I have a friend at work who wants me to make him a Mannlicher style stock for on old FN Mauser. Any good advice or tutorials on the unique requirements of a full length stock, specifically with regard to bedding?

I float a Mannlicher just like a normal stock.

When I made one last year, I got opinions for both bedding the barrel tight and floating it.

I bedded tight and cut slots in the wood under the barrel. 4" long spaced, 1" apart, 1/2" wide. Almost like perforating the stock lengthwise under the barrel.

The idea is to interrupt the wood to control warping. Much like the angle cut/spacer designs used on commercial full stock rifles.

Jeremy

I did a 22" barreled 10.75x68 on a cz24 action and full length stock. I bed the first 2 1/2" of the barrel, floated the rest of the way but with a slight bit of pressure where the nose cap goes over.
It shoots wonderfully, and is one of my favorite rifles. I swore I would never do another mann style stock ........ but, it's been a couple years and I have this dream of a ..

I have a plain walnut semi finished mannlicher stock for sale if you are looking for one.

quote:

Originally posted by farbedo:
I bedded tight and cut slots in the wood under the barrel. 4" long spaced, 1" apart, 1/2" wide. Almost like perforating the stock lengthwise under the barrel.

The idea is to interrupt the wood to control warping. Much like the angle cut/spacer designs used on commercial full stock rifles.

Jeremy

Interesting... My concerns with floating it full length is that there is so much more wood that can warp. I.e. just like 1"=1 MOA @ 100yds, and 2"=1 MOA @ 200 yds; a 1/32" gap at the forearm on a half stock needs to be 1/16" at the muzzle if one is to allow for the same amount of movement due to temp & humidity changes.

I had thought of routing a channel under the barrel and epoxying an arrow shaft, or filling with glass fiber to add stiffness, whether I bed full length or not. I also though about a two piece laminate for a blank so that each side's warping tendencies might cancel each other out.

Any links to previous discussions of float vs not would be appreciated. If they are specific to full length stocks, I think I have read enough about floating vs tip pressure, etc. Maybe some experimenting is in order.

Thanks DPCD, Got your PM. I will run it by my friend and see what he thinks.

I am going to start another thread/question for your friend re Mannlicher barrel length. They should be short. Anything over 20 inches is way too long.