This is a pattern stock for my CZ 17HMR sporter. I used a take off CZ Varmint stock to make the pattern. I will soon send it and the blank to Charlie Grace for machine carving.

All work shown is by hand.

This is the pic I meant to post first. (This is my first try at this.)

Note lots of Bondo build-up to get the lines the way I wanted.

I found an old Neidner butt plate in my "stuff" from years ago when I made a few stocks.

Plan to finish this as soon as I get it back from Charlie.

From that view the blank looks pretty nice! Where is that bottom metal from?

Love the Schnabel. I think I need to finish the one I am working on that way.

The bottom metal came from DIP... Diversified Innovative Products. They make a few other speciality items for CZ.

www.diproducts.com

Unless you want to hang some HVAC parts on your CZ, you'll probably want to take a look here...

http://www.diproductsinc.com/



Very nice looking work Dick. It's difficult to get a schnable right.

One side of the blank.

The other side of the blank. Note the sap wood is only in one corner. The small stock should miss it completely.

It's been about thirty years since I whittled out a stock. It feels really good to be back at it.

John, this whole project started when I saw your James Anderson Brno.

Another view of the schnable.

I also found a small Jerry Fisher pistol grip cap. I bought some from Jerry 30 or 35 years ago and took a couple of them to some guy in Cincinnati to be engraved. Don't remember his name. Anyway, I totally forgot about them till I was going thru "stuff" a while back.

Nice. Did you write and article about this rifle years ago?

Looking good Dick!

Butch... Thanks. Coming from you that means a lot.

Mr. Zola... I wrote a couple of articles about it for Precision Shooting after I bought this rifle. I got a trigger kit, had a tuner made of my design and got it shooting really well. I've had a yen to make a stock for it and now I'm doing it. Feels good.

Good to see this here. I enjoyed your articles about the jackpines.

Dick is the once and future king of the Jackpine Savages*.

Rich

* I can get away with that for two reasons:

1. Dick and I have been friends since the late 1980's

2. He is the one that introduced the term to me.

Yeah, Rich and I go back a ways... long enough that I will knock off on the "Prince of Darkness" jokes over on the sportscar forum.

We both started writing for Dave Brennan at Precision Shooting about the same time. Those were good days when the magazine was at it's very best.

Dick

I really enjoyed your stories about the Jackpine Savages.

Those folks are very similar to the Cedar Hackers here in North Texas.

Charlie Grace has the wood and will machine it next week.

In the meantime I will make the magazine shorter. It just kinda dangles, European style, and it drives me crazy to look at it. There are really excellent instructions over on the www.rimfirecentral.com website for doing so. I'm about half done. Should have it working fine when the wood gets back.

For what it's worth, this is what I started with... my CZ in full benchrest regalia. I have shot it in some local and very informal rimfire benchrest matches the last couple of years with good results.

As shown the gun has had a trigger job, (took it down to a few ounces) a custom made tuner, bedding work and the all-important Sinclair Benchrest Adapter, the green gizmo on the fore end. It makes the gun fit the rests used in BR competition perfectly.

The metal work CZ gives you for a very reasonable price is excellent. The barrels on those I have shot are much better than we have any right to expect. However, stocks are very labor intensive and they have to cut corners or sell their guns at much higher prices.

I really like whittling on wood so I'm trying for a really elegant stock.

Sports car guys, check out the sticker.

This is a pic of Charlie Grace machining my blank to match my pattern. Another friend went down to Charlie's and watched the process and sent me pics.

Three pics of the process of refining the factory trigger. This is the trigger as it came from the factory.

I took the trigger to a friend's shop where we heated and bent it and, then, added weld to get this shape.

I took the trigger home and spent a couple of days grinding, filing and polishing to get the results shown here. I expect to further refine the shape but my hands are sore and I have blisters so I'm taking a break.

All my work is done by hand. My only power tool is a Dremel.

Dick,
You are still good.

This is the modified trigger in the original stock. Note the shortened magazine.

The trigger will get more work before I am satisfied.

This is the blank after Charlie Grace pre-carved it.

The other side. Lots of black.

Nice. Look forward to more.

FWIW this is my own design of a tuner made specially for this rifle. I've been a bench rest competitor for nearly forty years and am nearly a fanatic when it comes to accuracy. Since we can't hand load ammo for a rimfire, the next best thing is a tuner.

The tuner itself is quite petite, only 1" in diameter, and looks about right on the gun. It is about to come off and the al. part will be black anodized and have my name engraved on it.

This is the original rifle with my tuner on it. Taken a couple of years ago in my front yard in the fall. This might be interesting... This pic was taken to be a cover pic for Precision Shooting magazine. Before I could get the photo into Brennan, the magazine folded. Rats!

Most tuners are for match rifles with big, fat barrels and would be too big for the rather petite CZ so I made my own. I think the proportion I ended up with is about right.

Why would you go to all the trouble of dressing that thing up only to put that thing on the end of it? How unfortunate.

Chuck, you and I need to get in a rifle match... I'm a competitive shooter and that thing makes the gun shoot better.

Unfortunate my a--. Come shoot with me and bring money.

Thats going to be sweet...nice stick! Yes, there's nothing like being ate up with the one hole group...F#(kED for life.

You might be the King of Siam, but that doesn't make that thing on that barrel improve the looks, or handling, of that rifle.

Chuck I know that you don't like it, but! He is building it for himself not you. The tuner really helps accuracy. Would I do it on a rifle with a real nice wood stock, probably not.

I get that, and I'm not argueing its effectiveness. But why would you go through all the effort and expense to make a nice trim classy looking rimfire and then add that thing to the end of the barrel? It's irrevrent!

Butch,

The main body of the tuner is aircraft al. I'm going to take it off, get it black anodized and engraved with my name on it. The small ring on the front is 416 stainless (read "somebody's barrel") and I will leave that alone.

When I get the gun done if I don't like the way it looks I'll take it off. However, I shoot this thing in matches...

Dick,
I completely understand. You are building it for yourself and nobody else.

quote:

Sports car guys, check out the sticker.

Dick, I think that is the Ferrari Alaska Racing Team's sticker, right?



I traded for this and another early Ferrari about 45 years ago. Cost me a half dozen Calif made rifles, a shotgun and two percussion Colts. Times have changed!

quote:

Originally posted by Dick Wright:
Butch,

The main body of the tuner is aircraft al. I'm going to take it off, get it black anodized and engraved with my name on it. (I sign my work.) The small ring on the front is 416 stainless (read "somebody's barrel") and I will leave that alone.

When I get the gun done if I don't like the way it looks I'll take it off. However, I shoot this thing in matches...

Just so you know, it only bugs me cause the rest of that project is fantastic. If I did show up to shoot against you I would bring money. I would also bring a couple of 452 triggers and ask you to use the money as payment to make them into the beauty yours is!