where does one purchase those little round ebony plugs used to cover up crossbolt holes.

I make them with a plug cutting bit. PM me your mailing address and I'll send you a couple. They're a little rough and require trimming but should work fine when glued into place and finished. fla3006@yahoo.com

I turn mine in the lathe to the dimension I have bored the stock to.

I don't use the plugs or anything else visible, but many folks just use black epoxy instead. Appears identically the same and is lots simpler.
Regards, Joe

Oh shoot, I thought this was a post about plug wrangler Biden convincing the Messiah he needed to try some new plugs to help his ratings in the polls.


As for stockwork, I glue them on dowels and spin them like Kobe then align the wood grain with the stock.

No, this is a post about my brother's rifle, which has developed severe cracks such that we had to use a bolt to hold the thing together. thought it would look nicer if we plugged up the holes.


J.D.

If you don't use plugs or anything else visible, what do you do instead?

What works best and doesn't require unsightly cross bolts is a barrel mounted recoil lug, closely inletted/glassed into the forend.

FLA

little too late for that here.

quote:

Originally posted by J.D.Steele:
I don't use the plugs or anything else visible, but many folks just use black epoxy instead. Appears identically the same and is lots simpler.
Regards, Joe

Might well be the simplest approach and does not look bad.

I use internal crossbolts, sometimes allthread and other times old bolts-&-nuts, glassbedded into place behind the recoil lug and behind the magazine box. Also use an aluminum rod (~8") glassbedded into a deep hole drilled rearward from the rear upper tang recess down through the stock wrist parallel to the belly line, and of course tied into the rear guard screw pillar with more glass. The crossbolts for recoil, the wrist rod for resisting wrist breakage if dropped or the horse rolls on it or whatever. I do this on most of my hunting rifles but not the varminters. Also, on rifles with steel buttplates or heel-&-toe plates, I add another hidden internal aluminum rod in the stock toe for support to the point of the plate if dropped onto a hard surface.

Beware of using any unfinished in-the-white steel or other oxidizing metal in direct contact with wood, even through a glue layer. It will eventually rust, swelling and ultimately cracking the wood and possibly ruining the stock. I've never had this happen with one of mine but I take precautions.
Regards, Joe

I am planning on a winter project to spruce my M70 375 H&H. Will add ebony tip and skeleton grip cap using ebony inlay. I would also like to remove the standard cross bolts and replace with something inlette deeper to accept ebony plug.

Would anybody be will willing to cut some oversise ebony plugs for me? Obviously would be willing to compensate.

Thanks F Bull

Am I the only one who thinks exposed crossbolts look great on a rifle??

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
Am I the only one who thinks exposed crossbolts look great on a rifle??

no you are not. I think they lok great exposed if in fact they are good looking crossbolts. However, if one is going to use a regular bolt and nut from the hardware store like I am , then you have to cover them up.

I cut mine with a plug cutter too.
But, I can see Black Conop epoxy working too.

i don't like the look of exposed nuts, with the possible exception of the winchester "engraved" ones.. ebony, or epoxy, can be shaped to the stock, easily, which looks way better

I cut mine with on a mill. 2 axis cnc any size
With the change of one number. .001 increments
if need be. The 2 axis proto trak is the most usefull tool in my shop. A 3/16 carbide end mill at 3000 rpm just zips those little plugs out perfectly. After that I saw the the plugs off the block with a .030 mill saw at 3000 rpm.
perfect, every time, no question about it.
Timan

Do they have an inletting draft?

Itt is not needed if the holes are bored (true) and the plugs turned to a close dimension and epoxied in with the stuff died black.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
i don't like the look of exposed nuts, with the possible exception of the winchester "engraved" ones.. ebony, or epoxy, can be shaped to the stock, easily, which looks way better

I agree they must be shaped to the stock. The production rifle" crossbolts that don't follow the shape of the shock look like heck. I had a M70 in 416 and I though those engraved heads looked like garbage.

It is pretty easy to shape Talleys or B-squares to fit the stock. I have never done the plugs, but I would think that it is way more trouble to fit the plugs than it is to shape the crossbolts.

I guess I have always thought the plugs look a bit too "gingerbread".

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
What works best and doesn't require unsightly cross bolts is a barrel mounted recoil lug, closely inletted/glassed into the forend.

"Unsighlty cross bolts??" Where are you coming from? Many customers want cross bolts..even on a 270 for a canvas of tasteful engraving...plain black plugs look like just what it is...a cheap imitation of the real thing

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe:

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
What works best and doesn't require unsightly cross bolts is a barrel mounted recoil lug, closely inletted/glassed into the forend.

"Unsighlty cross bolts??" Where are you coming from? Many customers want cross bolts..even on a 270 for a canvas of tasteful engraving...plain black plugs look like just what it is...a cheap imitation of the real thing

+1

And I don't believe a barrel mounted lug precludes the need for cross-bolts fore and aft the magazine well. Regardless of where the recoil is transferred to the stock, assuming it is in front of the magazine well(in the fore end or at the action's recoil lug), the forces will tend to spread the magazine well outward. First the web behind the mag well splits, then the stock splits at the tang.

This seems to be common on rifles >375 that don't have a cross bolt behind the magazine.

Traditional crossbolts also compress the wood to some extent. This helps to resist the splitting forces. Internal crossbolts fashioned from all thread(without nuts) don't do this, so to some extent they are less effective.

OTOH, Jack Lott believed the internal bolts were stronger because they did not break the outer "shell" of the stock.

On a fancy rifle, I like the exposed and engraved crossbolts. On a working rifle though, I like the plugged crossbolts - one less thing I need to worry about rusting.

You might try Wookcraft.com.

link

They have a line of "snappy" plug cutters that cut a tapered plug which should work for you.

Regards,

Dan

quote:

Duane Wiebe: "Unsighlty cross bolts??" Where are you coming from? Many customers want cross bolts..even on a 270 for a canvas of tasteful engraving...plain black plugs look like just what it is...a cheap imitation of the real thing

To each his own. They look like an afterthought to me. I prefer not to use them at all, on any rifle. Barrel mounted recoil lugs for me. The rifle pictured above is a factory Whitworth, I had no choice about the unsightly steel cross bolt but had to do something about it so I recessed it and installed ebony plugs, which by-the-way fit perfectly even though they were made with a bit and not a lathe.

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:

quote:

Originally posted by J.D.Steele:
I don't use the plugs or anything else visible, but many folks just use black epoxy instead. Appears identically the same and is lots simpler.
Regards, Joe

Might well be the simplest approach and does not look bad.

I used to make ebony plugs with a drill press and plug cutting bit. Then I too found it easier to just fill it in with Acraglass gel dyed black. As the man said, can't tell the difference from good ebony, and the epoxy seems to change less with moisture uptake (i.e. they aren't proud one day and recessed the next compared to the stock wood around them).

I do use a ball end bit in a dremel tool to undercut the edge of the hole a few mm down, to make sure the plug never loosens up.

Best of luck.

Todd

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:

quote:

Duane Wiebe: "Unsighlty cross bolts??" Where are you coming from? Many customers want cross bolts..even on a 270 for a canvas of tasteful engraving...plain black plugs look like just what it is...a cheap imitation of the real thing

To each his own. They look like an afterthought to me. I prefer not to use them at all, on any rifle. Barrel mounted recoil lugs for me. The rifle pictured above is a factory Whitworth, I had no choice about the unsightly steel cross bolt but had to do something about it so I recessed it and installed ebony plugs, which by-the-way fit perfectly even though they were made with a bit and not a lathe.

I agree with you that we all have different tastes. But if crossbolts look like an afterthought, what do the black plugs look like????

As you say, to each his own.

I like the epoxy as it doesn't have to be very deep over the x-bolt to be stable but a plug requires the x-bolt to be recessed a bit deeper into the stock. Some stocks will split alongside the mag box, near the surface so a deep counterbore may defeat the effectiveness of a x-bolt.. I also like to use bronze or stainless threaded rod epoxied in place for invisible x-bolts so there is no rust problem.

quote:

JBrown: if crossbolts look like an afterthought, what do the black plugs look like????

Not as good as no plugs at all but better than a steel cross bolt. And they match the ebony forend tip.