Cracked Stock Repair

Recommendations needed please on best way to go about repairing a crack at the muzzle end:

I'd wait for others to chime in, as I am a novice builder . . . But I'm thinking epoxy with a little brown tint mixed in. The barrel channel side won't be seen so it can take quite a bit. . . and your ramrod will hide that crack. Another random thought is that a nose cap, gently inlet, might strengthen that area.

Titebond II or III, clamp, wipe off excess glue with a damp cloth. It will disappeared when finished.

Lightly grease the underside of your barrel.

Use toothpicks to spread the crack wider.

Insert some tite-bond III, waterproof, wood glue.

Remove toothpicks and let everything come together.

Put greased barrel back in the stock channel. THIS IS A MUST DO. So the barrel channel doesn't get compressed/narrowed/squished by a vise or clamps alone.

Bind tightly with a wrap of small rubber hose, electrical tape, etc. that won't stick to wood glue.

Allow to dry 24 hours, unwrap and very carefully remove the barrel.

Finally, do not ever clamp that stock nose in a vise without having the barrel in the channel. Going forward, any sanding or scraping gets done with the barrel in the channel.


PS: Find where that crack ends and go all Liberty Bell on it. Drill a small hole so the crack won't keep running. From the pictures it looks like the crack terminates at the pipe cutout. But look to be sure.

Oh.....And round off or taper those pin ends. We talked about this. At the risk of sounding like a ****, you need to listen to people who try to help.

In addition I'd add that when you have plenty of glue on the crack, open and close it several times with your fingers before you wipe off the excess and clamp it. This helps to pump the glue deeper into the crack.
And definitely, round off those pins or you'll be trying to glue in little pieces of wood to fill the chips the pins break off. I know about this personally.

MAC1967 said:

.... Another random thought is that a nose cap, gently inlet, might strengthen that area.

Click to expand...

Ya, no kidding, but with a ramrod channel and an octagon barrel even I am not attempting that.

How did that happen?

I've fixed several of this exact problem. Instead of grease or release agent on the under side of the barrel opposite the crack , get scissors and cut an ample size piece of grocery shopping bag to use between the epoxie , and barrel. Wrap the bag plastic around the barrel , and tape it in place on the top of the barrel. Regular release agent is a PITA , and is not needed when the bag plastic does the job nicely. It's easy to remove once the epoxie sets up. No fuss , no muss. I use a tiny amount of brown epoxie dye in the mix. Step one........Put the single layer of bag plastic in place taped to the top of the barrel out of th way , two...mix up the dyed epoxie and spread it in the barrel channel over the split , three.....Press the barrel in place , and use a light weight spring clamp top and sides of the stock and barrel to clamp the barrel in place , and close the split in the stock. Let the epoxie set up over night , remove the barrel from its repaired channel , pullout the bag plastic release strip from the barrel , and done. Clean up any tiny bits of dried epoxie , and celebrate. The end of barrel securing pin hole might have to be redrilled , but that's it. Hope this simple proceedure will help fix the split. I started using grocery bag plastic for barrel bedding release agent back in the late 1960"s , when I used to glass bed cartridge rifle barrels and actions. It worked well for that , and when I got bored doing modern hobby gunstock work , and switched to muzzleloaders , and I took the bag plastic trick with me. Also , I've glass beded breech plug tangs , using the bag plastic trick , as well. .........oldwood

Beaverman2 said:

How did that happen?

Click to expand...

I would hamper a guess that since the pins were not filed or rounded to a dome shape, when he drove the farthest pin towards the nose in, it caught and didn’t drive straight. When that happened the jagged pin caught some material and caused pressure towards the nose end of the stock. That’s a fairly weak area when the barrel isn’t installed.

S.Kenton said:

I would hamper a guess that since the pins were not filed or rounded to a dome shape, when he drove the farthest pin towards the nose in, it caught and didn’t drive straight. When that happened the jagged pin caught some material and caused pressure towards the nose end of the stock. That’s a fairly weak area when the barrel isn’t installed.

Click to expand...

Yea, thats obvious, was wanting him to admit it after being schooled by experienced builders

64Springer said:

Lightly grease the underside of your barrel.

Use toothpicks to spread the crack wider.

Insert some tite-bond III, waterproof, wood glue.

Remove toothpicks and let everything come together.

Put greased barrel back in the stock channel. THIS IS A MUST DO. So the barrel channel doesn't get compressed/narrowed/squished by a vise or clamps alone.

Bind tightly with a wrap of small rubber hose, electrical tape, etc. that won't stick to wood glue.

Allow to dry 24 hours, unwrap and very carefully remove the barrel.

Finally, do not ever clamp that stock nose in a vise without having the barrel in the channel. Going forward, any sanding or scraping gets done with the barrel in the channel.


PS: Find where that crack ends and go all Liberty Bell on it. Drill a small hole so the crack won't keep running. From the pictures it looks like the crack terminates at the pipe cutout. But look to be sure.

Oh.....And round off or taper those pin ends. We talked about this. At the risk of sounding like a ****, you need to listen to people who try to help.

Click to expand...

Excellent information here in easy to follow step by step format.

1

S.Kenton said:

I would hamper a guess that since the pins were not filed or rounded to a dome shape, when he drove the farthest pin towards the nose in, it caught and didn’t drive straight. When that happened the jagged pin caught some material and caused pressure towards the nose end of the stock. That’s a fairly weak area when the barrel isn’t installed.

Click to expand...

The pins didn't cause this crack. I round my pins way better than even Kibler himself does. He takes a few swipes with a file. I stick it in a drill chuck and turn it high speed against a file through 90 degrees. I just happen to do it only on one end, the end that goes in. The other end is going to get clipped off eventually. Before then it never touches wood. I'll round that end, too when it gets clipped.

Lay off the pins.

@oldwood - you mentioned using epoxy, not glue. Could you be more specific? Thanks ...

I don’t see any reason to revel in his misfortune. He does things his way and sometimes pay for it, but stuff happens no matter how careful you are and now he needs help, not ridicule.

My guess is the stock split while inletting/fitting the ramrod pipe. Applying pressure on the pipe while trying to keep tight wood to metal fit caused the wood to split along the grain. Above recommendations will make for an easy fix.

It’s tinny tinny wood, 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick it’s just waiting to crack. That’s why end caps were invented.
I’ve never cracked there but when I pull the barrel I’m sweeting bullets

wiscoaster said:

The pins didn't cause this crack. I round my pins way better than even Kibler himself does. He takes a few swipes with a file. I stick it in a drill chuck and turn it high speed against a file through 90 degrees. I just happen to do it only on one end, the end that goes in. The other end is going to get clipped off eventually. Before then it never touches wood. I'll round that end, too when it gets clipped.

Lay off the pins.

Click to expand...

Huh? This is your picture, I blew it up to show the detail in the pin…. Unless my eyes deceive me and forgive me if they do, BUT that pin is jagged.. never install a jagged pin

I'm thinking of reinforcing the forearm. Any suggestions along those lines also welcome.

wiscoaster said:

The pins didn't cause this crack. I round my pins way better than even Kibler himself does. He takes a few swipes with a file. I stick it in a drill chuck and turn it high speed against a file through 90 degrees. I just happen to do it only on one end, the end that goes in. The other end is going to get clipped off eventually. Before then it never touches wood. I'll round that end, too when it gets clipped.

Lay off the pins.

Click to expand...

It's pretty obvious to anyone with eyeballs that those pins are as square as can be on the ends.