Found this when dissambling a couple of Winnie classics to rebarrel. These little wooden strips are glued on.

And their purpose would be........????

Wierd... makes me wonder if they had an inletting/spec mixup with either the bottom metal or stocks or both and had to correct it. The did use Williams bottom metal for a while then switched to their own make. Perhap's the stocks were cut for the Williams metal, then had to be used with the Win mfg'd stuff. The USRAC mfg'd stuff on the stainless M70's is pure crap and kept me from buying a new SS Fwt 270 as it would have been expensive to swap out the hybrid aluminum/SS bottom metal that now comes on the rifle... I preferred the two-piece, all-steel stuff.

Pity, the bean counter's are messing up the current M70's...

Doug-

Is the new bottom metal that they are using cast? I think I remember seeing that here.

The wood that is glued in may be to fill a void so that it would be easier to inlet?????

Bob

This is not a new technique at all. In fact, Winchester used shims like this on occasion (and stamped aluminum and steel) prior to 1964, as well as after 1964. The purpose is to provide more material in order to achieve a proper fit of the bottommetal to the stock when the stock has been inletted a bit too deep.

AD

Come on Doug, fess up! This is what happened when you forgot to use release agent on a bedding job!

Bob the unit is machined steel. Very well machined too. It is made of two pieces silver soldered together just in front of the bow. Rick thats why i buy release agent by the QUART.. so I 'll never run out!& I've never forgot ot use iy yet. Knock on wood.

Bob by the way the way the solder joint is made there is enough room to play with that the joint could be unsoldered & the length might be adjusted to fit a M98 then resoldered. Would also have extend the rear of the floor plate. How's that for a brain fart?? Economical Mauser bottom metal!

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:
Bob the unit is machined steel. Very well machined too. It is made of two pieces silver soldered together just in front of the bow. Rick thats why i buy release agent by the QUART.. so I 'll never run out!& I've never forgot ot use iy yet. Knock on wood.

Bob by the way the way the solder joint is made there is enough room to play with that the joint could be unsoldered & the length be adjusted to fit a M98 then resoldered. Would also have to shorten & reshape the rear of the floor plate. How's that for a brain fart?? Economical Mauser bottom metal!

Doug,

The Marine Corps used modified model 70 trigger guards and floor plates for their first M40A1’s, by doing pretty much what you are talking about.

I've had Rem 700's that came from the factory with a washer for a shim.

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:
Bob the unit is machined steel. Very well machined too. It is made of two pieces silver soldered together just in front of the bow. Rick thats why i buy release agent by the QUART.. so I 'll never run out!& I've never forgot ot use iy yet. Knock on wood.

Bob by the way the way the solder joint is made there is enough room to play with that the joint could be unsoldered & the length might be adjusted to fit a M98 then resoldered. Would also have extend the rear of the floor plate. How's that for a brain fart?? Economical Mauser bottom metal!

That joint is NOT silver soldered....it's a mechanical joint only, but the particulars of it I can't go into for public consumption.

As far as those shims go, god only knows what they were thinking that day

The inletting has changed on the stocks for the new aluminum bottom metal, but we've had to redesign our bottom metal to match, since they ordered stocks for the new inletting, without having the aluminum project up and running.

The only significant change is the outside profile of the rail and front tang area....These have been widened a little to add strength for the fact of them being made from aluminum....Other than that, the trigger guard and mag box dimensions are the same....So is the overall depth, which brings me back to the reason this thread got started....What in the world are they doing with the strips of wood

By the way, as far as taking that assembly apart for use with another rifle, as in a M98......I'd highly advise agains't it.....There's a lot more there than meets the eye on that assembly.....Not to say you couldn't make something work, but I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole and I've got a real good idea as to how they're made.