Depends on how bad the cracks are, but generally when faced with this sort of thing I do my best to get as much oil out of the wood as I can, and then force glue into the cracks. I pry open the cracks using small screwdriver or wooden wedges. I thin the wood glue just a bit and then dab it into the cracks and use compressed air to push it in as deep as possible. I use surgical tubing to clamp it. Once dry, I address any bedding issue that might exist, using epoxy bedding compound to make sure there’s full contact on the recoil surfaces—very Important to prevent further cracking. It’s also a good time to take a look to see if the tang area is stable. More often than not, at least out here in the dry southwest, the wood has shrunk and the tang screws no longer can be tightened properly without changing the trigger geometry, so that gets addressed as well.


John Farner
Eagle Machine Gunsmithing, LLC
Corrales, New Mexico