New Stock Arrived Today from Richards

[Jim_P]

Well, as these things go, I ordered this stock back in mid December from Richards Microfit. They said six to eight weeks for delivery. Yesterday I called and left a message to check on the stock. First time I called. I was home due to weather and had the chance. Wouldn't ya know, today as the UPS man left five packages (they started stacking up due to weather) there was the stock. Nice thing was of those four other packages, two were from Brownells and one from Midway!

Opened the box. Yup, there a chunk of wood in there. I ordered the AA grade Carlo Walnut for a Ruger M77 Tang Safety Long Action with Rosewood Grip cap and fore end tip (my 7MM Rem Mag is going in this stock). There's a good deal of extra wood to shape things how I want. For me - this is a good thing and Richards does this on purpose. I love working on stocks and am getting better with each one I do. I built the Lyman Great Plains Muzzle Loader this past summer and have been offered a grand for it. It came out that good!

Test fitted the action. I would not call this a 99% Press fit by any notion. Lots of wood to get out of the way for the barrel. Better that than not enough! I intent on floating the barrel and AcraGel-ing the action. Might even put in some Pillars as well. I've already fitted a Timney Trigger to the action. But, like I said for me this is a good thing. I can make that wood look like it grew around the action and barrel. It all has to do with the tools. And I've got them.

I did the water test on the wood. Lots and Lots of Fiddleback in the cheek piece. Nice colors too, but it'll be a while until I can see what it's really gonna look like, but it looks purty at this point and that's saying a lot for a rough stock.

I got a Brass Ruger Emblem to inset into the Grip cap. I even filled the relief of the coin with black enamel to draw out the image. Clear coated with Lacquer. Should be a nice touch.

Gonna need to get a piece of Maple at Home Despot to practice checkering. Oh, that was one of the other boxes, a checkering cradle (yes, I feel ripped off - a 2X4 with some screws for almost $90! I'll live...).

I just finished refinishing the stock-stock for my new to me other Ruger M77 Tang Safety in .308 Winchester with Varmint Barrel (bought back in December as well). That's gonna get a Pillar bed, has a Zeiss 6.5 - 20 X 50 Scope. Floated the barrel and put a Decelerator recoil pad on it for more LOP. Looks good for a stock stock. Can't wait for warmer weather to see how it shoots. I was nice to myself for Christmas!

With the way this winter has been going, I just may need to order a target stock for that .308. Once I finish the 7MM stock, I may have more winter than projects.

Oh, and I would seriously recommend Richards Microfit stocks if you want to have a maybe 90% finished stock to fit to your own action, and make it glow like you know you can. Their selection is broader than anyone's (including Boyds which I have also used), have more wood choices than I've found in both hardwoods and laminates (and different laminate colors), and make the process easy. Just call, tell them what you want, give them the billing info and wait 6 to 8 or so weeks. (I don't work for Richards - just a pleased customer). http://www.rifle-stocks.com/

I'll post pictures when finished. TruOil is my finish of choice. At least 10 - 12 coats with progressively finer steel wool between coat. All hand rubbed. Finalized with Brownells 3 F and then 5F rubbing Compound and Carnauba Wax. The finish can't be beat.

Jim

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I bought a stock some years back for my 1926 Mannlicher-Schoenauer. It was well shaped, and quite good-looking wood. But it was nothing like as spectacular as the exhibition grade claro they illustrated.

[RustyReel]

I think we need a BEFORE and an AFTER pic!:-P

[Jim_P]

Before

Fresh from the box and only wetted enough to see the grain...

After is going to take some time. I've got the barrel and the action inlet. Now the shape the exterior.

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[Jim_P]

Well, there's a pic of the in the raw wood. Not a great pic, but it is what it is.

I have the stock from Richard shaped to my liking and all filled and sealed. Sealed with a coat of B-C Filler Sealer sanded with 400 and then BLO sanded with 800 wet or dry. About to start on the final finish. I thought I'd post a pic of the stock before the finish was rubbed in:

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Note: At this point all finish has been buffed down to triple - 0 steel wool level.

Lots of fiddleback in the stock. That piece of wood holding the stock up is what I'll practice the checkering on. Have two of them.

You can see I added a shadow line to the cheek piece. The cheek piece is a roll over and the shadow line continues on the other side. That side also has a palm swell.

This was only AA Carlo Walnut. Not their top of the line, but a pretty piece of wood for a hunter and a good shooter. What you can't see is the Acra Glas Gel with atomized Stainless Steel bedding.

I cut the front to 22 degrees and added a 1/8" wide counter 22 degree cut on the bottom to the Rosewood front. Also inlet into the grip cap is a brass Ruger medallion about 3/8" in diameter. (click the pic for a larger one)

The action going into it is a Ruger M77 in 7mm Remington Magnum with sporter barrel. The action and barrel were polished up to Polish-O-Ray 400 with felt wheels. Bluing was Oxpho-Blue. It looks better than original. I am having a hard time believing cold bluing can look this good - but it does. I've compared it to my M77 in .308 with the original factory bluing and mine looks as good if not slightly better. Both are from the same era at the Ruger factory.

I added a Timney trigger while I was working on it. The Scope is a Nikon 4.5 - 14X Buckmaster.

I plan on at least 10 coats of Tru-Oil followed with Brownells Triple 'F' and 5 'F' rubbing compound. Finalized with some Carnauba Wax courtesy of R. Gale Lock.

Only a month left until the range is free of snow so I can get this sighted back in and tested. My timeline is still on target - so to speak. Getting anxious....

[Blackwater]

I've used them before and couldn't have been happier. The hard part is trying to describe just what kind of figure you want over the phone. Very few of us can "paint a picture with words," so that lil' tidbit of communication is the source of most complaints with stock companies, in my experience. However, either they read my mind or I did a decent job of explaining what I wanted, and got some really nice marble-cake Am. walnut. That stock was later stolen, though, and I REALLY like to get my hands on the thief! Maybe it's better I don't, though. The only other complaint I've heard was when people ordered from them expecting to get a drop-in stock that only needed finishing, and when they got the slightly oversized wood they provide, one guy even threw it in the trash! A good piece of wood, in the TRASH!?!?!??? Some folks are just a little TOO volatile. He just didn't know what questions to ask, and when you don't know what questions to ask, it's really hard to get what you want. I've always found them to be good to deal with.

[Jim_P]

Blackwater

They seem to be a small operation. They do indeed try to give the customer what they want. I have no complaints. In fact nothing but praise.

For me, the extra wood is a blessing. In my case the extra wood in the Cheek helped with higher scope mounts. It's also a lot easier to subtract wood than to grow it... If you want a stock cut to factory specs, I guess Boyds is a good place to start. But if you know someone who's gonna throw the wood in the trash, drop me a note first.

The fiddleback in my stock is really starting to stand out with each successive coat and rubdown. It's also lighter than the above pic.

Getting prettier.

[Jim_P]

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So, here's my Ruger M77 Tang Safety in 7MM Rem Mag. It's now safely fitted to a Richards Custom Rollover in AA Claro Walnut. After getting the unfinished stock and intletting the action, I then AcraGlas Gel bedded the action with Atomized Stainless Steel filling. I had also fitted a Timney Trigger to action and upgraded the Firing Pin Spring to a Wolff Blitzschnell. The bluing on the rifle was worn, so I stripped it with a various buffing wheels and compounds ending with some 400 Grit Polish-O-Ray. Bluing was cold using Oxpho-Blue after the polishing and cleaning with Brownells TGE. Scope is a Nikon Buckmaster 4.5 - 14 X 40. I put 10 coats of B-C TruOil, hand rubbed and allowed to dry 3 to 5 days between coats. Each coat was rubbed with 0000 Steel Wool before the next coat. Cleaned with pressurized air and a tack cloth before the next coat. Final Buffed/Rubbed with Brownells 3F and then 5F stock rubbing compounds and then waxed with Gales stock wax.

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Here's a close up of the brass Ruger emblem inlaid into the pistol grip.

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Close-up detail of the Shadow Line on the cheek piece. It does follow the entire cheek, including the rollover.

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Close up of the front end of the stock with the 22 degree cut with in the Rosewood fore end cap.