Pic's of GPR in progress

[captgary]

Been working on the kit for a few days now and figured I would post some pic's. This way if I made some big newbie mistakes you guys could point them out to me before I get into to much trouble. Still a long way to go.
Thanks Gary

 

[Zonie]

Oh my God!! The Screws!! Look at the Screws!!
The slots in the Screws are pointed in all sorts of directions!! Every good builder knows the slots should all line up in the fore/aft direction!! :grin: :grin:

Just shaking your chain. :grin:
(I hope you have a sense of humor. :hmm.
Actually, it looks like your doing a great job!
I really like the wood you ended up with.
I wouldn't even consider staining it with anything! Let the dark lines stand proud!

The stock will get darker when you apply the oil/finish. If you want to see what it will look like with just oil applied, wet the stock with water and look at it in the sunlight

PS, Don't worry about the screw slots direction.

 

[bbassi]

WOW - what a beautiful piece of wood! I agree with Zonie, don't stain that! Every factory finished GPR I've seen is so dark they might as well have painted it black. You don't see them like that very often.

 

[Swampman]

Get some Dangler's Dark Brown stain and stain it. Professional builders use stain. Finish it with Formby's Satin Finish Tung Oil cut 50/50 with turpentine. You'll be glad you did.

 

[Shooey]

Captgary, you're doing a great job. It really looks good. I stained mine with two coats of LMF "nut brown" and it came out like this:

I cut the first coat about 50/50, the second was stronger.

Are you going to brown or blue the metal?

Keep up the great work. Take your time and enjoy it.

-Shooey

 

[captgary]

Well thank god i dont have any serious blunders so far. The wood looks a lot better than it shows in the pictures (Bad lighting) I was planning on using Laurel Mt. stock finish and sealer and thier barrel brown. After looking at Shooeys the blue looks really nice to, now ya got me athinkin again!!!!! Zonie i was really going to line up the screw heads on the final assembly,Im kind of a fuss bucket on details. (drives the wife crazy) Have to go out of town for a few days so work will stop. Talk to you all next Mon or Tue.
Thanks for the input and encouragement. Gary

 

[Old40Rod]

I vote with the "no stain" crowd. It looks like you are going to end up with a fine rifle either way tho. How is the buttplate coming? That is where I had to do most of the heavy work on my GPR.

:hatsoff:

 

[captgary]

About wore my arms out on the butt plate, had

almost 1/4 inch extra stock on the one side and

hardly any extra on the other side. Some of the

factory inletting was a little over sized, guess

ill have to live with that. :cursing: :cursing:

 

[Zonie]

If the stock was 1/4 inch too wide and you've narrowed it down to suit the buttplate my thought may be too late.

If the stock has excess wood on it's width, using that extra wood to put cast into the stock is worth considering.

Cast is where the buttplate is shifted off center from the axis of the barrel. For a right handed person, the butt plate is moved to the right side of center and the excess wood is removed primarily from the left side of the stock.
This offset buttplate or cast, tends to bring the center of the barrel and the sights in line with the shooters eye when he/she shoulders the gun.
The shooter does not have to move his head much at all when this happens. It is almost like magic.

Very high grade shotguns and custom rifles often have cast built into them. Factory guns almost never do.

If you've already positioned your buttplate and finished the wood, just keep this idea in mind for your next gun.

 

[54JNoll]

You are doing a fine job and it shows. I would not stain that wood. The dark figure will stay dark and the medium brown of th erest of the stock will darken slightly as you apply the finish. You will and up with a very nice rich medium brown color all by itself. If you want an idea of what it will look like just dapen the surface with a wet cloth. That is one stock that needs no help.

 

[tnlonghunter]

What kind of wood is the stock (it looks like ash in the pictures, but I don't guess it is)? I'd also not stain, and just oil finish. I always thought dark hard woods or woods with high figure looked best with very little or no stain; just enough to make the grain really stand out.

 

[Zonie]

The GPRs are stocked in European Walnut.

IMO, this piece is especially nice.

 

Since we're whipping them out, say hello to Lucifer:

Lucifer was built from a GPR kit, some twenty odd years ago. I modify the comb a bit and added a grease hole. I whiskered the wood four times with a damp rag moisten with boiling water and degreased four ought wool. The finish is four coats of hand rubbed Birchwood Casey's Tru-Oil. Only the first coat was thinned to act as a sealer. Each coat was allowed to throughly dry, then gone over with 0000 steel wool and buffed out with a woolen rag.The ramrod dyed with Ox Blood leather dye, was the only piece of wood that I stained. Looks pretty good after 23 huntings seasons, numerous BP shoots and a move from Louisiana to Massachusetts. I buff him out with bore butter and a woolen rag every so often.

CP

 

[captgary]

Claypipe

Hopefully mine will turn out

looking as good as yours!

In the process of checking

all the little details before

browning and finishing. Have to

put a heater in the barn, for

some strange reason the little

woman dosent want me using chemicals

in the house :youcrazy: :youcrazy: