now I'm not a novice but I am at this time only experience with using semi- inletted stocks available from commercial wood makers. Mostly American classics. Unfortunatley there is only a small piece of the original stock for this gun remaining. Can someone in this brain trust point me in the right direction for a replacement stock for this? Even used or broken would be a help at this point as I could send it out to be duplicated. I have a feeling the scallped sides are not for the faint of heart. It also needs a trigger guard. The rest of the gun is in great shape and certainly worth saving. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I have also posted this on the French gun board.

Best regards to all.

You have to make a pattern stock before you can have it duplicated. What you have is a basic box lock with a fancy back on the back of the receiver. Block out hammer space, safety space, etc..., with modeling clay. Then take a old basic box lock stock and remove all the wood needed to seat the stock easily to your receiver. You must be able to clamp it tightly against the rear of the receiver and hold it in place. Using the gel type glass bedding material you fill in all the areas that you need to make the rough stock fit the gun perfectly. The modeling clay prevents undercuts from causing the stock to get stuck on the gun. All the contact areas are in glass bedding compound. When you remove the stock clean up any flash of bedding material and fill in any voids.

Then send this pattern out to have it rough duplicated. Fit and finish as you would any other duplicated stock. Sounds harder than it really is but you must block out any undercuts and use the releasing agent or you will have glued the stock to the gun. Call me if you do this and I will well you how to get out of that mess as well.

Thanks Jon. It sounds pretty scary, but I will give it a go. Ya gotta learn sometime I guess. I get what you are saying though. Fill the voids with clay first. Then a set it flush, then use the glass to get the scalloping. Did I follow that right?

I've got what's left of a gun (stock, receiver and forearm) that this gun reminds me of. Unfortunately, I can only locate the forearm (it has the push button on the tip)right now. I'll keep looking. Is the checkering VERY fine on this one?

Sorry. I located it, straight sides, Belgian proofs (I think), and a cross bolt. If you think it might help, let me know. Once again, sorry to get your hopes up.

You will be glass bedding the gun to a stock which has been reamed out to eliminate undercuts and the clay helps create the spaces for the parts to move properly. The glass fills in the spaces which would be solid wood on the stock. Nice thing about glass bedding is that you can add to it if you need to. To make the rest of the stock shape use bondo to build up the stock.

The part you have left shows you most of what will need to be blocked out as it is one half of the picture.

Do not forget to use releasing agent. Repeat do not forget to use releasing agent. Person who taught me how to do this forgot once. He showed me a stock that he could not get off and he did not want to destroy trying. Took me 8 hours to get the stock off, without damage, for him. I was lucky and so was he that day.

KY Jon ----- I bet you put the qhole thing in the freezer overnight............ Ken

All eight hours.

Norm, that sounds pretty close. Straight stock, WAY fine checkering in this ones forend and Anson button release, just like yours.

Get out the tools and blacking. It's time to learn, go slow and think. I bet you make it and that you are a lot smarter when you finish. It took me two tries to do a J.P. Saur with a fancy back, bent tangs ( for cast off) and then the fancy back was sharply tapered to lock the wood in place.
bill