HELP with boyds krag stock!!!

[webradbury]

Maybe I should have built a carbine!

I have been struggling to get this thing inletted and I believe my worst fears have proven correct. Everytime I tried to put the barreled action in the stock, the muzzle steamed off center. But when the barrel is in the barrel channel the tang seems off centered.

So this morning I pull a straight line down the barrel channel and here are the pictures...114549114550114551114552

Is it just me or is this stock crooked? Suggestions on what I shoul/can do??

When I line up the holes and midline of the receiver channel, this is what the barrel channel looks like...114553

[Reg]

A little tough to tell from the pictures.
First with the string running down the center of the barrel channel as close as you can get it check to see where is that rear guard screw hole. If the string is centered in the channel and the screw hole is off then the stock has warped after it was shaped. Also try to see if the channel itself has warped. I would also center the string on the center of the inletting at the very front then center it to the rear guard screw hole and see if the inletting is centered it's full length.Generally these blanks are machined quite close to the finished dimensions to make inletting easier and if it is off anywhere at any place in the blank you might not have enough meat to correct for it.
This can happen with the best of them. Wood often contains stress's and when worked on one side will often twist or bend to the other.
As to what to do, I would contact Boyds, they might work with you depending on how long you have had the stock and how much if any work you have done to it.

[flounderman]

Are you using inletting black to mark the stock? I don't see any marks. Will the guard screws screw into the receiver, if not do you have headless screws, or hand screws with the long threads? If you have screws that will engage the action, once the bottom metal is inletted in, blacken the barrel and receiver and put it together. The marks will show you what wood needs to be removed. Use a scraper and take a little at a time and don't get in a hurry and keep checking for fit and removing the high spots. If there is enough wood in the forend and the barrel channel won't be showing on one side, it can be made work, even if the barrel channel is off a little. Most stocks have way too much wood to leave like they are for my taste anyway. Unless the wood has warped after the stock was cut, the machining should be straight. If it has warped, it probably will warp more later but it shouldn't have been laid out with the grain subject to turning sideways and it was kiln dried before it was cut. Don't try to fit a stock without guide screws unless you figure on filling the gaps with epoxy, don't try without inletting black.

[webradbury]

It took some doing yesterday but I did tighten the action/trigger guard down and the barrel lifted out of the channel and to the right 1/2".

I just sent boyds these pics and she is working on it. Its past 90 days so she doesn't know if they will do it

[quack1]

I agree 100% with flounderman, except for one small thing. In over 50 years of whittling stocks, I have seen a couple partial inlets, from different makers, that came with the barrel channel and action inletting out of line with each other. Both were quickly replaced by the manufacturer.
I can't tell for sure from the OP's pictures, but I don't see any spotting marks in the inletting.
It amazes me how often somebody gets a partly inletted stock and never considers using inletting black to spot in the metal. You don't even need inletting black, an old lipstick from your wife will work, soot from a kerosene lamp, or even a little used motor oil brushed on the metal. I have seen many stocks done with large gaps in the inletting, because the owner only thought the metal was touching there. Also the number of guys that, after fitting in the metal, simply sand the exterior, give it a coat of finish and call it done. There is usually a good bit of wood that needs removed to give the finished stock good lines and handling qualities. To simply sand the exterior gives the gun all the grace and handling qualities of a smoothed off 2 x 4.
my .02.

[webradbury]

Umm...yeah, I've been using chapstick to inlet as it isn't quite as messy and it still shows very well where the metal is touching. I'm not sure what that has to do with whether or not the piece of wood is straight.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Say, Will, your book is coming along. I'm up to page 76 (there was more to it than I remembered!) and should have it in the mail by Friday. That aside, the above posters know what they are talking about. Stock inletting bolts and inletting black are almost a must to get a good fit, and you need some good scrapers. Yes, the black is very messy, and when you have it all over your hands your nose invariably itches, but everything cleans up well when you finish sand. In looking at your project, I do believe that your stock is either warped, or (don't take offense) you either did all the inletting on the action first or all the inletting on the barrel channel first and then the other wouldn't fit right. But, defective from the factory does happen and you are correct to seek some sort of equity from Boyd's if you're convinced that is the case. If they won't help you then perhaps we can save it, but let's wait and see what they say first. Looking closely at your photos, I think that No. 1,2 & 3 show that if the barrel was laid properly in the barrel channel the rearmost action bolt hole is not that far off center, and there is some wiggle room, so that's how I'd proceed. Any adjustments will have to mostly be made in the area of the action bedding, because there isn't enough extra wood on the sides of the barrel channel. I didn't realize in a much earlier post that you were the same fellow that asked about inletting for the sideplate and wanted to see some of mine. I couldn't comply with the request, because the jobs went home with customers. Don't give up! If Boyd's does take it back and sends you another you can bet they'll make sure that the replacement is right before it goes out the door.

[nekshot]

I agree with all above and now for my words of encouragement also. If the it is a bad inlet job, you can get thru it graciously with acraglass. If the worst be the stock is warped and no replacement for it , my dad who was a master wood "benchman" at times would rewarp wood in a press arrangement and moisture below it. I saw it be as simple as tying a small rope on the piece to bend and weight, but you must walk away and forget about it for a while. He had his ways of checking it but always gave it plenty of time. He replaced alot of cracks in old antique table tops and those had to be perfect to keep their value and that was one of his specialties. Don't despair!

[johnson1942]

had very few preinletted stocks that were perfect. you just have to make them that way.

[webradbury]

Well the man at boyds looked at what I sent him and agreed the stock is not straight. He said it may have pulled from straight when the majority of the wood was routed out for the action. He didn't say but I would suspect its happened before to them.

As far as the inletting, I have taken very little wood out of it. I cut and shaped the opening for the sideplate and took a little out from where the front ring of the receiver lays and that's it. I haven't touched the barrel channel. I was halfway tempted to cut the forend off at the barrel band transition and graft it back on straight.

Anyway, he is going to send a replacement but wants me to cut this stock in half a send a pic of the destruction. I can't complain. I hate that this one can't be used now and I really hate trashing a pretty piece of walnut.

[HangFireW8]

Use the pieces to practice checkering before you do the new one!