I am putting together a 404 Jeffery on a 1903 Springfield action—sacrilege, I know;-). The barrel and metal work was done by Harry McGowen (St. Ann, IL) and I am quite please with his work. He did a .35 whelen for me some 20 odd years ago, and I was please to find him still in business and cranky as ever.

I am, however, fitting my own stock and have a few questions:

First, I’ve installed a dead mule recoil reducer in the stock along with a decelerator pad. The back end of the Dead Mule rests right up against the face of the recoil pad--which is soft. I'm wondering if the Dead Mule needs to be butting up against something solid in back to be effective. Any thoughts? (They don’t come with instruction other than an arrow that points “muzzel.”)

b) Where do you like the balance point of the gun to be? Right now the Jeffery balances right under the front action screw, whereas before it was balancing behind the triggerguard altogether—darn heavy barrel! I know one wants a rifle to be somewhat barrel heavy to help the front sight settle down while aiming off-hand. On the other hand, a gun off balance at either end is hard to manipulate quickly.

I think I like where it is now, but I'm just wondering if some of you had other preferences?

Thanks,

Ronn

quote:

Originally posted by Ronn38:
I am putting together a 404 Jeffery on a 1903 Springfield action—sacrilege, I know;-).

Not really any worse that all the 404s built on M70 actions, and everyone but me seems to think those are great.

I like a balance point right in front of the trigger guard.

quote:

Ronn38: The back end of the Dead Mule rests right up against the face of the recoil pad--which is soft. I'm wondering if the Dead Mule needs to be butting up against something solid in back to be effective.

I don't think this matters much but it does matter that the front end of the Dead Mule be against solid wood.

The front of the Mule is indeed bottomed out against the wood. I might inlet a simple steel plate on the back for peace of mind. The at the range I’ll try shooting it with and without the plate in place.

Likewise, I'll bring some wheel weights. Try a few snap shots with my balance point, and then tape the weights to the stock to move the balance back to the front of the trigger guard and try a few more.

Took me a while to get the pull juuuussssttt right, but now it come to the shoulder very naturally.

Thanks for the input!

Ronn