I have never bought a 2 piece blanks, or fitted a two piece. I am thinking about makeing a stock for a savage 99 if my machinest buddy will ever get the barrel fitted. Anyway, was going to get a blank, not sure if I need to worry about grain etc, or is it a factor with a two piece. I have a line on a piece of bastone that the seller said was not suitable for a one piece but would do fine for a 2 piece, the price seem right, but also concerned about the weight. I've never done a two piece, but would rather the grain flow correctly though the grip regardless.

Does grain matter with a two piece.

Thanks, Billy

Need some coaching, also concerned the bastone would be two eavey for a 99

Billy,

Stocks with a through bolt will tolerate poor grain flow more readily than say a sidelock shotgun. The grain flow for a sidelock had better be very good. It would be better to post pics of the blank so we can see what you're talking about. There are quite a few bad rifle stocks out there that can make great two piece stocks.

Gringo

I'm working on an upgraded highly figured black walnut stock for my 99 right now. It was a semi inletted stock from the mid-west. The 99's schnabled fore-end tapers to a small schnable and the fore-end I was sent warped badly after it was shaped. I cut the schnable off and carved a new one out of ebony. It wasn't easy. So keep in mind that you need some fairly straight grain in the fore-end as warpage up there will affect your acuracy.

P.S. The inletting job was piss poor from my supplier. If I had to do it over again I would start with a blank and inlet it myself. I'm not gonna name the supplier because I didn't even call him or give him a chance to make it right. But this stock was so bad that I didn't think that firm could ever produce a good one. It's too bad because He seemed like a nice guy on the phone when I ordered it, and it is a pretty stick. But it looked like it was machined by a crank fiend, late on friday afternoon

Elmo

Billy,
It matters with most of them but far less with a through bolt, like on a Savage 99. That one is located on a half round vertical cylindrical buttress at the rear of the trigger. The through bolt acts as a post tensioning rod, putting the wood grain in compression and it holds the grain from cracking or splitting. On a tapering tang on a rifle or shotgun, the taper can act as a wedge so in those cases it is best to use quarter sawn wood. Often those guns will have a recoil face at the rear of the action that is unnoticed from the outside. In those cases, where the face transmits the recoil to the stock, you may be able to use slab sawn wood. You have to examine each action and see where the recoil will be distrubuted and how the forces will affect the wood. No easy universal answers unfortunately.

By the time you get the Bastogne whacked down to a two piece stock shape, the difference in density will not amount to much difference in weight. Not all bastogne is that much heavier. The densest blank I have ever owned however was bastogne, it was way beyond the ranges given for that species.

Another thing, if you are going to try it from a blank, you will still need to get the thru hole cut by someone with some machinery. It is best done on a lathe.

Chic,

My plan is to get Dennis Olson to turn the stock, he has a 99 pattern with a check piece and he said he would drill the though hole. Never had Dennis turn a stock for me, but if he is half as good at running a duplicating machine as he is at making a bolt action feed it will be the best I've seen.

I havent seen the Bastone blank yet, but its supposed to be a looker, but just wrong grain. Probably get my hands on it in a couple of weeks.

Chic

What do you think about roughing out a little wood, and acra-glass bedding that buttress area where the thru bolt attaches on the 99. I had to do that because of poor inletting, and the fact that the bolt hole was well off center as drilled. I was sweating bullets that I might glue that whole mess together. Do you think it will "sugar" there, or will the side tenons(? or whatever you'd call those parts of the buttstock?) carry some of the recoil load also.

Elmo

Elmo,
The three areas that carry recoil on a 99 are the two side tenons and the bottom lug or buttress. I would not rely on any from the upper tang as it is too thin, it would just gouge into the wood. Acraglassing to get a 100% contact is a good idea, just don't let it show (for looks) if you can avoid it. It will not "sugar", it becomes one solid piece of epoxy glue. When you glass something like the 99 action in place I would do the following. Strip the action so you are only dealing with the barreled action. Coat the metal parts with your release agent. Make sure that any holes that my allow epoxy to flow into them are filled with modeling clay, coat the thru bolt with release agent also - I use carnuba floor wax and just plunge it into the can, Put the epoxy on the wood surfaces, leaving a small area around the through bolt hole. Place the thru bolt hole in position and hold it in place - that may require taping a long screw driver to the head of the thru bolt and then taping it in place in the stock. Clamp the stock in a vice and slide the action on so the threads mate with the thru bolt. Then use the screw driver to draw it up snug. That stops getting any acraglass in the threaded hole. Do not use acraglass to fill any gaps. other than those at the recoil areas, at least at this time.

Here is a site where you can see the exploded diagram for a 99.

I have stocked quite a few 99s and Chic is spot on...A 99 stock is super thin in the stressed areas and many of them will split first at the upper tang..Carefull inletting is the key to a lasting stock on a 99..

Whe I have finished the inletting I always run a small bead of glass all the way around, and just snug it up, not only will this make your juncture positive without any gaps, it will seal the wood and keep oil out of the wood for years to come..properly done none of the glass will show and will, in fact, be more of a sealent than anything else...

Chic and Ray

It's already been done and man, am I glad I got through it without glueing it all together. The entire inletted area in the butt stock has at least some acra glass on it, including the ends of the tenons and I thickened up the part of the tenon that tucks into the receiver. I also left a slight gap at the end of the top tang and laminated a small fiberglass patch under the thin wood under the top tang. The fore end got the full Atkinson bedding treatment. I didn't count, but I'm thinking it took about 8 seperate glue-up to do all the acra-glass. I used paste wax for a release agent and cleaned the bedding with acetone between glue-ups. I did wonder if I should have used steel-bed in that buttress area.

This is my first stock. I probably never would have attempted it without having the education provided by this website and the good folks on it, as an asset to call on if needed.

Elmo