Gentlemen.

First of all. Please forgive my “rusty” English..

I have done a lot of practicing with my Ruger Rsm (458 Lott) lately, and a couple of days ago I discovered that the stock has started to crack. This crack is located behind the tang.
I remember reading about problems like this before here on AR, (those stocks who had cracked was replaced by Ruger) but anyway I would like to ask you what you did. I guess you sent your rifle back to Ruger? If so I will have a problem sending it. I live in Norway, and I guess it will be a huge job and maby problems just to sort out the paperwork for shipping, and expensive!

Can you please give me your advice? What do you think would be the best way to sort out this problem?

And, what have you done with your RSM to prevent cracking? Is there anything other way than glass bedding?

Regards
Rino

First thing to do is contact Ruger and see what options they suggest.

call ruger

Get a McMillan stock and proper bedding, will cost you a bit, but will last a lifetime..

i can see the pain in sending it back to ruger. how about grinding out the area behind the tang and recoil lug and glass bedding them in. you can also drill a hole in the crack, under the surface and bed in a piece of steel at the same time.

There should be a bit of relief behind the tang, the metal should not contact the wood at that point. If the stock cracks behind the tang, I'll betcha that it's because the metal is contacting the wood.

Relieve the wood about the thickness of a couple of pieces of paper, then repair the crack. That should solve that problem. When relieving the wood, remember that the front action screw will pull the action to the rear on a Ruger. Take that in mind when checking the clearance.

just a word of caution --
call ruger FIRST, and see what they offer you . don't modify the stock in any way until you have exhausted yourself with ruger

Rino, PM replied to, but in case others from outside the US have the same issue, Ruger posts this on their website and as Jeffe says, I would contact them before doing any repairs:

http://ruger.com/service/international.html
"It is very costly and time-consuming to return your firearm to the U.S. for service, and we may be able to resolve the problem locally."

My hope is that they could facilitate sending a replacement stock that is fit locally. This being said, as I had done "other modifications" (albeit I consider minor, such as adding a mercury tube) to the rifle, I had the repair done as Butchloc said above, and it seemed to have worked, although of course the previous hairline crack is still there. What I now wish I would have done was contacted Ruger and got a new stock one way or another, and had the tang releived before shooting it.

I am VERY curious if Ruger has done anything to address this with their current production Lott rifles???

Bill

Any chance you were using a lead sled?

Do you have a local distributor, wholesaler or importer who could contact Ruger for you?

They may have more pull than an individual.

Your English is fine, by the way.

I speak on this issue from a position of real experience. I went through 3 stocks on mine before I had it completely rebuilt by Leroy Barry at Canyon Creek Custom Guns. It's a fabulous DG rifle now, but I'm into it about 5 grand. It now has a bastogne walnut stock and two Dakota-like recoil bolts through the forearm.

The first stock lasted 6 shots and the second lasted 13. On the second one, they blamed it on me, saying I shouldn't have put a recoil pad on it, or tightened the recoil screw in the bottom of the stock! Incredible for a gun that recoils like that one does, and after I have broken the first stock I was doing whatever to assure that it didn't happen again. All of this took place within a month of a Zim trip for ele and buff, and the second repair arrived a matter of 3 days before I left. The third stock made the trip, but I found out later it cracked as well.

I like the suggestion of having Ruger send out a stock to you and having it inletted and glass bedded. I think that's your best chance. I have heard that Ruger is not making the 458 Lott in that gun anymore, and if not, I assume it's because of the prevalent problem with stock breakage.

As much as I love the gun I now have, and think it's as reliable or more reliable than anything out there, for the money, I'd have to look hard at the Kimber Caprivi in the Lott if I were in the market today.

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanna:
I have heard that Ruger is not making the 458 Lott in that gun anymore, and if not, I assume it's because of the prevalent problem with

I called Ruger a couple weeks ago on this rumor ... utterly unfounded .. go look in bigbore for their reply ..

Thank you all of you..

I will send a letter with a picture to Ruger in a few min.
Will keep you updated.

Rino

I guess I was a bit quick.
I cant find a singel emailadress to Ruger... Does anyone of you know their emailadress?

OR, does anyone have a telefalx, and willing to send this letter for me?

quote:

guess I was a bit quick.
I cant find a singele emailadress to Ruger... Does anyone of you know their emailadress?

I have never seen one. All my dealing have been over the phone. I could fax it for you.

You got PM ramrod340

Sent and delivered

Have got responce from Ruger allready.
It says: Response: Please contact our distributor in Norway for assistance:

So now i have sent the distributor in Norway an e-mail.

After I glass bedded my first rifle in 1970, I decided I wouldn't even shoot a factory rifle with out re-bedding it first. Even if the stock is reasonably well-fitted to the action, a heavy recoiling rifle will, eventually, set back and contact at the tang. The stock will then start to split.
If I were you, I would repair the split and glass bed the action in to the stock. In my opinion, even the new stock will need re-bedding anyway. Regards, Bill.

I know the production manager of a large fiberglass stock manufacturer. He has contacts in South Africa who do culling of thousands of animals per year. They contacted this firm because they wanted a reliable stock that would hold up to the pounding of a lot of shooting with large bore cartridges. (I think mostly .458 Win). The manager indicated that he did not recommend fiberglass stocks for this application, but rather referred the folks to people who make laminated wood stocks. The rifles were stocked with laminated wood and they are still going strong after several years.

I have a split laminate on a Model 70 458Lott...........