I'm making a stock for a friend and he insists he needs a palm swell. The rifle is a hunting rifle with a small Fisher grip cap to give a idea of the thickness of the wrist. He wanted a fairly steep curve of the grip as well. Thankfully I'm doing a pattern for this one. We're playing around with some body filler for the swell. The problem is this thing is going to have to be a huge wart to fill his palm. I've only done one other palm swell and it was on a target rifle with more of a round grip than egg shaped and quite a bit thicker. It was pretty easy on that one. Any suggestions welcomed.

Called the :Wundhammer Swell" Supposed to fill the "pocket "in your grip hand. In my opinion..worthless and ugly...but if the customer wants a blue suit..turn on the blue lights!

So far I've only made stocks for myself, a enjoyable hobby. I commend those in the business that build them with such things a customer may want and still pull off a fine looking rifle. It sure is more enjoyable doing something that suits my own tastes but I suppose this will be good experience.

If Wundhammer were alive today he would not recognize the swell that carries his name.

I don't have a picture of a Wundhammer one and have only seen it on one of his rifles. This rifle is a Ross King the man who worked under Wundhammer and took over his shop after Wundhammer died. It is identical to the ones Wundhammer made.

From the side you can't see much or any of the swell.

The swell as done by Wundhammer isn't bad. It blends with the other lines of the stock quite nicely. But if you use the "swell" the way most use it today along with the small gripcap the wrist is going to look a bit strange. A huge swell doesn't add anything to the grip, not even in a target rifle, but just a little something to add some feel in your palm is a good addition.

I like a little bit of swell just because it "feels good". The swell on my Sauer is about as pronounced as that King rifle Michael posted.

On shotguns it's a different story. I think a more pronounced swell becomes another point of recoil absorbtion in the palm. I'll prolly get a bunch of sh*t for that but if you shoot two to four flats of shells a day, that little bit of help lets you shoot longer before fatique sets in. On a 12-bird limit dove hunt, a palm swell is realtively meaningless.

awe, just bring him over to the bench, lay his hand on the bench and smack his palm with a hammer. it'll swell up just fine

For those of you that havn't tried a decent palmswell, fact is it improves the concistency of your grip, it reduces the tendency to hurt your middle finger against the triggerguard, when fiering heavy recoiling rifles, and it feels good.
The downside is it requires a little skill and efford to do, and it also make checkering a little more dificult

When those of you who build a rifle with a swell are any other aspects of the stock changed to accomadate it things like grip circumferance depth of the flute etc?

Not on mine. But if you're building it asymetrical anyway, you might look at cast-off. That really makes a rifle fit well if it matches the shooter.

I keep feeling like I'm putting curb feelers on a nice 56 Chevy but looking at photos such as the one provided by Mr. Petrov is aiding the process.

Sticking a palm swell on an existing pattern is a lot like that '56. They look best when they're integrated with the design as a whole. In the case of my Sauer, the whole grip is offset about 1/16 from center and flows into the right hand cast-off (about 3/16 to 1/4 inch at the butt). A left hand shooter would be very uncomfortable with it or vice versa.

quote:

They look best when they're integrated with the design as a whole

I figured as such, just didn't figure out the mechanics of it.

When I say offset, I mean tilted; the nose of the comb and the top of the grip are centered but the grip kicks out to the right a 1/16th (make that an eigth) through the vertical plane of the grip. None of that includes the swell; it starts and ends about 1/4 below the beginning of the checkering and above the bottom of it. The cast-off runs from the nose to the end of the butt, if that helps.

In other words, think of one of the Colt single actions with a screw-on rifle stock. If the stock was offset an eigth to the left where it joinns the grip, and the butt pointed toward your right shoulder from centerline, that's the picture. The amount of cast-off is determined by the width of the shooter's shoulders, more or less.

The Wundhammer-Ross is comfortable and most would not even notice that’s it there. The one I like a little better is found on some Harvey Rodgers stocks as more of a raised area down the middle. I had to rub it hard with the palm of my hand to get it to show in the photo. Still it’s not a good picture but I believe that you could get an idea of what I’m talking about. Have I confused you? Then my work is done!

I actually really like a palm swell. Another rifle to look at would be the Sako AV series, they have a swell that fits me just perfect. Hoping to find a synthetic stock for a 98 Mauser that has a slight palm swell. I have large hands and find the palm swell fits better and less ouch with the trigger guard on heavy kickers.

Michael, I think the print for the Stoeger-Whelen stock that you have in your book has dimensions for the swell?

quote:

Originally posted by smithrjd:
Hoping to find a synthetic stock for a 98 Mauser that has a slight palm swell.

It would be child's play to add a palm swell to a synthetic stock. A little roughing-up, a little fiberglass, and voila!
Regards, Joe

I am fairly certain that the Ramline Woodtech and Syntech stocks came with palm swells if they are even still made. They were 14-1/2" length of pull and supposedly designed to be easily shortened.

I built a gun years ago and the stock had a very nice feeling almost invisible palm swell; it did have a flared type grip cap though.

If adding the swell to your pattern have the customer come in and mold the putty with his palm and trim away the excess. Competitive shooters have been doing it that way for years in disciplines that permit it. Many rifle disciplines say "no anatomically shaped" grips; so it must be some an advantage to a conventional grip.

The palm swell is one of the many things I like about the Sako Hunter stock. IMO, Sako did it right. Lou