Well....some of you may have seen in another thread, that my father in law had a nearly fatal horse crash last hunting season, where he and his horse fell off a cliff while up mule deer hunting, six miles from the trail head, then another 40 miles on a dirt road to the nearest hospital. The tough man still managed to ride his horse (by some miracle it wasn't dead either) out to the truck.
Thanks to many miracles and the grace of God, he is healed from a broken neck vertebrae, broken pelvis, broken wrist, shattered nose, dislocated knee and multiple large lacerations on his head and face, and is now doing well. His rifle though, which was in the scabbard, is a different story. To my father in law, this was the most heartbreaking part....
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The meopta optic had the parallax knob ripped off, the stock was obviously destroyed, and the kwik klip bottom metal broken. Thankfully, the barreled action and trigger was still in perfect functional shape.
My great friend, hunting partner and also a member on this forum
@Wedgy reached out, and purchased a replacement stock from boyds for Dave, before we were even out of the hospital. I can't thank him enough, and it certainly helped Dave in the healing process, seeing that his dream rifle was not lost forever, and could be built again.
When Trexxler industries, the american manufacturer of the bottom metal, found out about this incident, they sent a replacement bottom metal, free of charge, with a letter from the CEO of the company, wishing Dave well in his healing process. What an amazing company!
So, with the parts in hand, and after a delay due to work and a move, I am back at it, and will put this rifle together again for him, but better.
We are refinishing and somewhat reshaping the stock for a better feel, and adding some personal touches, check it out!
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If any of you have handled a boyds featherweight thumbhole, you will see the changes. The forend was significantly tapered down and smoothed out and the hard corners were also smoothed out. The forend was also shortened, and cut at a 35° angle back, to better suit the short barrel. The LOP was trimmed down to his length, and this time a pachmeyer white line pad was added, to better match the stock. It was then epoxied in place, and sanded down for a perfect fit.
Next, the entire stock was sanded, as it will have an oil finish instead of the polyurethane standard coat. Additionally, I added an ADG 7 Sherman max case to the base of the grip, for the cool and custom factor. Next will be fitting the action, pillar bedding, then fitting the bottom metal. It needs to be further sanded down after that, as this is a 60 grit finish, and once it is sanded proper, the oil finish will begin.
When I am done, this will be even better than the first one, I am excited to continue this project!
