Part 1:

OK - I'm putting my 404 together. I'll start with some pics of the barreled action and cutting the raw mesquite into blanks.

Dennis Olson did the metal work. 1917 Enfield with a 24" #5 barrel. It holds 4 down and can snap-over a 5th in the tube.







The wood started as 6'x2' mesquite log that was cut into 3" slabs, kiln dried, and then sat in my garage for 16 months. Here are some pics of it being cut over Christmas 2013 at my father-in-law's house.

I had Al Lind do semi-inlet stocks for the 404, a 35 Whelen on an Enfield, and a 7mm FN Mauser.








I got the 404 stock back Friday and got it 95% inletted tonight. Will post pics on that next.

That is looking great Austin Hunter.

Where do you get mesquite that big? I only saw samll diameter stuff in Coahuila when i was there. But maybe looked in the wrong places!

Cheers,

Chris

quote:

Originally posted by Rockdoc:
That is looking great Austin Hunter.

Where do you get mesquite that big? I only saw samll diameter stuff in Coahuila when i was there. But maybe looked in the wrong places!

Cheers,

Chris

Got the wood here.

Southwest Trading Post

I've gotten all my mesquite here as well that my father-in-law has used for the pedestals he makes for my mounts. I also got a cool piece to mount some impalas on.

Pedestals

They also have pretty cut 2" pieces. I'm thinking a quicker, cheaper route would have been to make a laminate out of 2-3 of those.

Large mesquite is available form South Texas, the big bend area and Northern Mexico on the Texas border along the Rio Grande River..but folks have been using it for firewood for hundreds of years and its getting harder to come by..Unfortunately most of the really big trees are in peoples yards!

I believe that the Enfield action is the best way to go with big bores as the action is large enough to accomodate those big rounds, and opening up a Mauser is doable but never really satified me in that you must remove metal from critical places and its a blivit, thats 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag.

I presently have a couple of Enfield barreled actions in 416 and 404 for sale in the classified, also done by Dennis Olson if anyone is interested.

My 404 is a custom Rem 30-S Enfield with a extension bottom metal to hold 6 down and one in the chamber. Has all the bells and whistles, metal by Olson and I did the stock.

You have a nice gun in the works, and lucky to have some nice mesquite blanks..How is the color in that stuff these days, Texas mesquite has more color than the california stuff, it also makes pretty knife handles..'

The bug holes cut in half in mesquite when filled with black glass look neat in knife and pistol handles, and would be pretty nice in a rifle stock, at least different.

Nice project, interesting posts.

Should be a very nice rifle.
Don Dobbratz of Telferner, TX (Victoria) used to be the king of mesquite stocks. I think he is still around, had some magficient pieces with nice figure, no worm holes or bark pockets but they were not cheap.

Part 2:

Here are some more pics. Still have more inletting to do before I do exterior shaping.

I put some mineral spirits on so the grain would show.

Trying to determine whether I do an ebony nose cap or note. Thoughts?

quote:

Originally posted by Austin Hunter:
Part 2:

Here are some more pics. Still have more inletting to do before I do exterior shaping.

I put some mineral spirits on so the grain would show.

Trying to determine whether I do an ebony nose cap or note. Thoughts?

Put a Talley or McClennan bolt on it...really changes the appearance of a 1917 action.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Put a Talley or McClennan bolt on it...really changes the appearance of a 1917 action.

I like the dog leg!

Me too, I like the dog leg.

I've exhausted the capability of the grease pen I was using for inletting marking. Waiting for an alcohol lamp tomorrow from Amazon so I can run paint thinner in it and "smoke" the barreled action.

I use Tiki torch fuel. Creates great smoke. Kerosene, Diesel fuel also work well.

Looking good! I have a 1917 I want to turn into something so I am watching this with interest.

My vote is for an ebony tip.

While I admire the dogleg I'm afraid that if you leave the action as-is the moderator will be forced to move this thread from the "Custom" forum to "Sporterized Military Rifles"...

Good idea on tiki torch fuel!

Maybe I should have just used a tiki torch instead of an alcohol lamp!

For a forend tip ebony is always nice, however, since you have started with mesquite how about a piece of Texas Ebony instead? It can be found almost black and would be a nice touch.

Jerry Liles

how about ironwood for the tip

Nice color on that blank

I got my mesquite stock today for my 35 Whelen on a 1917 as well. Man, it has a lot nicer grain - basically straight thru the length of the stock. This was a big experiment for me, the mesquite.

Texas Ebony is a good idea. I will look for some.

Part 3:

I got the upper inletting complete today. The smoke lamp (alcohol lamp with paint thinner in it) worked great. I also get the magazine inletted and made some pillars from a set of Remington 700 aluminum pillars.

I'm going to start on inletting the trigger guard next. Based on my measurements, there is an extra 0.15" of wood on the bottom that needs to come off so the trigger guard and magazine and action all fit together correctly. I'll also need to inlet about 0.03" in further for the trigger guard.

For the tip, I've decided to use a piece of Rosewood I've had laying around. It's hard to see the grain and color in the picture.

Now I need to find a big ass recoil pad. The large Pachmayrs are not large enough and the NECG are out of stock. I really had my heart set on a red NECG pad.

I also did some shaping on the outside of the stock (look at the older pics). Still have LOTS to do here. Need to take some off the right side of the stock, inlet for the bolt handle, relieve for the right side of the receiver, and shape the grip and butt stock.

Very nice! Thanks for sharing!

A simple smoker can be had by taking the wick holder from a lantern and cutting an appropriate hole in the top of a tin. Riveting a couple of tabs to locate the mechanism tabs under and it can be returned to the lantern when not in use as a smoker. Glass is safe on shelf away from harm. I just use kerosene in mine.

Part 4:

OK. I have the final shaping done. I just need to start sanding and remove the rasp and chisel marks. I noticed that the mesquite clogs easier than walnut when sanding so I used some #1 steel wool while sanding to remove the build up. It worked great.

I need to take about another 1/8" off the bottom from behind the trigger guard to the front. The trigger guard is recessed after I inletted and adjusted for the magazine fit between the action and floor plate. I also have another 1/16"-1/8" to take off along the right side of the stock when looking down from the top to even with the left side.

For the recoil pad, I plan to take about 1/8" off the butt and finish out at 14 7/8" LOP with a Red/Orange Pachmayer pad. I like the NECG pads, but they are weeks away from coming in. The Silvers/Galazan are just to hard for a heavy caliber like this.

The rifle is heavier than I expected, about 10 lbs. I know the mesquite would add more weight, though. I was hoping for 9 lbs. I'm thinking about drilling some holes in the butt to remove weight and then foaming them. Perhaps for the barrel channel in front of the barrel recoil lug as well.

Planning on taking another 2" off the stock and adding a 2" piece of Rosewood. I'm going to use a "Swept up" English style versus a rounded tip.

Also, I got my mesquite semi-inlet stock for my 35 Whelen in as well. It's really nice - long straight, continuous darn grain lines that follow the entire stock through the grip. I almost thought about starting over and using it.

Nice work!

Thanks for the photos. It will be a nice looking rifle.

Thanks

I ditched the rosewood tip in favor of ebony. The grain didn't line up (ie run parallel) with the mesquite grain like a stock a did for my father-in-law.

I got slowed down a bit due to some feeding issues, so the barreled action is back at the gunsmith. Hope to have that resolved, then I can finished shaping the bottom and install the tip.

I'll be able to get to the recoil pad this week. Got the grip cap on last week. LOTS of sanding left.

Going to use Mahogany Velvet Oil for the finish. I can buy here local in Austin at a hippie place.

I finished the backend tonight, my least favorite task. It's 100 gr sanded (need a bit more) before moving to higher grits. I also need to crisp up the check piece lines later. It has a slight toe-out to the right. I used a spray bottle with alcohol for the color, easier than wiping on.

Austin,

That is coming along really well. I'm sure that Dennis will get the feeding worked out. I am assuming that you sent it back to him.

Who's grip cap is that? I like the slimmer profile of it and checkering.

Jeremy

That's a Biesen grip cap. Unfortunately, they are not making them anymore. That's a bit larger than I normally use, but figured I wanted more to grab onto with a 404. Besides, my hands are pretty big.

Yes, I sent Dennis the rifle last week.

Austin,
I can send you pictures of a 404 I did the stock work on and Dennis did the metal, and he did a Wesley Richards type drop box to hold 5 or 6 down, its pretty neat. Its a pretty fancy Rem. mod. 30-S.

I can't put pics on these blogs, but can send pictures to your email..I can also give you some tips on grip style in a 404 to keep the trigger guard from bust'en a knuckle. I scollop around the tang and lower grip keeping it thick in the middle and lean on top and bottom..

you got them..good luck on neat project..can't wait to see the finished product.

Thanks. Definitely like the WR drop mag!

Here's something new I tried this time. For the relief on the right side of the magazine, I drew a guideline and filed down to it. I've always freehanded in the past. This works much better.

Great idea above, I have free-handed this feature before as well but that looks much easier to get straight the first time. The project is looking good, thanks for sharing all the photos. The mesquite is quite a bit lighter than I thought it would be. And kind of yellowish too... Is that a trick of the light? I have some small pieces I'm saving for possible revolver grips and they appear much darker.

It's the camera/light that makes it look yellow. More like a light brown.

I plan to use some Mahogany Velvet Oil to darken it up.

Haven't done much work on the rifle. Had some pretty serious family stuff come up over the last 10 days.

Got the recoil pad put on tonight. I went with a Hogue because I like the curve, but I think it's going to be too hard. I'll wait until the rifle is done and shoot it to determine if it's too hard.

Sealed the rear of the stock before I did the pad. I wish I could get the grain of the rifle this dark, must be the end grain only that gets "dark".

I tried some different colors of Velvet oil - Mahogany, Redwood, and Natural Redwood. The Redwoods had a nice color, the Mahogany was way too red and completely hid the grain. It looks like I'm going to stick with straight Velvet oil. It's not as dark as I want, but it shows the grain well. I have no idea why all the mesquite flooring in my house is so much darker/redder - they used straight polyurethane on it. It did patina overtime, but was darker when originally applied.

OK - here are some pics of the recoil paid and crossbolt.

This is a drilling guide I picked up from Woodcraft. I think it's a pretty option and it is an angle cut on the guide so I can place it along the buttstock when putting in the rear swivel stud.



Here's a picture of it in action drilling holes.



I installed a large Hogue recoil pad. I like the curve on it. However, after I'm done, I may put a Pachmayr on. The screws holes in the pad of the pad don't "heal" as readily as the Pachmayr pads. Also, it seems a bit firmer than the Pachmayr pad.







A homemade jig I use for drilling holes in stocks of cutting them on a table saw. I really need to get an aluminum track installed and use screws through the stock versus clamps. I used this to drill the holes for the ebony plugs.



For the crossbolt, I used a technique that John Farner told me about. Basically a stainless 1/4"-20 x 1.5" set screw epoxied in place through the stock. I used a tap to thread the hole and then 30 minute epoxy to hold the screw and plugs in place. I haven't done the rear cross bolt yet because I want to finish scalloping the rear of the stock before I place it.

Looks good. I will definitely steal a few of your tricks.

Not to pick a scab, but have you had any luck with the feeding?

How is the mesquite to work? The little that I have worked with may as well have been cast iron. Stringy, hard and unfriendly would be my description.

Great build, thanks for taking the time to keep us up to date.

Jeremy

The rifle is off at another gunsmith. We'll see what he can do and whether the action is salvageable. If not, I need to start with a new action

Mesquite hasn't been that hard to work with. It is hard and sanding clogs the grain, but not as bad as I expected. The piece has some weird grain in it. The pieces I got right after this, for a 35 whelen and 7 mag, have really nice grain. So net, it was an experiment. If I did it again, I'd stick with Walnut.

quote:

Originally posted by Austin Hunter:

I installed a large Hogue recoil pad. I like the curve on it. However, after I'm done, I may put a Pachmayr on. The screws holes in the pad of the pad don't "heal" as readily as the Pachmayr pads. Also, it seems a bit firmer than the Pachmayr pad.

Using petroleum jelly (Vaseline) on the screwdriver shank and head when installing the recoil pad screws will prevent the scuffing and poor healing on the screw holes in the rubber.

Vaseline will degrade some kinds of rubber. I've used a spray silicone for the purpose of reducing scuffing od the screw holes.

I used some Ballistol when I did this. I was out of Jig-A-Loo. It's great stuff for keeping pads looking good - basically a silicone formula.