Has anyone used a strong hardwood (like maple) dowel for a crossbolt on a heavy caliber bolt rifle and if so, has it worked OK? thank you.

Well...will it work? I'd think you'd still have the about the same amount of compression on end stock grain...there may be a little reinforcement against splitting, depending on the glue used.

There would not be the splitting reinforcement provided by generous nuts on each end of a steel sleeve.

Recknagel offers a steel component that needs to be bedded tightly against the recoil lug and bottom of action plus of course, the nuts on each end to guard against potential splitting..careful fitting here!

I've made ebony dowels and used them on a .30-06 which didn't need crossbolts to begin with, but it looked nice. They've held up fine. On a .505 I've used steel crossbolts with ebony plugs, which worked well. They certainly don't have the strength of a crossbolt with steel nuts on the end, but they've held up well.

quote:

Originally posted by MNR:
I've made ebony dowels and used them on a .30-06 which didn't need crossbolts to begin with, but it looked nice. They've held up fine. On a .505 I've used steel crossbolts with ebony plugs, which worked well. They certainly don't have the strength of a crossbolt with steel nuts on the end, but they've held up well.

I have done them with steel bolts and nuts, then covered the steel with an ebony plug. They are strong and look fine.

I have done this quite often when repairing a stock which has split. When a stock is damaged by recoil, the piece behind the recoil lug mortise will frequently break right out. When the piece is glued back in, a dowel glued in accross the grain will strengthen it a lot. I usually turn a walnut dowel if it is to be visible but will use maple or whatever if I choose to bury it inside. The dowel is positioned at the rear of the piece; right ahead of the magazine well.
A dowel positioned just behind the magazine and ahead of the trigger group is also effective at preventing the split which can occur when the sides of the stock flex outward under recoil.
In neither case does the dowel actually take the recoil directly. The dowel's only purpose is to prevent splitting or shearing of the stock wood.
As to whether or not it is as effective as a flanged crossbolt, I think it is; the crossbolts just look kind of neat. Regards, Bill.

No experience here with crossbolts, just general wood projects.

But, Bill made a important point here.
{{{when the sides of the stock flex outward under recoil}}}.

I am presently working on a 458 Lott custom stock. I think, in this case, cross bolts are necessary. After fitting the barreled action, I drill and tap the two areas for the bolts to 5/16-18 and make up two pieces of threaded rod to fit, drill and tap the ends to accept a 10-32 flat head allen screw and insert both with epoxy to seal it. The ends are capped with Ebony plugs to finish it off.

Flexing? Hmmm..maybe with sloppy inletting

I've built a few high recoil rifles, and on each I machined an aluminum block for the recoil lug to sit against. The blocks have a lot of area for the epoxy to transmit the load to the wood. In the 510 WSM repeater the stock has two thin slabs of wood that go around the magazine, so I added a dowel in front of the trigger to reduce the bowing/flex here. It's in a laminate, which may have a greater tendency to split? So far, all of these rifles hold up better than my shoulder. I did some load development on the 338-300RUM using a lead-sled arrangement, and the butt pad actually took some damage while everything else held up fine. The rear aluminum pillar shows some slight shine where it's moving as the thin stock compresses.

Plus they look cool!

Lots of folks use Ebony?? ON a recoiling rifle I would only use steel (Talleys)in glass perhaps, but end grain is strong, but can shrink in time and give the action a run for its moeney..

To really shore up a stock use two cross bolts and a extra barrel recoil lug and the best Ive used were the old screw into a dovetail ala the early Win.mod. 70 into that lug..Ive seen so many big bores split out even when well bedded on the real kickers that on a hunting rifle I would glass bed it entirely add two cross bolts and and extra recoil lug 4 inches down the barrel from the front action ring. A failure in a rifle on Safari is disheartening at best..

Probably a best advise is to start with a properly cured, dryed and straight grained layed out piece of dense walnut, and beware of marblecake for my stocks anyway.

Ray, would JBWeld have any application in these matters? Could you, for instance, use it to stick that lug four inches down the barrel?

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Kobe:
I am presently working on a 458 Lott custom stock. I think, in this case, cross bolts are necessary. After fitting the barreled action, I drill and tap the two areas for the bolts to 5/16-18 and make up two pieces of threaded rod to fit, drill and tap the ends to accept a 10-32 flat head allen screw and insert both with epoxy to seal it. The ends are capped with Ebony plugs to finish it off.

I do the same as this but without the end screws.
I just use all thread with epoxy as a thread locker then cap with ebony.

Sanbarman338,
JB Weld works just fine, its good stuff for about any glass application, its exceptionally strong..I use different brands of glass bedding compound, depending on the job at hand.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Sanbarman338,
JB Weld works just fine, its good stuff for about any glass application, its exceptionally strong..I use different brands of glass bedding compound, depending on the job at hand.

Thanks Ray, so do you think it might be strong enough to hold an extra recoil lug on a barrel?

for those of you who have shot a lot of .375, have you found that caliber needs cross bolts? thank you.

Proper inletting on good dense Thin shelled walnut needs neither glass OR cross bolts..but can't hurt

Off topic, but the question was asked about gluing a recoil lug to a barrel; NO; unless you first dovetail it, or it has a good step to abut against. Then it will stay in place anyway.

Thanks dpcd