BigDaddyKane
Well-Known Member
I am currently in the process of customizing my Savage 300 WM; and most recently I upgraded my stock to a Choate Ultimate Sniper. Unfortunately, after mounting my scope I found that my cheekrest was far too low to get a clear image through my scope. So, I needed to raise it up and I figured if I was going that far I might as well build it adjustable. So, here is a step by step process of building an adjustable cheekpiece for your rifle (like this one)
1- Determine your eye relief for your scope. with the buttstock firmly against your shoulder your elbow should be at a 90degree angle. From there, get into your shooting position and rest your head where it is most comfortable. From there you can mount your scope forward or back along the rail until the image is best. With this in mind, your cheekpiece should be exactly there. Looking at the Choate in the image below I felt it was too far forward and much too low.
2- I needed to build the action cheekpiece that I would use considering the one that comes stock is really just a thin rubber saddle. So, I took a piece of oak, cut to size. The basic building materials are the oak (or any material you feel will hold), two metal pins, bolt, brass wood nut and a dial. I found the caliper pins from an auto parts store work perfectly as guides for the piece. These keep the stock nice and square, ridgid, and prevent it from spinning around. Trust me this is worth the extra effort.
These are about $6 for the pair, they are threaded at the base but remain smooth down to the bottom. What you need to do next is to drill three holes for the 1 bolt and 2 slides. I made mine universal and kept everything 3/8". To make sure everything is perfectly aligned I clamped the oak piece to the stock square, then used a drill press to hit every hole.
3- From there, I used a brass wood nut... this is basically a brass screw that is holed out and threaded for a bolt. It's used in furniture, cost about $3. I screwed this up into the bottom side of the middle hole of the oak. Then, thread your two caliper pins through the top two holes on the left and right of the oak. Your piece should look like a pummel horse.
I left the brass wood bolt slightly unscrewed for the picture so you can see what I was trying to accomplish here.
4- Installing the dial. Here is where you have some freedom... I just grabbed a large steel bolt, but I probably will be changing it out to some sort of plastic wheel, or dial. But, the concept is the same. Using a bolt, I fed a washer, the oversized-nut, washer and locking nut to hold the "dial" in place. Then, I fed this up through the bottom of the stock in the middle hole we drilled. Then, I threaded down an additional nut over the top of the stock. This is what will actually lock your cheekpiece in place once the desired height is found.
5- Thread the "dial" bolt up into the brass wood nut. So long as the top nut on the bolt is loose, all you have to do is dial the piece up or down, and then tight the nut down to the stock. You don't need a lot of force, fingertight is good enough, but a small wrench won't hurt ya if you want to be safe.
6- The basic construction is complete. I would suggest oiling up the pins to get the piece to dial up and down more smoothly. After that, feel free to cover or wrap the piece however you see fit. I might just screw the original stock weld over the oak and call it a day. The benefit of that is that I can literally slide the original pad back and forth and screw it down and that way I can adjust the eye relief as well.
But there you go, adjustable cheek piece. Has over 1.5" of travel up and down, and several inches of travel back and forth. I did this all for less than $25 and about an hour of work in the garage.
1- Determine your eye relief for your scope. with the buttstock firmly against your shoulder your elbow should be at a 90degree angle. From there, get into your shooting position and rest your head where it is most comfortable. From there you can mount your scope forward or back along the rail until the image is best. With this in mind, your cheekpiece should be exactly there. Looking at the Choate in the image below I felt it was too far forward and much too low.
2- I needed to build the action cheekpiece that I would use considering the one that comes stock is really just a thin rubber saddle. So, I took a piece of oak, cut to size. The basic building materials are the oak (or any material you feel will hold), two metal pins, bolt, brass wood nut and a dial. I found the caliper pins from an auto parts store work perfectly as guides for the piece. These keep the stock nice and square, ridgid, and prevent it from spinning around. Trust me this is worth the extra effort.
These are about $6 for the pair, they are threaded at the base but remain smooth down to the bottom. What you need to do next is to drill three holes for the 1 bolt and 2 slides. I made mine universal and kept everything 3/8". To make sure everything is perfectly aligned I clamped the oak piece to the stock square, then used a drill press to hit every hole.
3- From there, I used a brass wood nut... this is basically a brass screw that is holed out and threaded for a bolt. It's used in furniture, cost about $3. I screwed this up into the bottom side of the middle hole of the oak. Then, thread your two caliper pins through the top two holes on the left and right of the oak. Your piece should look like a pummel horse.
I left the brass wood bolt slightly unscrewed for the picture so you can see what I was trying to accomplish here.
4- Installing the dial. Here is where you have some freedom... I just grabbed a large steel bolt, but I probably will be changing it out to some sort of plastic wheel, or dial. But, the concept is the same. Using a bolt, I fed a washer, the oversized-nut, washer and locking nut to hold the "dial" in place. Then, I fed this up through the bottom of the stock in the middle hole we drilled. Then, I threaded down an additional nut over the top of the stock. This is what will actually lock your cheekpiece in place once the desired height is found.
5- Thread the "dial" bolt up into the brass wood nut. So long as the top nut on the bolt is loose, all you have to do is dial the piece up or down, and then tight the nut down to the stock. You don't need a lot of force, fingertight is good enough, but a small wrench won't hurt ya if you want to be safe.
6- The basic construction is complete. I would suggest oiling up the pins to get the piece to dial up and down more smoothly. After that, feel free to cover or wrap the piece however you see fit. I might just screw the original stock weld over the oak and call it a day. The benefit of that is that I can literally slide the original pad back and forth and screw it down and that way I can adjust the eye relief as well.
But there you go, adjustable cheek piece. Has over 1.5" of travel up and down, and several inches of travel back and forth. I did this all for less than $25 and about an hour of work in the garage.
