TINCANBANDIT's Gunsmithing : The 10/22 Target Rifle Project part 9: The Stock

In this installment I will cut out the butt stock and cheek rest, then begin with the contouring of the wood.

I used the template I made and transferred it to the slab of poplar wood and cut out the lower butt stock pieces

My pistol grip will be angled backwards a little more than Hipshot's is. I like the angle of the Hoplophobe stock's grip that I made, so I copied it onto the paper.

I cut them a little large, easier to remove wood then add it, at least that is what they tell me....

I then roughed up the surfaces and glued them together

Then I cleaned up the top and roughened the surfaces so I could mate it to the Ruger stock

And now the two become one, it doesn't look like much now, but after some drilling, filing and sanding...

I had to use the Dremel to make room for the trigger guard

Fitting the receiver/trigger assembly to the stock. I marked where my fingers and thumb land on the pistol grip so I can begin removing wood

I drilled a few holes along the perimeter and cut between them with a jig saw

Making progress

Almost there, it feels pretty good in the hand, I need to remove more from the top of the thumb-hole to get it round and make clearance for my thumb knuckle.

Now I need to decide where to trim the pistol grip and determine the size of the cheek rest.

Looking at Hipshot's version, the radius at the bottom to the stock is about even with the back of the thumb-hole, so I need to finish off the thumb-hole, then map out the area to trim

Looks much better, I'll clean up the lines when I sand the entire stock.

I drew out a cheek rest on the piece of wood....

....then cut it out with the jig saw and cleaned up the edges on the belt sander

Before installing the cheek rest and comb piece I needed to deal with the butt pad, I probably wont have enough room to put the stock on the belt sander after installing the cheek rest.

I marked the position of the trigger on the stock and squared off the butt stock with my compound miter saw.

I have 13.5" of LOP, with the addition of the butt pad it will be close to 14"

I then traced the profile of a butt pad from a Ruger American rifle

I marked some guide lines for where I will start the rounding of the stock

using a file I rounded the stock top and bottom

I left a little extra for fitting the butt pad

I marked the butt pad on the flip flop and cut it out

Some JB Clear weld 5 min epoxy and the chunk of flip flop is now a recoil pad

While I was mixing up the epoxy for the butt pad, I mixed up some with some sawdust and put it in the joint at the top of the pistol grip, this is the weakest spot on the stock and it could use the extra support.