Need some help here. I stripped the finish off of my old '59 BSA Royal Featherweight 30-06. This uncovered a pretty bad crack. I was wondering if I can repair it or should this stock be "for display only". The pics show where the crack runs from the top and bottom of the tang area and runs to the back of the magazine well. It's a pretty bad crack, structurally speaking, because I can pull it open with my hands. It concerns me because it's a really thin stock and this is a heavy recoiling rifle. I ran a bead of Gorilla Glue along the action portion of the crack. After it set I used adremel to clean of the excess. It feels a little stronger, but I seriously doubt it will hold up to recoil.

I think you may be suprised if you were able to get the crack open so that the glue went into the crack and you glass bed the action . I doubt that you will have any more trouble with it.

Repairs like that might best be done by drilling a hole and gluing in a dowel and working as much glue into the crack as possible.

Brownells acraglas in the red kit is quite "runny" and mixed per instructions is an excellent repair substance.

As long as you can pull the stock apart drip as much as you can get into the crack and let it run as deep as it can go.....help it along with a thin tool like a shim stock of some kind!

Then tie the stock together with anything that acts as a clamp and let it set 24 hours....but wipe off excess as it drips out.

When the 24 hours is done cleanup drips etc and now fix what is the likely cause of the crack.....Glass bed the barreled action to the stock and you'll have a fine gun again.

Use the gel kit for the glass bedding as the red kit sucks for this application.

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Repairs like that might best be done by drilling a hole and gluing in a dowel and working as much glue into the crack as possible.

Spread the crack apart as far as you can, without making it worse get a suringe with as big a needle as you can find load the hypo with your acra glass and inject it into the crack. Clamp it up, wipe off what squeezes out and let sit for a couple days. It will not crack there again

Thanks for all of your help. I guess I was mainly concerned that an adhesive type repair will be sufficient. It sounds like you guys are confident that it will be.
I appreciate all of your help and ideas.

Acra-glass is hardly more than OK, your best solution is to get a very thin super/crazy glue. It glues wood better than anything, and will get into the smallest crack. Pour it inn, and work with the crack open/close so that the capilar-force will suck it in. NO drilling or dowels needed!!!!!

the only thing i would add to the above suggestions of using accraglass is to use a degreaser in the crack before the application of the glue and i use a blow gun set with a low air pressure to force the glue to the very end of the crack. after the glue cures i doubt that it will ever break there again. bed the rifle in the gel after the crack repair and your future kin won't have any problems either.

Tang area cracks are fixed best by drilling a 1/8" hole into the crack at the back of the tang recess where it doesn't show. Then devcon 2 ton or other slow setting runny epoxy in a craft shop glue injector in the hole will force epoxy into the crack, until it shows at the surface. The glue injectors have a curved tip that can be trimmed back to get a tight fit into the hole, so pressure into the crack can be built up. Carburetor cleaner into the injector will even clean out unset epoxy to use it again.

shameless self plug -
Send it to me, STOCK ONLY with a check for $65, and that will cover shipping back as well...

i'll put some finish on the wood FIRST to try and prevent extra "Staining" by the glas,

then spread the action a little, inject some hot and thinned glas,

slightly compress after 1 hour

next day, sand it back a bit

then drill a hidden pin down the wrist, and bed that...


you would need to bed the top of that action back in, as the fit wont be perfect, but it will be repaired

A trick a gunsmith I worked for once taught me was to use Acraglass and then use an aircomprerssor with nozzle on it to "blow" the Acraglass into the crack. With the thinness of Acraglass and the air blowing, you can get the Acraglass all the way through the crack. I saw him repair many cracked stocks that way and never had one come back.

Acraglass is far better than okay. It is an epoxy and they are the best glues available for this purpose. I would use just an epoxy resin and normally use West Systems epoxy. It is a bit thinner and flows better and is far cheaper than Acraglass. Do not use Acraglass gel as it is thick and will not flow. The problem you have now is that you already glued the crack with Gorilla glue which is not a good glue for this use. If you just wiped it on, it may not have penetrated very well. try wedging the crack apart and if it spreads, blow in some epoxy resin (mixed with hardener of course) with compressed air and clamp it surgical tubing pulled tight and wrapped around the stock along the split.

The suggestion to put finish on the wood first will decrease your chance of making the epoxy stick as the finish may get into the crack. Don't do it.

OK, customstox, I am not going to argue with you - after all, your description is a copy of how we was thought to do it - almost 20 years ago..........

I used two part epoxy air-blown into a crack that I spread open and clamped it with tubing, as Customstox suggested when I asked him the best way to repair my 300 WinMag stock. I worked great!

Look at super glue (Cyanoacuralate)
Go to RC airplane Hobby shop and buy thick, medium, and thin CA glue and kicker.
Experiment with the glues on test project. Use the glue that best penetrate the size crack you have best.
Then get your clamping devices ready and apply glue to crack and let it penetrate crack and wood Then clamp and hit with kicker. The wood is now stronger than original. Dont let much of CA stay on surface-wipe of with plastic gloves before it set- because it is impossible to sand or stain/finish.
If you have an area that needs high strength and is prone to failure saturate area & wood with thin CA glue-It is like steel now!!
You can even build or repair place where wood is missing by using CA and microballons, wood sanding particle, or baking soda- Try it you will not be disappointed unless you leave to much on surface of wood- hard to remove. Nearly impervious to oils and chemical.
Epoxys (polyester resins) are great for filling in area but dont have the bounding strenth of CA
I would also use laquer thinner and compressed air on wood cracks to lech out oil before using CA
Also use the tiny tips to get CA into cracks and maybe wedge crack open before applying CA.
GOOD luck
James