Widening a Barrel CHannel

[sabretech]

So, I've been gradually upgrading my Renegade, and I have a line on a nice stock with a proper LOP, but it's got a 15/16" barrel channel, and both my barrels are 1" GM's.
How does one go about widening/deepening the barrel channel without ending up with expensive firewood? Having the channel be a bit too wide is preferrable to having a noticable difference in the gap between the sides of the barrel, although the bottom/side flats are what I'm chiefly concerned with.


By the way, after I'm done, the tang, sights, wedge pin and wedge escutcheons will be the only original T/C parts remaining. At what point does it stop being a Renegade? :grin:

 

[F.G. Ford]

As long as you keep the original "wedge pin"you can call it what ever you want! :grin:
Best Regards

Old Ford

 

[MSW]

since you need to go from 15/16 to one ince, you need only take 1/32 of an inch from each of the flats, and maybe a bit more from the bottom. i would sit down with some 150 grit sandpaper and some flat sticks to back up the sandpaper, and very gently go to work. go slow, retry the barrel fit often, and when you feel close, try some inletting black (which gets all over everything, even if you're careful, so don't expose anything you can't clean up).

your endcap and the two side flats are, of course, the most critical. in the alternative, you could draw file the barrel a few times, but then you'd have to refinish it. besides, the width of the wood on my renegade is a bit thick, and depending on the restock, taking it down a bit wouldn't hurt.

good luck, go slow.

msw

 

[Doc Arroyo]

I like a little scraper like this.

 

[sabretech]

Yeah, I've been leaning towards a scraper, as the size of the scraper doesn't change, as opposed to the sandpaper idea, which has the potential of removing too much wood in a given spot. I had been hung up with the 'need' of some sort of built-in depth guage, ie wings on the side which would not allow the depth to get beyond a certain point. However, I have a perfectly good set of measuring tools, so I guess I'll use them.

Thanks all for giving me your experience/advice on this!

 

[Pork Chop]

Does anyone sell those scrapers premade, or is this a complete do it yourself project?

 

[Doc Arroyo]

For a depth gauge I use an old tried and true method. A short block of wood that spans across the top of the channel rails that has a hole drilled in it that tightly accepts a finish nail. Set the depth of the nail, and run the block on the rails and you can see and feel the depth you need.

As for the scarper, I don't know anyone that sells them. I just used my benchtop belt sander to cut one out of an old saw blade.

 

Does anyone sell those scrapers premade, or is this a complete do it yourself project?

Pretty much do-it-yourself. I made a full set many years ago. They hang on my workbench and see more use than anything but my chisels. I even have one @ 3/8" for ramrod channels.

They work best if you grind them at an angle and leave a good burr along the edge.

 

[John Taylor]

Just got done doing a forearm for a Remington. I make up custom router bits with the octagon shape and run them in the milling machine. The hardest part about doing a stock that is already carved is figuring how to hold it without squeezing the sides in.
In your situation I would look at some old time wooden planes and make one with a octagon shape. I have a few that my grandfather had that were made for shaping wood and it looks like they would work great for stock making. The blade would need to be adjustable so you take a little at a time. A knife or chissle would be needed nere the breach end.

 

[subknave]

Midway[url] www.midwayusa.com[/url] and brownells sell scrappers but I am not sure if they sell that size.