Building your own stock

[Redmt]

Has anyone built their own stock and had it come out like you expected? I just picked up a Marlin 981T bolt action .22 with a plastic stock. I hate plastic stocks but not enough to spend $200.+ for a Boyd's on a $150.00 plinker. I have literally hundreds of board feet of Black Walnut. Some has been milled already, some is still in trunks. It's been down for a few years. I'm thinking about trying to clone the plastic stock into a Walnut stock. BTW if anyone needs some Black Walnut, I'll make you a deal you can't refuse.

 

[Rie Bread]

Has anyone built their own stock and had it come out like you expected? I just picked up a Marlin 981T bolt action .22 with a plastic stock. I hate plastic stocks but not enough to spend $200.+ for a Boyd's on a $150.00 plinker. I have literally hundreds of board feet of Black Walnut. Some has been milled already, some is still in trunks. It's been down for a few years. I'm thinking about trying to clone the plastic stock into a Walnut stock. BTW if anyone needs some Black Walnut, I'll make you a deal you can't refuse.

Yeah I was thinking about making a simple bench rest style stock. Id be interested in a chunk or two. Thank you for the offer,

 

[Sheltowee]

I haven't, but following along to see what this project brings.

 

[Redmt]

I haven't, but following along to see what this project brings.
Probably a lot of kindling

 

[Rie Bread]

If anyone in Montana is interested drop me a pm. Ima get a quote to see how much shipping will be and what options there are

 

[Redmt]

Make sure of the dimensions you might need. I'm not going to do any custom cutting unless there's $$ involved. I can cut to length but not going to whack up a virgin log for a couple pieces. I have a fair amount of tailings in various thickness.

 

[WestKyHunt]

I have a large board of oak in the garage to do something similar.
Planning to make an adult length stock for my first gun, a rossi 22/410

 

[Redmt]

Make sure the oak is near 0% dry then seal it so it can't get any moisture. Our Valley Oak is notorious for cracking even after a couple years dry.

 

[Schutzhund]

Make sure the oak is near 0% dry then seal it so it can't get any moisture. Our Valley Oak is notorious for cracking even after a couple years dry.

We've always used Anchor Seal. Good stuff.

 

[Redmt]

We've always used Anchor Seal. Good stuff.

Does it change the color of the wood?

 

[tread]

I built one for my 10/22. It had the crappy plastic stick and figured why not. First time trying stock building, so it was a learning experience. It definitely isn’t perfect, but overall I’m happy with it and like it better than the factory one. I figured I letting the action was the biggest risk of ruining it, so after squaring the blank I started in that. To inlet the action I built router templates. I built a couple of different sizes for the various depths I needed. That did a pretty good job and I used a chisel to finish it out. Then I did the barrel channel to make sure everything fit good. Once everything fit good I shaped it which wasn’t too difficult. I’m traveling now and can’t find pictures on my phone. It was fun to try something new and have toyed with the idea of building another.

 

[Schutzhund]

Does it change the color of the wood?

Anchor seal not a finish, it's a preservative to seal your wood blank once it reaches your desired moisture content. I might have misunderstood your question. It's basically a wax you brush on. It will prevent checking and moisture migration until you are ready to shape your stock.

For finishing I use "Tried and True" linseedoil blended with natural varnish or the linseed oil blended with beeswax. Coat everything..barrel channel, magazine well etc. A lot of people use tru oil which is good stuff but it has a lot of nasty chemicals in it. Tried and true is natural and is easy to maintain down the road. I've had good luck with their varnish and beeswax blends against moisture.

 

[bluegrassdan]

Has anyone built their own stock and had it come out like you expected? I just picked up a Marlin 981T bolt action .22 with a plastic stock. I hate plastic stocks but not enough to spend $200.+ for a Boyd's on a $150.00 plinker. I have literally hundreds of board feet of Black Walnut. Some has been milled already, some is still in trunks. It's been down for a few years. I'm thinking about trying to clone the plastic stock into a Walnut stock. BTW if anyone needs some Black Walnut, I'll make you a deal you can't refuse.

This was a winter project and is still in the finishing stages. All in about 70 hours worth of inletting and shaping from a slab of Black Cherry I had. Walnut is waaaaaay easier to work with as it is harder and grabbing it in the vise to hold it does not leave any marks. This was more of a "nothing better to do " kind of project since we were pretty slow during hunting season.

 

[Redmt]

Well, I'm going to give it a shot . I've got the original plastic POS and another Marlin that has a wooden stock to copy for measurements. If it doesn't come out it will be that much more firewood for next winter.

 

[Jbotto]

I have a 981T that I’ve always thought about finding a 780/880series stock that might be able to be converted. Following!

 

[Redmt]

I have a 981T that I’ve always thought about finding a 780/880series stock that might be able to be converted. Following!

I cruised through eBay and didn't see anything. The 981 and 881 I believe are identical twins except the 981 has a stock made by Mattel Toy company.

 

[Jbotto]

I cruised through eBay and didn't see anything. The 981 and 881 I believe are identical twins except the 981 has a stock made by Mattel Toy company.

Yeah the stock isn’t great. My rifle was my first firearm growing up so I have lots of nostalgia around it, but it’s kind of a basket case. Dovetail groove in the receiver wasn’t cut deep enough to have the 3/8” dovetail rings grab very well and the scope base holes were drilled crooked so when you mount a scope. It’s pointed visibly off to the left of what the barrel is pointed at. Accurate rifle though if you can get the scope to point far enough right to line up with the target.