I got a few questions here for you guys.

1. How did Weatherby get away with their Magnum rifles without any cross bolt in the stock?

2. What is the purpose of having a cross bolt in the stock? Is it nessesary to have a cross bolt in a composite stock?

3. Where can I find a good grade walnut stock or a composite stock for the CZ 550 Magnum?

Any info will be appreciated. Thanks. Ming

My answers:

1. Weatherby did not get away with anything. A lot of their stocks crack.

2. When a gun recoils, the recoil lug is like an axe trying to split the stock wood along the grain. A cross bolt mechanically holds the wood together under pressure (if the cross bolt is installed properly), preventing the stock split. I have no comment about composite stocks.

3. By good grade walnut, do you mean better than factory? I know a stockmaker who will set you up with a beautiful stock for a cz550 for about $1K. Email me if you want to contact him.

I have the answer to #1 NOTHING my 300 Wby broke at the rear tang but Weatherby replaced it at no cost but at that point I put a Brown Precision on and never had any more trouble.

DWM

Thanks guys for the info. I do not have one yet but thinking about getting one soon. Good shooting guys. Cheers! Ming

Look back to the posting on 1/9 regarding a paper written by Jack Lott on cross bolts. I printed it of my library.
Weatherby uses a very large recoil lug and good walnut.

Lotts article written a number of years ago, is sort of a buchery of the gunmakers skill commonly known as jury riggen...

Two cross-bolts properly installed is the real fix, if its a 458 or bigger, then add a barrel recoil lug and glass the action at tang with .020 clearance, recoil lug and 2" of barrel and at the barrel lugs rear surface only with PLENTY of clearance in the front of that lug, so that you can take the barreled action out of the wood when needed....

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Thanks Pat and Ray for the info. Cheers! Ming