New Richards stock on Ruger Hawkeye

[Colorado Redneck]

Going to start by admitting that my wood working and gun smithing skills are way down on the low end of capable. A couple years back I bought a new Ruger Hawkeye Predator that had beautiful laminate stock. It only had one draw back---no thumbhole. So last fall Richards shipped a "straightline thumbhole" cut out of Claro Walnut to me. To say the least, it was rough. Having done a couple of other Richards Stocks in laminate, it was surprising how rough this was, but being retired, it looked doable. Not going to make this a long story, but here is a before and after picture. It is going on its first prairie dog shoot tomorrow.

As an aside, the gun has been very good as a shooter. It has a couple thousand rounds down the tube, and will still shoot a 5/8" group of 5. When finished inletting, I took it to the range, and it needed some more work. The barrel channel is now opened up and then I did a bubba job of bedding. It shot a 7/8" group of ten rounds, which is acceptable. If it turns out that it needs glass bedding that will be the next facet.

 

[Hawg]

I bought a Richard's stock a couple of years ago without knowing just how rough they were. It and the rifle it was going on are still sitting in the corner collecting dust and cobwebs. That stock is beautiful even if it is a thumbhole.

 

[Colorado Redneck]

Thanks, Hawg. If I got $0.25 per hour for the time spent on that thing the labor would tally up to a hundred bucks. Many an afternoon sanding in the garage in the sun. Gave up on it once, but after a few weeks took it out and figured it would end up ok. After three coats of Truoil I had to resand the thing clear back down---made a big goof. But it beats going to the bar.

Hope it shoots. I tried to glass bed a different rifle one time and darn near lost the action. Vinegar takes off Acraglas---and we had plenty of vinegar. One thing for sure---if it can be done the wrong way, I will figure out how to do it that way.

 

[hoghunting]

Very nice job finishing the stock. I bought a Richards unfinished laminate stock for a Sako and spend many evenings working on it. I pillar bedded and glass bedded the action, free floated and glass bedded the barrel channel, fit a Kick-Eez recoil pad, sanded, sealed and put on 8 coats of spar urethane finish. I did all the fitting work on the barreled action before doing anything to the outside of the stock.

With all the fitting required for the action I can't imagine it fitting properly without glass bedding, hopefully you'll get lucky. If/when you do bed, just be sure to use plenty of release agent.

 

[Hawg]

I wore out 6 sheets of 80 grit on an electric sander trying to get the tool marks out of the flat parts and it's still rough. It would be a beautiful piece of wood but next time I get any free money I'll just buy a finished stock for it and chalk this one up to experience.

 

[Goatwhiskers]

FWIW: sand paper is for finishing. Things go a lot faster and easier using things like a rasp, a file, and scrapers. My scrapers are pieces of broken glass window panes, they shave the wood down very nicely when you go with the grain. GW

 

[Hawg]

My scrapers are pieces of broken glass window panes, they shave the wood down very nicely when you go with the grain. GW

I guess I can try that. I have nothing to lose at this point.

 

[Colorado Redneck]

That thumbhole is nice!

For varmint and prairie dogs a thumbhole stock is really comfortable and easy to shoot. Glad that thing is finally mounted and I can use it. The wind was kind of messing up shooting today, so when I sighted the 204 Ruger in the wind was jostling me and the accuracy was a group of 3 at slightly over an inch. Went after the prairie dogs, and when shooting with or into the wind fairly directly it worked good. But the little pellets (24 gr. NTX) are so susceptible to wind that it was kind of futile. The 22-250 using 53 gr V-max is the cats meow for windy days like this. When the nut behind the butt plate got dialed in it was shooting lights out. The last 7 dogs it shot I was holding the horizontal crosshair about an inch over the dogs and the vertical cross hair was about 6-7 inches left (the direction the wind was coming from.) Feels good to make a few in a row that require some Kentucky windage.

 

[Scorch]

There are these funny looking things you see at hardware stores every now and then called "rasps" and "files". Use them for large amounts of material removal before switching to sand paper.

 

[Hawg]

There are these funny looking things you see at hardware stores every now and then called "rasps" and "files". Use them for large amounts of material removal before switching to sand paper.

I have some of those but I was scared I'd mess it up with them. I'm not much on working wood.

 

[Colorado Redneck]

Scorch--an acquaintance that has finished a few stocks told me that rasps are taboo---every scratch has to be sanded out. The only rasps I have ever used were farrier rasps, so don't know anything about wood working tools. Are there rasps with finer teeth so the scratches/gouges would be less significant?

This view of that stock before any sanding shows how rough the thumbhole and bolt cutout were. The only way I could see to smooth those areas out was just sand till the cows came home.

 

[Scorch]

I have seen literally dozens of Richards Microfit stocks, as well as pre-carved stocks form many other makers (some of them long gone), so I know what you are talking about. I use a lot of rasps and files making stocks (one of the main things I do). I have several "big toothy" rasps (for lack of a better term), and I use them for rough shaping and material removal. I also use cabinet files, iwasaki files, #2 double-cut files, and bastard files. Using sand paper for stock removal is like using a sharpening stone to mill an engine block: you can do it and it will work, but you will be a lot older when you get done.

 

[Colorado Redneck]

Thanks for mentioning the kinds of rasps and files you have used. I Googlefooed Iwasaki and this explains the tools:

"Iwasaki Carving Files, referred to as joinery or plane maker floats, are a woodworker’s dream for shaping, sculpting, easing hard edges & joinery tuning. They remove material quickly like a rasp, but leave a very clean surface finish like you’d get from a file....."

So what a person would need to do to make stock finishing more "fun" would be in vest in a few tools. Makes sense. The first stock from Richards I also ordered a "Truoil Finishing Kit." Came with a few little pieces of sand paper and one pad of steel wool. The instructions told me to use ever finer sand paper and then apply Truoil. So that was the sum total of my education on stock finishing. Since then it has required many sheets of sand paper and three or four packages of steel wool to finish three new pieces of wood. Plus a couple hundred hours of making dust. As the old German said "Too soon old, too late schmart." If the ambition to do another stock bites me this summer, I will see if I can find a couple of files/rasps that are fit for doing the rough work.

Thanks again, Scorch.

 

[F. Guffey]

I ordered two stocks from Richards Microfit; with a name like that how bad could they be? After I received the stocks I called them and suggested I could train wood peckers to do a better job.

F. Guffey

 

[Geezerbiker]

How long did you have to wait for it? A few years back I ordered a Mauser stock from them that was listed as an overstock item. The guy on the phone said it would ship within a week. A month and a half later I called to see what was up and their phone number was disconnected.

I called my credit card company and they gave me a refund. Others said the number was up and working again a few days later but by that time I had already ordered a stock from Boyds that got to me in about week...

Tony

 

[Colorado Redneck]

Geezer---took about 3 months. They ran my credit card 8-9 weeks or so after they acknowledged my order and sent me an order number. I called a few weeks after they ran the card and they eventually shipped it. They seem rather laid back in managing their business. But the first time I ordered from them I screwed up. When the stock got to me I figured out what I did wrong, called them and they said ship it back and they would send me the right stock. A few months later I had the right one.

 

[PoiDog]

Does Richards sell any finished stocks, or are all of them unfinished? It looks from their web site that they're all unfinished, but I wasn't sure.

I have a rifle with one of their stocks, but I bought it that way. Beautiful stock.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Thanks for mentioning the kinds of rasps and files you have used. I Googlefooed Iwasaki and this explains the tools:

I just looked that up as well.
Though I do break out the gnarly rasps occasionally, I primarily use my (metal cutting) mill and hand files for heavy shaping, and hadn't ever heard of an Iwasaki file.
Now, I want some.

But, as soon as I saw a photo, I chuckled. I have a super-cheap combination "wood" file from a K-Mart set I that bought as a teenager, and both sides look like it was a cheap imitation of an Iwasaki. It's a dead ringer for an (low quality) Iwasaki tooth cut, but I think an over-ripened banana would remove more wood.
(I use that file as a pry-bar, shim, hammer, abrasive backer, or whatever else feels right at the time, as it awaits its day to possibly get turned into a knife.)

 

[Colorado Redneck]

Poidog--Nah---they only sell unfinished stock blanks. Here is the link to their website. They have a FAQ section that gives quite a bit of info.

http://www.rifle-stocks.com/

 

[F. Guffey]

ALL of our gunstocks are UNFINISHED, completely shaped and ready for sanding & finishing.
They come with either a 99% "Press-Fit" Inlet which means that the action will bolt to the stock with mininimal fitting, or a 96% "Semi" Inlet which will require additional handwork to fit the action and barrel.
Please see "Available Actions" & "Common Questions" sections for details.

There is a difference between 99% finish and a club.

How long did you have to wait for it?

And then; there is always the rest of the story.

F. Guffey