Drilling an H&R buttstock for stock bolt

[DeanWinchester]

Anyone have any idea how to drill the hole for a Harrington & Richardson Handi rifle stock bolt?
Can anyone here do that and do it right?

I can get to a milling machine and do it myself if I have to but it's a real chore.
I don't think it'd be that hard to do. Just clamp it to and angle plate and drill away.

I've got some wood I've been letting dry out for a couple of years and I'm thinking seriously of cutting it this winter. I need a good winter project and a totally off the wall unique H&R stock sounds like fun.

[nekshot]

Dean, its really not to hard to do. Our friend Von Gruff I think has input on his Lee enfield sporting rifle or a link to that task. It is in the Special Project section.

[DeanWinchester]

The counter bore shouldnt be difficult. Getting the bolt hole straight enough might be a little tedious if I try it by hand.

[Mk42gunner]

The way I would do it is to mark the center of each end, and drill from both ends in a drill press. Then figure how deep the counterbore needs to be and use a Forstner bit (cuts a smoother flat bottomed hole than a spade bit) on an extension.

I haven't done a buttstock, but I have helped my best friend make a lot of lamps and log furniture.

Robert

[bedbugbilly]

I am thinking of getting a H & R and like you, would want to put a custom stock on it as I don't like the looks of the factory stocks.

I have been giving the hle a lot of thought as well. This is somewhat "akin" to drilling a ramrod hole on a muzzleloader. On full stocks that I have built, I made up a 48" drill bit - welded a center drill on the end of a rod. The trick is on any hole like what you are talking about is to make sure that there is no way the drill bit can "wander" - that requires a guide block of some sort. On ramrod holes, I drill them with a hand brace - the ramrod channel supports the length of the bit and keeps it straight.. Without a guide, it will "wander".

On yourt buttsstock - you could use an "electricians" bit - available at Lowes, etc. which is about 18" in length. However, if you try drilling in a drill press, I doubt that you can control the bit so that it drills straight like you want it to. And, if you try drilling from both ends - I'm afraid that you won't be able to do it accurately enough to have the two holes "meet".

I haven't had a chance to look at a H & R stock but they are basically the same as how a H & A under hammer muzzleloading buttstock is attached to the receiver. If and when I do a H & A, my plan of attack is this.

Layout the buttstock and cut to profile. Finger the angle of the needed hole in relation to the butt plate surface. Once that is determined, I would take a piece of hardwood - probably maple and cut it about 8" in length and the same thickness of the stock blank by perhaps at least an 1 1/2". On the drill press, set it up so that you can drill with a forester bit on the centerline of the piece of maple Icenter line of stock blank thickness) and bore the hole through the piece of maple. This will provide you with a "guide block". The size of forester bit would be the same size of the needed "counter bore" for the butt stock screw to secure the stock to the receiver.

Once you have your "guide block" made - screw it to a flat surface. I have a removable insert of 3/4 plywood on my work bench that allows me to screw into it when doing jobs like this - when it gets too used, I flip it and when both sides are getting worn, I just replace it.

With the guide block screwed to a flat surface, position the butt plate end of the stock so that the center of the hole in the guide block lines up where the hole needs to be couter bored in the butt stock blank. Clamp the stock blank tight against the guide block. As an added means of securing it, tack some blocks on the sides of the blank so that it cannot move in any direction and it is secure.

You will be boring into end grain with a forester bit for the counter bore so do not rush. Use a variable speed hand drill and carefully insert the forester bit into the guide block hole. Take your time and slowly bore into the stock blank with the forester bit. Makes sure to clear your wood chips from the hole often or they could throw the bit off. Drill as deep as your guide block allows. Then remove the guide block and the hole should be deep enough in the buttstock to guide the forester bit so you can drill to the depth you need for the stock bolt. Again, take you time and go slow - clear your chips often. The forester bit has a minute center point on it which will also be the center point of the coutner bored hle where you need to drill a smaller diameter hole for the stock bolt.

I don't know what the diameter of the forester bit is that is required for the counter bored hole, but now you need to make another "guide" for the boring of the stock bolt hole. If you have access to a metal leather, this should be simple. You could use a piece of hard maple or even aluminum or whatever. Turn it down so the diameter of the counter bored hole so it just slides in. Once you have that fit, use a center drill in the tailstock of the lathe and lightly counter sink the end of your guid - this should be in the center of the round guide that you have turned down. Then bore it with a bit that is the same size as the electrician's drill bit that you will be using to bore the bolt hole.

Insert the guid into the counter bored hole. This should keep your longer drill bit centered and on course. Using a brace, take you rtime and slowly drill the bolt hle until you are through the length of the stock blank. Clear your chips often - don't rush. You can use a little powder chalk to help lubricate the hole if necessary. If you are careful, you should end up with a counter bored bolt hole that is centered and on the correct angle throughout he stock blank.

Depending on the species and density of the stock blank, it should come out good enough that it can be fitted to the receiver without a lot of work. The trick is not to rush. A "scrapped butt stock blank" is often the result of nothing more than being impatient. It may be a little time consuming but the bolt hole will be the hardest part. Once that's done and the blank is fitted to the receiver, the fun part starts - you get to carve and shape in to something that's unique.

Just one way to do it - I'm sure there are many other ways as well depending upon what equipment a person has. Good luck! Sounds like a good winter project!

[leftiye]

I use a special mount on my lathe to align and drill those. It mounts to the compound feed and has a plate with a line on it to align the stock as to where you want the hole. Put the drill in the headstock, and feed with the saddle. Hint: use a short 3/8" drill first, then drill out to bolt/washer size. Proceed in steps until the big hole is as deep as you want it, then drill from the front end with a 3/8" drill, or just continue from thr rear. I use a shorter 3/8" drill mounted in a round drill holder the size of the washer/bolt head hole to drill in steps. If you use a long 3/8" drill from both ends, the drill will deflect off of the grain and the holes won't meet/match.

[flounderman]

There are ways to do it right, but I have drilled from both ends and used a redi-rod and a nut. You can bend the rod if you have to and the nut is the only thing that has to turn once you screw the rod into the receiver. Works fine, because I have done it. Friend of mine makes 2 piece stocks and he made a clamp with guide blocks and I think he said he made a D bit and it worked perfect. Not sure about the D, but I think he said he did it that way. I like the threaded rod and a nut. It doesn't have to be perfect.

[bedbugbilly]

flounderman - sometimes I feel like "duh!" - LOL -I never thought of using a redo-rod - that's a good suggestion - will file it away in my notebook! Besides the Handi that I'd like to do sometime, I'm planning on doing a under hammer muzzle-loader using the H & A style action that Pecatonica sells - the butt stock is also attached with a long bolt throughout he stock. The redo-rod might work out a lot better for that and not require such a deep counter bore.

Great suggestion! I'm looking forward to hearing how the OP does it and how it works out.

[gnoahhh]

Another very simple way is this (it does rquire a drill press): On the table of the DP mount a sharp vertical fixed point. In the chuck, mount a long piece of drill rod with a point ground precisely on center. Run it down and line up the two points perfectly nose-to-nose, lock down the lower point. Remove the drill rod from the chuck and replace it with a brad point bit of your choice. Position one end of the stock on the lower point where you want the hole to be (center punch the location first) and run the drill bit down from the other end. The hole can't help but go right where you want it. Go slow, clear the chips often, and after bottoming out with the relatively short brad point bit, remove from the drill press. I then select a simple split point bit of the same size and sufficient length to finish the hole and do it with a hand drill- the starter hole being a sufficient guide for that. Or, you can flip it end for end on the DP and run the brad point in toward the first hole. If they don't meet in the middle, finish up with a hand drill.

After the initial hole is drilled, run a regular bit of larger diameter in from the bottom as a counterbore for the bolt head. It'll track along the smaller hole. I prefer to use chucking reamers for that job though, going up incrementally in diameter until the goal is reached.

Easy-peasy, pumpkin squeezy!

Note: it's easier to drill the hole first when the stock is still in blank form, then lay out everything in relation to the hole. Saves a lot of anguish if you have a ton of time/labor invested and then screw up drilling the hole.

[DeanWinchester]

Ohh yeah Gnoahhh, you're right.

I'll certainly have to drill first, shape last.


This will be an interesting endeavor. Chance of success is very slim. I can't do wood work at all. My choice of wood is also an obstacle. I've got a section of Bodock I'm working with. For any of you western gents or northern yanks, that's Osage Orange.
Bodock may very well be the hardest, most screwy grained wood in the US. I believe it's harder than locust or ash ever thought about. It's the only wood I ever seen that can ruin a brand new bar and chain in just a few cuts.
The grain doesn't run parallel. Some will, then a few lines of grain will wander out into space.

I have mold mallet made from it. I tried to do an oil finish, but it wouldn't take it. It's heck to make it soak up a finish. I tell you what you can do that you can't do with other wood. You can wet sand it. I did my mold mallet and started with 220. Then went to 400. Then 600 wet and 1000 wet. It's like a piece of glass!

[gnoahhh]

Osage orange can make for a pretty stock. I didn't think I would like it, but a friend crafted a buttstock and fore end out of a chunk of osage orange firewood for on his 870 pump, and it turned out beautifully. It was so hard, he merely sanded down to 600x, 0000 steelwooled it, buffed it on a large wide soft muslin wheel, then paste waxed it. It has withstood several duck hunting seasons and still looks like a million bucks.

[DeanWinchester]

Tell me, has yours turned darker with age?

My mold mallet was a real bright orange at first but it's turned a really dark almost burnt orange color over the years and I love the look.


Bodock for firewood!? I did that one year. I don't think air feeding coal could get much hotter! Wow!

[oneokie]

The correct name is Bois D'Arc. It will darken with age. Only way to slow the darkening down is to use a finish that has lots of UV stabilizers. And one can burn a wood heater out burning Bois D'Arc.

[DeanWinchester]

Yeah, well my neck's too red to say any o dem fancy wurds.

Down here it's Bodock or Hedge Apple. Or as we called them back in Boyscouts, Country boy baseball tree. I've played many a game of baseball with a big stick and pile of hedge apples. If you could smash the apple it was a home run!

[gnoahhh]

"A rose by any other name is but a rose." Indeed it will darken with age, much like cherry does.

There's a lot of it over on the Eastern Shore. My buddy pushed down a hedgerow full of it on his farm which provided us with a heckuva lot of firewood. I have a fireplace in my bedroom and one or two chunks in there burns well past "lights out" in the wintertime. I took a couple massive chunks and worked them up into small planks and am air drying them in my shop. I plan to make a few small boxes/chests for the artsy crowd at Christmas this year.

I also have used some to make custom croquet mallets (a side line of mine)- not your typical backyard game, but professional ones. (Square heads 2 5/8"x12", ash handles, lead added to bring weight up to 3 pounds. A google search will show you images.) I almost don't have to add hard facing material on the ends of the heads made with osage orange.

[Mk42gunner]

Hedge can be a pretty wood if you can get it to dry without cracking. One of my Grandpa's had a grain scoop with a replacement hedge handle, it was polished by use to an almost glass like state.

I never really thought about making a butt stock from it, but if does make some pretty neat looking hand gun grips.

Robert

[MBTcustom]

Just my 2 cents here. Like I always say it's not the only way, but it's a way that might work for you.
What I do is mark both ends where I want the hole to be.
Then I carfully centerdrill in that spot with a 7/16 centerdrill (you know the stubby little drill that has a 60 degree angle just behind the little drill tip?)
Then I mount my through drill bit in the chuck of my lathe and turn on the spindle.
I put my live center (in the tailstock of my lathe) in one of the 60 degree centerdrilled holes, and use that to push the stock into the spinning drill bit.
I reverse and continue.
This makes two holes that are very close to lining up but don't quite meet in the middle.
I take the stock and vice it, and use my extra long drill to connect the two holes. Usually, they line up almost perfectly.
Finally, I have a piloted counterbore cutter I made that screws onto a 1/2" rod (same one I use for through the action reaming headspace) and I just chase the hole till I have the depth I want.
During this whole process, beeswax is used as a drill lubricant.

Hope that helps somebody.

[Hamish]

Yeah, well my neck's too red to say any o dem fancy wurds.

Down here it's Bodock or Hedge Apple.

(lol)

Bois D'Ark

'Bwah d Ark

Bah Dahrk

Bow-dock

Bodock

Not fancy words silly rabbit, just what happened the original French over the course of a couple three hunnert years,,,,,,,,

[robroy]

This is another way to put a hole through a butstock blank.

I start by squaring the blank on a jointer/planer. Plane one side just enough to clean it up. Hold that planed side flush with the fence and plane the top. With those two surfaces planed and square, scribe center lines on the top and ends of the blank. Next take a look at the grain/figure in the blank and place the factory stock on it so you get the best use of figure. Once the stock covers the grain you want to include make a mark on the blank straight down from the center of the bolt hole and another directly under the center of the counter bore. Use a straight edge and draw a line through those two points and out to the ends of the wood. Use a combination square to transfer the line to the center lines you made previously. These intersections give you the centers you need for drilling.

At this point if you have access to a lathe follow the method Goodsteel laid out. A long (18”) drill bit is essential. If you only have access to a drill press or a mill, clamp an angle plate to the table so that it overhangs the edge and clamp your blank to the plate so that the line you drew on the side is parallel to the quill. If the machine is set up properly all you need to do is plumb the line you drew. Use a pointer chucked in the quill to position the table and head so the hole will be centered on your end points. Lock the machine in place (table and head). Now wax the appropriate sized drill with bee’s wax, JPL, Mothers, whatever you have.

Drill to the limit of your quill clearing chips often. Remove the drill from the hole and let it cool. With luck it didn’t get so hot that the wood and wax are smoking. Wax the drill again. Now raise the table till the bit bottoms the hole and make another pass to the limit of the drill. If you’re using a mill the alignment shouldn’t change and check it anyway unless you’re confident with the machine. With any drill press I’ve ever used you’ll need to line up the hole by putting it an inch, give or take, into the hole.

Now flip the blank over and reclamp again paying attention to plumb and centers and repeat the above procedure. Somewhere during the second go you should feel the holes meet.

I did the counter bore on a lathe by running a 3/8" rod through the hole and putting the piece between centers and then clamping to the compound. The rod had a 1/4" square hole cut through and a set screw in the end to hold a piece of HSS .250x.250 sharpened to cut back toward the head. After the blank is clamped remove the centers and chuck the rod in the head insert and tighten the bit and turn on the lathe. 120 RPM or so worked for me. By hand, feed the blank toward the tail stock till you're deep enough. I didn't do it to the one pictured below but have to others.

I’ve included some pictures of a blank that I did this way. Maybe someday I’ll get to whittlin’ and finish the stock and have a purty NEF Handirifle even though some don’t believe that’s possible.