Hello all!
It is frequently pointed out that a caliber heavier than .458WM needs a second recoillug mounted on the barrel.
The factory mounted 2:nd lug on the BRNO 602, a 1/2" lug attached to the stock with a screw and "slider", has been refered to as "cheesy" and "funky".
I am in the process of turning an old 602 into a 458 LOTT. Should I:
1. Keep it as it is.
2. Remove the screw and slider and freefloat the barrel.
3. Add another 1/2" by welding on a piece of steel to make it bigger or...
4. None of the above?
I will be thankful for any input!
Thanks

Just bed it in place when you full-length bed the gun. Add cross-bolts and shoot it.

You obviously suffer from my same sicknesss; which is to try and fix that which is not broken.

A real improvement would be to add one of Jim Wisners extended floorplates (to get 6-rounds down) and have someone go over it for feeding & function reliability. Those would be dollars well spent.

And while its there either have the bolt straightened or replaced. That'll fix it.

Thanks New guy for your advice!
As I am making a new stock for it. Do you mean that I should drill a hole and inletting for the screw and slider in the new stock or loose them and just bed the lug as it is?

New Guy

I'm confused. What is it about the bolt that needs straightened or replaced?

Sure, I'd like to fill that hole in the end of the handle but...?

Les

first, i think the slider is a good solution, but to make it better, weld/solder it into place..

wax the action very well before you bed in, fill all the screw holes, then bed in place.. it'll act enough as a second lug for most things..

then put a pin down the wrist

relieve the tang, of course

go shoot...

I had a 602 "explode" the stock in my right hand.. a friend bought it, it had been sotred for years.. he didn't do what I told him (bed/relieve) and the tang erupted into the stock, sending splinters in the meat of my hand

jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by LHowell:
New Guy

I'm confused. What is it about the bolt that needs straightened or replaced?

Sure, I'd like to fill that hole in the end of the handle but...?

Les

they just look a little squirley with that little bit of the end of the bolt kicked back.

or to improve the look more you can replace it with an oberndorf syle bolt.

quote:

Originally posted by snowhound:
Thanks New guy for your advice!
As I am making a new stock for it. Do you mean that I should drill a hole and inletting for the screw and slider in the new stock or loose them and just bed the lug as it is?

drill a hole and inletting for the screw and slider in the new stock... align the slider so that it fits into the hole, fill the dovetail for the slider with clay to hold it in place and bed the barrel with the slider in place. (or solder it as jeffe suggested)

either way that will give you contact all the way around the lug (dovetail) and around the slider as well, while still allowing the slider to be removed from the dovetail.

if you look closely at your 602 stock, you'll also see a piece of steel in the forearm that butts up against the back of the dovetailed lug. that could or could not be replaced in your new stock.

Thanks for your advice guys!
I will comply.

Things seem simple enough when you read about them but when you get down to do them you realize you just didn´t get it the first time.
Jeffeosso - How/where/why/what size do I put a pin down the wrist?
How is the tang relieved correctly?
Is it OK to just put a piece of tape on the rear end of the reciever when bedding or should the mag. bottom and rear actionscrew also be relieved of rearward contact?
(Maybe this should be posted in the gunsmithin section but it is specifically bigbore-related.)

Talk about fixing stuff that ain't broke:

On a heavy rifle I "put a pin down the wrist" by drilling a 5/16" hole from under the tang down through the grip. The hole comes out under the grip cap. Use an old, clean dry bore brush to scrub all the dust out of the hole.

Then I spooge the hole with acraglass and screw a threaded tool steel rod (thoroughly wetted w/glass) into place. I screw it in far enough so that it can never directly touch the action. Then I let all that dry, then bed the rifle.

The "wrist pin" prevents the recoil transmitted back from the lug(s) from breaking the stock.

I fell on my stock, denting the wrist, but it did not break.

Relieving the tang means cutting out the stock &/or bedding material so that only the recoil lug(s) prevent the action from sliding back under recoil.

If any step in the action near the wrist hammers the stock under recoil it will splinter it. (Yes, action screw needs to be relieved, too.)

You also need to make sure that recoil will not be transmitted from the action into the magazine to hammer the stock. Put a crossbolt behind the magazine and in front of the trigger (and bed it) to keep the stock from splitting and spreading apart under recoil there.

Bed the crossbolt behind the primary recoil lug before bedding the action.

I also bedded a steel stirrup into the forearm of the stock. This device wraps around both recoil lugs (under the bedding) and helps spread the forces more uniformly into the forearm. Since I did this I did not put a third crossbolt behind the barrel lug.

Thanks Don_G for that informativ answer!
This seems trickier than I expected but I´ll try to get it right.
How much relief, i.e. how much can I expect the action to move rearwards when the stock flexes during recoil?

I don't know how to give you a numerical answer. I certainly use more than a thickness of tape. I use a dremel to relieve it after bedding. I'd guess .030-.050".

Watch for contact in those spots and relieve it more if you see the need.

Some stocks flex more than others. If you examine the empty stock you'll see that the wood that wraps around the magazine has to transmit all the forces back to the wrist. These two narrow slabs of wood can bend outward (buckle) under recoil, causing the stock to start splitting in the narrow section of wood in front of the trigger that ties the two sides of the stock back together. On any used heavy rifle (and many 30-06 and up) the stock will be cracked down the middle there. That crack is the start of the split that causes catastrophic failures in some heavy rifles - and that's why you need a second crossbolt there. In lighter rifles it will often quit propagating. A crack there is repaired to better than original strength by acraglass in the crack and a bedded crossbolt.

Brownells sells a kit containing brass all-thread and drill bit to put a light "crosspin" repair across this section that's good for .338 WM and smaller, IMHO.

A stock that fails on a hunt is bad news!

Thanks again Don!