flimsy stock fix

[JJMoody]

Ok, to piggyback the topic of improving a flimsy stock, I have a 340 wby in MKV stainless with the Tupperware stock. I stopped in at the local gunsmith yesterday and he had some "Interesting" things to say.
First off, he said he fills the hollow buttstock with spray foam insulation and epoxies a spacer and Decellerator pad to the butt, then fills in the forearm with a modeling clay and glass beds the stock clear to the end over the top of the clay. It adds sufficient weight and stiffness to the factory stock. Any thoughts? It seemed a little "junior varsity" to me and I may have bought into it a little more if he hadnt told me a few more questionable things (read this as outlandish lies- HIS 338 edge maintains 2" groups consitently and 5 Tons of kinetic energy at 2000 yds. among other things) I'll not be using his services any time soon, but what are your thoughts on the stock work?

 

[Dosh]

Ok, to piggyback the topic of improving a flimsy stock, I have a 340 wby in MKV stainless with the Tupperware stock. I stopped in at the local gunsmith yesterday and he had some "Interesting" things to say.
First off, he said he fills the hollow buttstock with spray foam insulation and epoxies a spacer and Decellerator pad to the butt, then fills in the forearm with a modeling clay and glass beds the stock clear to the end over the top of the clay. It adds sufficient weight and stiffness to the factory stock. Any thoughts? It seemed a little "junior varsity" to me and I may have bought into it a little more if he hadnt told me a few more questionable things (read this as outlandish lies- HIS 338 edge maintains 2" groups consitently and 5 Tons of kinetic energy at 2000 yds. among other things) I'll not be using his services any time soon, but what are your thoughts on the stock work?

JJ, a B&C Medalist bedded is what your 340 Wby needs. Weatherby used to use HS Precision stocks and switched to the B&C. Stocky's has them in stock if you like the in-stock colors, otherwise you'll wait 2-5 months. I have attempted to bed a couple Tupperware stocks, but the epoxy will not maintain adhesion to the plastic no matter how rough I made the area. I even tried small stainless screws to keep it in place with no luck. Just my experience.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

Ok, to piggyback the topic of improving a flimsy stock, I have a 340 wby in MKV stainless with the Tupperware stock. I stopped in at the local gunsmith yesterday and he had some "Interesting" things to say.
First off, he said he fills the hollow buttstock with spray foam insulation and epoxies a spacer and Decellerator pad to the butt, then fills in the forearm with a modeling clay and glass beds the stock clear to the end over the top of the clay. It adds sufficient weight and stiffness to the factory stock. Any thoughts? It seemed a little "junior varsity" to me and I may have bought into it a little more if he hadnt told me a few more questionable things (read this as outlandish lies- HIS 338 edge maintains 2" groups consitently and 5 Tons of kinetic energy at 2000 yds. among other things) I'll not be using his services any time soon, but what are your thoughts on the stock work?

A couple of my plastic fantastic Wby stocks have had some foam in the butt. Yes fill it all the way.

A "Decelerator" and spacer if you need to adjust LOP or a spacer to be a proper back plate for the "Decelerator" but then not much of a spacer.

I would not use clay. Though there is merit to the dampening potential. I have worries about the long term stability. There are other materials that are more dimensionaly stable such as aggregate filled epoxy.

If it were me filling a fore end. Carbon of some sort. Arrow, rods in a triangle, something. Over that, epoxy with aggregate. Fish tank gravel, perlite, fine gravel what ever. Then full length bed that will 10mil tape over the barrel. This will create a 10mil gap to float the barrel.

 

[JJMoody]

Dosh, I was pretty sure I had come to the same conclusion a while back, but wanted to know if there were other options for a fix and this guy really thought he knew what no one else did and I'm really not experienced enough in this arena to not ask all the questions I can. The overall concept seemed either crazy enough to work or just plain crazy enough!
JF.. How has the overall performance of the foam filled plastic fantastics been for you? Any advise on procedure/materials etc that I should give a try? Elk season is just around the corner, so it's not gonna change right away, but come coyote season I may just have to tinker. If nothing else, it'll give me a chance to get some practice bedding and messing with stocks right before I just buy the BnC medalist that has been suggested. Thanks for the input folks.

 

[jrock]

Filling the butt stock with spray foam is a good solution but personally, I don't mind the empty space there. You can also add lead shot to the foam to add weight to balance out the barrel. I would not use a spray foam or bondo in the fore end or where it could contact metal. Those materials can adsorb water which can cause rusting. Also, the spray foam will deteriorate over time and is not a long term solution.

1+ on clay is a bad idea for similar reasons

If you want a quick fix, I would recommend the carbon arrow solution. You can tape over the open ends of the arrows so they don't fill with epoxy. That saves a lot on epoxy
I think I used 2 arrows and 2 packs of JB.
I didn't mention in my earlier post that I bought a B&C sporter stock and it flexed the same towards the barrel as my stiffened stock. I had to float it 0.1" to prevent contact. I would get the M40 or varmint stock which has no flex in the fore end.

 

[JJMoody]

I think I will try filling the fore end with the carbon fiber arrows and a perlite/JB Weld mixture when the time comes as well as filling the butt with spray foam and I may mix some weight in there as well. Afterwards, I'll glass bed with some Devcon steel and see if she feels any better. In the meantime, I'll be shopping my options for a replacement. The gal at stockys said they either have the Medalist, as Dosh suggested, or a laminated thumbhole that I'm not real keen on.

 

[JJMoody]

jfseaman, in regards to the spacer and decellerator pad, I'm 6'4 and have a bow draw length of 31.5", the guy was certain I needed to adjust the LOP on the stock to fit me better. I've always just shot what was on the rifle, but now I think it might be a good idea to fit the rifle to me.

 

[WildRose]

Ok, to piggyback the topic of improving a flimsy stock, I have a 340 wby in MKV stainless with the Tupperware stock. I stopped in at the local gunsmith yesterday and he had some "Interesting" things to say.
First off, he said he fills the hollow buttstock with spray foam insulation and epoxies a spacer and Decellerator pad to the butt, then fills in the forearm with a modeling clay and glass beds the stock clear to the end over the top of the clay. It adds sufficient weight and stiffness to the factory stock. Any thoughts? It seemed a little "junior varsity" to me and I may have bought into it a little more if he hadnt told me a few more questionable things (read this as outlandish lies- HIS 338 edge maintains 2" groups consitently and 5 Tons of kinetic energy at 2000 yds. among other things) I'll not be using his services any time soon, but what are your thoughts on the stock work?

Modeling clay isn't going to stiffen anything. You'd be much better off just filling the channel with the acraglas. Modeling clay is by it's very nature very flexible.

The method I described and others have suggested with minor variations will work period.

If something sounds crazy, it usually is.

 

[WildRose]

JJ, a B&C Medalist bedded is what your 340 Wby needs. Weatherby used to use HS Precision stocks and switched to the B&C. Stocky's has them in stock if you like the in-stock colors, otherwise you'll wait 2-5 months. I have attempted to bed a couple Tupperware stocks, but the epoxy will not maintain adhesion to the plastic no matter how rough I made the area. I even tried small stainless screws to keep it in place with no luck. Just my experience.

Marine Tex and Devcon will both adhere to it quite well if you rough the edges up well. I use a wire brush on my dremel to do it.

Have not had one of them delaminate yet.

 

[JJMoody]

Thanks for the input guys. I always appreciate the Experienced advice that is here. Not sure if it saves me a ton of heartache or costs me a bunch of money, but I listen and use every scrap of knowledge I can.

 

[joeycoates]

Yes, I have done this on a 700 SPS stock with great success. I used some old carbon arrows I bought at Walmart and cut two of them to length from the lug to the front end and Dremeled out the stock so they could sit side by side. I used JB weld to glue them in place. I roughed the stock thoroughly with the Dremel prior to epoxying and it worked great. I also used Pro-Bed 2000 to make epoxy pillar which turned out great and was really easy to do too.
Torsion of the forend stock was 100% removed. Still moved a bit up and down towards the barrel but I free floated it with enough room so it wouldn't touch. Added almost no weight since the arrows were hollow and cost less than $15.

I did the same with my Rem SPS Tactical. The Hogue stock had a lot of flex before I put the CF rods in. I simply went to Academy and found the two cheapest CF arrow shafts I could find and used good ole JB weld, worked perfectly. While in there I also bedded the recoil lug. It will now put five 168gr A-Max's in a nickel at 100 yards, 43.5gr IMR 4895, WLR primer, .020 off lands. Last weekend I shot three rounds and then let my best friend shoot 2, all five were in a thumbnail sized group even with two different shooters.

 

[jrock]

I did the same...QUOTE]

Great minds think alike.

 

[Jerry M]

I have heard of people reinforcing the forearm with carbon fiber arrow shafts epoxied in place.

Don't know if that helps or not.

Larry
Tinkerer

Old school is to use a push rod from a old V-8. it's round, hollow, steel, proper length, and cheap.

Good luck

Jerry

 

[WildRose]

I did the same with my Rem SPS Tactical. The Hogue stock had a lot of flex before I put the CF rods in. I simply went to Academy and found the two cheapest CF arrow shafts I could find and used good ole JB weld, worked perfectly. While in there I also bedded the recoil lug. It will now put five 168gr A-Max's in a nickel at 100 yards, 43.5gr IMR 4895, WLR primer, .020 off lands. Last weekend I shot three rounds and then let my best friend shoot 2, all five were in a thumbnail sized group even with two different shooters.

Joey are you from Texas originally? Any relatives in the Panhandle?