Fitting barrel to stock

[Rubber Duck]

I'm trying to mount a round smooth bore barrel on to a new pre built stock, but sides of the barrel don't touch the stock, are the any ways to expand the side of the stock? I'm using this project to practice on before I buy the kit gun I want.

 

[tenngun]

Hobby shops sell thin beech strips. These can be glued in and sand pretty quick.
You could go with bedding compund but your area needs bee real thin tat you need to fill.

 

[Rubber Duck]

I didn't think of that ill look in to it, I was thinking of soaking the stock in water to try to get the stock to swell

Hobby shops sell thin beech strips. These can be glued in and sand pretty quick.
You could go with bedding compund but your area needs bee real thin tat you need to fill.

 

[tenngun]

Water will swell it but it dries again, and if unevenly check.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I bend wood with dry heat and steam while making bows. I splice a lot of billets together in the handle to make a full length bow stave. If the splice cuts are sloppy from me daydreaming while on the bandsaw I heat the ends to where I can just barely touch them and clamp them together, they will bend and cool for a perfect fit.

I have done this before on a badly bent forestock ; Heat the barrel to the barely can touch point, heat the forestock to the same temp. Put the barrel in the stock and either clamp the sides with shims under the clamps or in my case I used a lot of zip ties pulled very tightly. Keep applying heat to the forestock before and after you clamp. Wrap your heated area with rags to retain the heat and let things "soak" and cool off slowly.

I use a paint stripping heat gun to apply heat, a hair drier isn't hot enough, a torch would be too hot. A Harbor Freight heat gun is junk but would work long enough to do the job and only cost $9 on sale. Keep your heat source moving and don't scorch any wood.

I had a 30 degree downward dog leg in my forestock after a precarver sent it back to me without the barrel in the channel (lost my barrel temporally). My heat gun technique brought it back to perfect.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

If you want to go the non-traditional pathway, there are barrel bedding compounds available. They are rather thick epoxy compounds, and can be obtained in some different colors. You WILL have to liberally wax everything that will come into contact with the stuff, and use clay to fill any voids or holes, such as the holes in the barrel hold-downs. If you miss waxing a spot, well, you have just permanently mounted your barrel to the stock. A little bit is often used at the breech of modern weapons to help manage recoil splitting the stock. Use with great care.
Oh, believe that either Brownell's or Midway USA have videos and written instructions on the use of the bedding compounds.
Hey, it's your first build, use it as a learning experience. Just have fun, and enjoy shooting it in the years to come. You can always build another - I think 99.9% of us have not been able to stop at just one.