Barrel Channel Issue on a New Stock

[sawyer04]

I made a tool out of a chisel the shape of the barrel. Basically ground down the chisel to fit three flats, sharpened it and used it to scrape the barrel channel. The only problem is I made it to fit a 54 caliber and then had to make is smaller to fit the 40 that I'm working on now. No bid deal though.

If you use the breach end of the barrel as your scraper you will have a significant gap in the center if your barrel is swamped.

The making of tools is essential to get desired cuts and scrapes. Flea market chisels and old files are excellent tools to modify to scrapers. A simple propane torch will throw enough heat to smith the cheap and broken tools. Inexpensive grinder, stone, a cheap vise, file and emery paper and you are in business. I would visit you tube on heating, annealing and tempering tools with a propane torch.
Sure, takes time, when I began building guns I had very little in the way of tools, probably more than the mountain gunsmiths of the 1800's. A coffee can of broken, rusted chisels and a propane torch ( the most expensive of the lot. I had an old brace and bits from the tool shed and a broken carpenters hammer.
Just remember, what looks like a bunch of wood to hog out may just be a few thousands.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Yes to the above. Get your barrel closer to finished dimensions first though. Draw file it and sand it a little bit. As stated above, it's easier to make the hole fit the part than the other way around.

You also have to remember that finish in the end is going to tighten things up too. Water based stains (or those containing water like AF) will swell the wood. Seeing that it is winter time, this too is the driest time of the year. A tight fit now will be a looser fit come July and August. I notice it on some of my inlays on different guns that were finished at different times of the year. Guns that were finished in August the inlays stand a little proud in February. The opposite is true for those finished in February.

You cannot stop water vapor gas exchange through most finishes. Only slow it down. Seasonal wood movement is as old as wood and seasons themselves.

 

[waarp8nt]

The making of tools is essential to get desired cuts and scrapes. Flea market chisels and old files are excellent tools to modify to scrapers. A simple propane torch will throw enough heat to smith the cheap and broken tools. Inexpensive grinder, stone, a cheap vise, file and emery paper and you are in business. I would visit you tube on heating, annealing and tempering tools with a propane torch.
Sure, takes time, when I began building guns I had very little in the way of tools, probably more than the mountain gunsmiths of the 1800's. A coffee can of broken, rusted chisels and a propane torch ( the most expensive of the lot. I had an old brace and bits from the tool shed and a broken carpenters hammer.
Just remember, what looks like a bunch of wood to hog out may just be a few thousands.

I believe great minds think alike. I have been purchasing files and chisels to re-purpose for quite some time. I own a Oxygen Acetylene torch and have made a few springs for muzzleloader locks. I feel comfortable with most aspects of metal working and re-purposing tools.

At this time my thoughts are prep the barrel, check the fit and make a scraper. Then proceed with caution.

Just remember, what looks like a bunch of wood to hog out may just be a few thousands.

This is my main fear. To remove too much wood and ruin the stock or make it look like an unsightly. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist and very critical of my own work, that being said I have never considered myself a wood worker. Something I'm hoping to change. Thank you for your advise!

Yes to the above. Get your barrel closer to finished dimensions first though. Draw file it and sand it a little bit. As stated above, it's easier to make the hole fit the part than the other way around.

You also have to remember that finish in the end is going to tighten things up too. Water based stains (or those containing water like AF) will swell the wood. Seeing that it is winter time, this too is the driest time of the year. A tight fit now will be a looser fit come July and August. I notice it on some of my inlays on different guns that were finished at different times of the year. Guns that were finished in August the inlays stand a little proud in February. The opposite is true for those finished in February.

You cannot stop water vapor gas exchange through most finishes. Only slow it down. Seasonal wood movement is as old as wood and seasons themselves.

We deal with a fair amount of humidity here in Southern Illinois in the summer months. I also burn firewood, so its likely as dry as it will be here at home. Good point, something I will certainly need pay attention too.

 

[user 34300]

For inletting black use a big fat sharpie marker. Greasy stuff makes a mess and false marks. To do a perfect job it will still lightly touch. The sharpie inks rubs off under pressure, not just a light touch. It works much better.

An undersized octagon shaped block with sandpaper stuck to is it my go to for final tweaking. IF you mess up, do not despair. As the final outside stock shaping gets close, stop. Wet the stock, install the barrel, wrap it in surgical tubing. Let it dry a couple of days. You will find you gaps are gone.

 

[torpedo]

Zonie uses the same method I do, works great. Just keep it square and go slow, check fit often.

 

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I use a very sharp one inch chisel. Scraping will work but be careful of grain transitions. When you hit an are of more open grain the scrapper may take more material leaving a gap. I think it can also be hard to keep it aligned with the side of the channel. When I say use a chisel I mean you are slicing straight down. Using hand pressure, not a mallet.

Cory Joe Stewart

 

[Felix the Cat]

Most of the stuff I do has round barrels, but the principle is the same..

I have made a series of what I call "scorp" scrapers out of spring steel strip (has to be spring steel - mild steel will not harden!). Bend 90 degrees an inch from the end, grind back to an edge and harden and temper to straw. Most of mine are half moon shaped, but I have some flat and v shaped ones as well. You can also bolt sharpened penny washers to lengths of studding ( I think you call it allthread in your part of the world?)"

I use a kerosine soaked stick to put smoke on the underside of the barrel, and then press on to the stock.. use a scorp to scrape away the marks by pulling it either up or down the channel (one way will cut better, depending on how the grain lies.). You can use layout blue (or artist's oil paint) but I like smoke.. it is thinner and more traditional in my part of the world! You will not achieve full contact, but as you remove the high spots, the number of contact points will increase. Once you have points of contact about every quarter inch, you are probably close enough. Movement of the wood over time will eventually produce a perfect contact. What you are looking for is perfect contact along the visible edge between the metal and the wood. Bites and gaps along these edges do not look good. What happens beneath the stock is less important, providing it is not binding..

You can use an ordinary flat chisel to scrape across the grain, but there is a danger you will split it out. As you have an almost finished stock, do not be tempted to cut wood with a shaped cutter. The most you need to do is scrape or pare. You can use backed abrasives, but unless you are familiar with this technique, there is a danger of rounding edges. Abrasives cut much faster than most folk appreciate.. NEVER use a rasp for internal fitting. These are used for external shaping. Be very careful near edges or end grain as you can blow out chips and chunks..!

Make haste slowly, unlike metal you cannot use a TIG to put back wood you have taken off!

 

[shootrj2003]

1/32 is too small to risk cutting unless your experienced,sanding is also imprecise to take off that much,the middle of the road method is scraping ,which works well with a good tool,the est tool is one made by Gunline,however ,at this point in time,they seem to be having production or shipping problems,but some of thier gunline octagon bedding tools are out there,try your gunsmith supply places like Brownells or eBay you might find one in your size,they are the best tool for that job,I made a tool that worked well from a file,you just have to grind or file the precise octagon shape and grind the cutting angle just a bit off from flat with these toward you ad Make it a hair narrower than full width,it worked really well after I got the cutting angle right.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Like was posted above; I bought a Green Mountain drop in for a TC but it wouldn't go into the barrel channel of the TC stock I bought. A popsicle stick with 220 grit paper lightly slid up and down the sides of the inlet solved the problem. It sand and check and sand and check. Go slow because with a good grade of sandpaper you can remove a bunch of wood in a hurry.

 

[Ames]

Done that!

 

[bang]

One I needed to open and deepen a stock a bit I put 4 nuts on a piece of all thread and shaped the bottom 3 flats to fit the channel. Wrapped sandpaper around it then using the all thread for a handle and the stock in a padded vice sanded it out. Adding some thin tape to the nuts to shim the sandpaper out.

 

[Mina]

My swamped barrel won't drop into the prerouted channel. Stock was mostly roughed out, including some of the area for lock. As mentioned somewhere here before, barrel came with the lugs already installed. I filed them to the point they are already fit for pins, but I should not have jumped the gun. Now I have to fit the barrel inverted. No problem there except it won't drop in enough to screw in the tang and allow me to inlet the tang. How in the world am I to get the barrel with tang out of the channel each time I need to add more Dykim? I can envision eventually the entire barrel/tang will be so stuck in the stock's breach end that I will not be able to remove it to even stain the stock, much less to work on the powder drum installation. I am afraid of cracking the stock wrist

 

[Eric Krewson]

The proper way to remove a tight barrel is to turn you rifle upside down, put the tip of the barrel on a flat surface like a table top, raise the butt of the stock up about 8", using the heel of your hand tap upward on the comb of the stock near the butt plate area. I guaranteed your barrel will come out after a few taps.

I bought a Kibler SMR kit for $800 shipped, when I got the kit, I realized that the previous owner had tried to remove a very tight barrel by pulling on the barrel with one hand and the fore stock with the other cracking the stock in the process. The barrel was extremely tight, draw filing it made it slip into place easily, the crack was an easy fix. The tight barrel came out after about 20 taps like I described above.

Take the breechplug out of your barrel, inlet the barrel all the way in without the breech plug. Once you get the barrel down install the breech plug and inlet the tang. I usually do most of the tang inletting separately from the barrel, once I am satisfied with the barrel inlet, I screw in the breech plug and finish the tang inlet.

 

[Mina]

My swamped barrel won't drop into the prerouted channel. Stock was mostly roughed out, including some of the area for lock. As mentioned somewhere here before, barrel came with the lugs already installed. I filed them to the point they are already fit for pins, but I should not have jumped the gun. Now I have to fit the barrel inverted. No problem there except it won't drop in enough to screw in the tang and allow me to inlet the tang. How in the world am I to get the barrel with tang out of the channel each time I need to add more Dykim? I can envision eventually the entire barrel/tang will be so stuck in the stock's breach end that I will not be able to remove it to even stain the stock, much less to work on the powder drum installation. I am afraid of cracking the stock wrist

 

[Mina]

That is my recently made homemade scraper made by slicing off a 1/4 " strip from an ordinary huge cabinet scraper, reforming it, and tempering it.

 

[Mina]

For inletting black use a big fat sharpie marker. Greasy stuff makes a mess and false marks. To do a perfect job it will still lightly touch. The sharpie inks rubs off under pressure, not just a light touch. It works much better.

An undersized octagon shaped block with sandpaper stuck to is it my go to for final tweaking. IF you mess up, do not despair. As the final outside stock shaping gets close, stop. Wet the stock, install the barrel, wrap it in surgical tubing. Let it dry a couple of days. You will find you gaps are gone.

 

[Mina]

I recently tried to blacken barrel with a paraffine candle. Too uneven, but it didn't lay down any soot marker. Then I tried a king sized sharpie. No matter how quickly I laid in the barrel no darkened places were to be found. Next step is Dykim.

 

[54ball]

Get / make a brass punch or drift. Put the barrel on the vise and knock the lugs out.


Tag them and bag them for replacement in the same slot. They’ll probably need be tweaked a little when you replace them on the barrel.

A candle works fine.
Get some glasses and an opti visor so you came see. Look at the top edge of the channel.

P. S.

Start your own topic thread!!!!
Hijacking to the end of years old topics is just confusing!!

 

[rp77469]

Start your own topic thread!!!!
Hijacking to the end of years old topics is just confusing!!

I some how missed the original thread, so was glad it was resurrected and caught my attention this time around. I think the new posts add to the topic, not detract or confuse, and hope the discussion continues. Like you, I usually prefer new threads, but see no reason to throw cold water on this discussion.

 

[Mina]

My swamped barrel won't drop into the prerouted channel. Stock was mostly roughed out, including some of the area for lock. As mentioned somewhere here before, barrel came with the lugs already installed. I filed them to the point they are already fit for pins, but I should not have jumped the gun. Now I have to fit the barrel inverted. No problem there except it won't drop in enough to screw in the tang and allow me to inlet the tang. How in the world am I to get the barrel with tang out of the channel each time I need to add more Dykim? I can envision eventually the entire barrel/tang will be so stuck in the stock's breach end that I will not be able to remove it to even stain the stock, much less to work on the powder drum installation. I am afraid of cracking the stock wrist