long-term storage of pre-carved stock

[Don B]

I have recently received my Chambers York rifle kit, including the pre-carved stock. I was expecting the barrel to fit into its inlet, after a little work at the breech, and that I'd be able to store the stock with the barrel in place. Such is not the case. The entire length of the inlet will need some wood removed from its sides before the barrel will drop in. Unfortunately, I won't have time to start this work until January. Do I need to worry about the stock warping between now and then? I'm especially concerned because I'll be turning the furnace on soon, so the humidity in the house will be dropping between now and when I finish the barrel inlet.

Thanks for your advice.
Don

 

[Roy]

Tape the fore stock to a piece of straight wood and you should be fine.

 

[Birddog6]

I have taken a piece of 1 1/4" angle iron & layed on the top of the forestock & take nylon zip ties & put one about every 6-8 " down the forestock. But I prefer to get them into the stock & tie the barrel in even if I don't have the breechplug in the barrel.

 

[Vaino]

I've assembled 3 Chambers' kits and all that was req'd was to square up the breech and the remainder of the bbl fit was somewhat on the loose side. In fact on 2 of the precarves, I first inserted the bbl and then wrapped surgical tubing tightly around the entire inlet and let it sit {4-6 wks} until I was ready to start. Are you sure that you can't push the bbl in and did you call Chambers? Are there other bbl sizes for this kit? I like to store precarves w/ the bbl fitted otherwise the thin fore ends warp and twist and make further fitting much more difficult....Fred

 

[Don B]

I've assembled 3 Chambers' kits and all that was req'd was to square up the breech and the remainder of the bbl fit was somewhat on the loose side... Are you sure that you can't push the bbl in and did you call Chambers? ....Fred

No, I haven't called Chambers since I presumed what I got was right. And maybe it is... This is my first build, so maybe I was just too wimpy about trying to push the barrel into its inlet, being afraid of breaking out the fore end sidewalls. I'll give Chambers a call.

Thanks,
Don

 

[paulvallandigham]

re both the barrel and the mortise for the barrel to determine if their is a discrepancy before you push that barrel into the mortise. Companies are manned by humans, and humans occassionally do make mistakes. Call Chambers. The want you to have a successful build.

 

[Don B]

I've had another pleasant conversation with Barbie Chambers. She said that their goal is to inlet the barrel channel so that the barrel drops in without any further wood removal, other than at the breech. Their York only comes with a B-weight barrel, so it's unlikely that a mistake was made. However, she admitted that a small amount of wood sometimes needs to be removed along the sides, due to normal variations within the carving process, especially, I suppose, since they would rather err on the tight side. She also suggested that I draw file the barrel before removing any wood, and that perhaps I am being too timid in mating the barrel into its channel. This being my first build, she's probably right on that last point. Those sidewalls look awefully fragile to my eyes!

Don

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you use a scraper on the flats of that barrel mortise, to remove any high spots, you should be able to set that barrel down into the mortise very close. But, of course, do file your flats before you inlet the barrel. That is the proper order to do these things, if the barrel comes with scale still on it, or any other reason for filing it.

MY brother kept the end of his barrel, that was cut off when he shortened to the length he wanted, filed the saw cut end smooth and square, and used it as a scraper to seat his barrel in the stock. This is not totally acceptable as a tool source when inletting a SWAMPED barrel, but it works for both straight and some tapered barrels.( Usually, the taper makes the muzzle the smallest portion of the barrel. If you cut the barrel off after the taper is cut on the barrel flats, the muzzle end remainer can be made into a scraper for the entire length of the barrel, with just some sideways movement to cover the full width of the flats as you get back towards the breech end of the mortise.

I know people who have a collection of "scrapers" made from cut off ends of barrels of various sizes. They weld or solder on a handle to one flat, and use the bottom three flats to scrape the wood in the stock to marry the barrel and mortise.

 

[Allan Gray]

I am currently working on this same rifle and came across the same condition. I needed to scrap a bit to get the barrel to drop in. I didn't consider it a problem and it was fairly easy to do. After all, if the rifle flew together and built itself I would feel robbed of half the fun.

I got it to a point where the barrel would fit and it's been sitting this way for the past few months while I've completed my "honey do" list.
The stock is obviously from very stable wood so I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Yes, the sidewalls are thin, but this only adds to the slender gracefullness of the York...just go slow and easy when you get around to fitting. the barrel. :thumbsup: