I said I would post a photo of Jerrys bottom metal when I got it all done. It went in the mail today. You have to look at the rest of the rifle though. It is a Browning FN which had a saltwood stock. It was the owners first rifle and he wanted it dolled up. The underside of the barrel and part of the action had some old pits that had been stablized by Browning some time ago. The wood was one of my best blanks from Presliks. I shot it and it does shoot. It is a .270 Winchester. It has a london guns recoil pad covered in leather. The leather was dyed burgundy with some darker accents on the edges. The checkering is a simple point pattern at 24 lpi with a saddle panel ontop of the grip and mullered borders on the pattern. The scope is a Leupold LPS. Nice scope by the way.

Nice, very nice. Thank you for sharing.

Roland

Customstox

Could you please describe the changes you made in the geometry of the stock from what you normally would have done had you used say a normal Blackburn type guard. What did you do differently?

Very nice work Chic!

Did you use Dalys on top of some spar varnish?

I havent found any Dalys in stores. Is it "good" stuff? Im wet sanding a stock now and might just keep useing McCloskys on the top coats.

22WRF, with a flat bottom metal the stock has to come to a flat and usually I have a small plateau around the edge of the floorplate. With Fishers round bottm metal you just continue a curve all the way to the edge of the inlet. The front tang is on a curve as is the bottom of the floorplate. Your grip even feels more comfortable, at least it does to me. The bottom metal just nestles in your hand and the flow of the curve just feels good. Very trim and a simple great design. One of those "why didn't I think of that" gems.

GSP7, this stock got BenMatte from start to finish. I used it for the soaker coats, the mud coat to fill the pores and all the wet sanded coats. I really don't like spar varnish for a finish coat, but that is just my preference. I have used it for pore filling, then I scrape the coat off down to the surface using scraper tools (the flat slabs and curved pieces of plate steel).

You can get Daly's going direct to them. I believe you can order online also.

Daly's online ordering

As ususal beautiful work my friend. Im going to have to give that burgundy color a try. Im getting sick of black.

Chic,

I looked at JF's round bottom metal at his table at the Custom Gunmakers Guild Show, it really is one of those subtle things that you need to expereince.

Oh great, another "must have".

I missed seeing you at the Show, maybe next year?

jim

I was able to walk away with one for pre-64 model 70 at the auction saturday night. It is the second such piece I have but my stocker keeps talking me out of it in trade for other work and making some wonderful rifles out of it just like you did.

Chic,

As always very nice.

After looking at that, I went outside and threw all the stocks I was working on in the trash.

quote:

Originally posted by Gringo Cazador:
Chic,

As always very nice.

After looking at that, I went outside and threw all the stocks I was working on in the trash.

I know what you mean, bro!

Chics Photos are motivating . I just got Monty Kennedys book also. wow. I guess thats monty thats missing his index finger.
Scary book. . my visa cards bill is gonna have checkering tools on it next. terrible situation.

Very, Very nice Chic. Lots of nice detail work on the stock.

Chic, beautiful. Isn't the stock shaped at the foreend and bottom metal like the original Browning FN? I've got mine out on my lap and it has that rounded bottom on the wood around the bottom metal and foreend. How much more rounded is the JF floorplate compared to a Wisner's? Let me rephrase that... Could you use a rounded stock with the Wisner floorplate? Could you post a pic of the bottom of the OEJ for comparison?

Thanks!

MKane160

PS: I love the pedistaled (sp?) swivel mounts!

Mike,
I have the original one here in my hands and Browning did round the edges coming into the magazine box but if you look there is a flat forward of the front tang. Also the sides of the stock have a flat widway up the sides, a small one, but there. The FN stock is a pretty decent stock for a factory rifle.

This bottom metal allows you to basically build a curve in the stock that matches the curvature of the bottom metal and the front tang. I wish I still had it here, it is better to see with the magazine box out of the stock. The hole cross section of the bottom metal is built on a fadius, the bottom metal inside is curved as well as the outside and the tang is not flat but has the same curvature. With most bottom metal you have to do transition from the magazine to the tang. If the front tang is flat, you will end up with a flat forward the tang also until you transition out of it.

Am I making any sense? I know, a picture is worth a thousand words, and if I write 19k more you will be wishing for the photo even more.

Chic, actually, I see what you mean now. The SIDE of the stock also follows the curve of the bottom (or, probably more correctly, the other way around), right? The JF bottom metal, not just the floorplate, is rounded along it's long axis as well...correct? Or at least the front tang?

I take it the OEJ had (has) that small flat on the bottom of the stock as well? The reason I ask is that I am shamelessly using Jack's webphotos as a guide for my 1909. But I don't remember the bottom of your stock for it.... Mine currently has that flat, but I want to at least soften that edge, if not just plain round it off. It doesn't feel quite right in your left hand with the flat. But, I'm not sure it will LOOK right if I blend the edge. Advice?

Thanks, Chic.

MKane160

Mike,
The bottom metal, the sides are cut on a radius as is the front tang. Looking from the bottom, the sides are lower than the tang because of the radius.

I looked thru my photos but I don't have a good one of the OEJ. Here is one from a rifle that Roger Kehr, Scrollcutter, and I made for San Diego SCI show last year. It was a .338 Win Mag and it had more of a flat. One most stocks, I would force the transition further along the tang and then have a sharper radius near the bottom metal. This photo does not do justice to Roger's work on this rifle. What he did was the crowning part of the rifle.

Customstox

Thank you for posting this last photo as it completely answers the question I asked in the other post concerning Model 70 Classic Stocks.

What you have done here is to round that wood almost to the metal in both the front and rear of the triggerguard/floorplate whereas the Winchester 70 Classic leaves quite a bit of wood that is basically square and an even outline around the entire bottom metal. YOURS IS NICE.

Thanks, Chic, that picture was what I needed. Actually, that rifle is the one I need....

MKane160

Mr Worthing, do you make Bavarian hogs back stocks in the Mannlicher style?

HP Shooter,
I have not built any but I understand the principle. Not sure I agree with it, but that is why they are called custom guns. It is what the customer wants.

quote:

Originally posted by Customstox:
HP Shooter,
I have not built any but I understand the principle. Not sure I agree with it, but that is why they are called custom guns. It is what the customer wants.

Is there someone you would recommend as a specialist in that style?

I understand that you are most capable. But I also understand that each craftsman is more comfortable within certain parameters, and I would not like to force someone outside of them.