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    Legacy Member Stretch32's Avatar
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    Lengthening a Sporterized '03A3 "C" Stock

    All,

    I'm trying to repair a sporterized 1903A3 Springfield "C" stock that was cut ahead of the lower barrel band. I picked up a fore-end repair piece from Dupage for the project so I have the correct piece to fix it but I'm not sure how to go about attaching it correctly.

    I've made a few attempts to reattach the fore-end so far but I've not been able to keep from breaking after about 10 rounds or so. My initial attempts used wooden dowels to "pin" it and a small bridge of scrap wood to prevent it from pulling apart put this didn't work. I suspect the dowels were not long enough and wood bridge actually splintered.

    I'm using a recommended wood glue from "Garret Wade" but it seems to be too brittle and has cracked from the shock after a couple of rounds were fired. For my next attempt I've bought brass all-thread since I believe the wooden dowels are inadequate and I was thinking of building a more substantial bridge from a piece walnut routed into a groove between the two pieces but I need to find an adhesive that will hold it all together (both metal and wood, maybe JB Weld?).

    My question, what method do you use to do this? It appears to be a common fix (the repair pieces are readily available anyway) but I can't seem to make it strong enough to hold together for repeated shooting. The rifle will be a shooter so it needs to be pretty tough.

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Stretch

    - I posted this in the "1903" section as well since I wasn't sure where it should go.
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    Advisory Panel Patrick Chadwick's Avatar
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    Repairing a duffle cut

    Been there, done that, just need to find the photos!
    Found Photos, here goes, may take some time. Watch This Space!

    MODERATORS PLEASE HELP! CAN'T UPLOAD PHOTOS. NOT TOO LARGE (40kB). HAVE I RUN OUT OF SITE SPACE?
    Photos already on site can be attached, but no new ones uploaded from my PC.
    Last edited by Patrick Chadwick; 02-23-2016 at 08:31 AM.

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    Advisory Panel Patrick Chadwick's Avatar
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    Keep watching! I have sent the complete photo sequence to Jim "browningautorifleicon" who has kindly offered to get them into the forum. As soon as they are available I will post them with the text. Very frustrating, since they tell the whole story of how to repair a duffle cut or stock break so that it is mechanically sound for any sensible use of a rifle!

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  8. #5
    Advisory Panel Patrick Chadwick's Avatar
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    Thanks to Jim, meet Shere Khan ...

    ... now that I can put it all together.

    The rifle which led me to assemble this photo-story is an original P53

    Attachment 70375

    And this is its lock
    Attachment 70377


    No, NOT a Khyber Pass Special, but an "genuine copy" of a P53 (a.k.a. 3-band Enfield) made in the Kabul Arsenal.

    ??? How come ???

    The ruler of Afghanistan from 1868-1876 was Sher Ali Khan. And an arsenal was set up in Kabul to manufacture copies of Enfield Rifleicon muskets. The lock pictured above was not made by Enfield, but it is of respectable quality, the parts being marked as a set with small dots in the typical 19th century fashion for small batch production.

    The mark towards the front of the lockplate



    is the emblem of Sher Ali Khan. Sher (or Shere) can apparently mean lion (in Afghanistan) or tiger (in India/Pakistan) depending on which animal is of local significance. In both case, the emblem is a symbol of power, and in the Persian/Afghan area it is definitely a lion - not "Hallo Kitty", as was suggested on another forum! So, recalling The Jungle Book, I have named it "Shere Khan".

    The Tughra at the rear of the lockplate

    Attachment 70376
    says, in a decorative way, "Kabl Karkhana(h) 1291". Quite clear, if you spend a happy hour untangling it!
    Translating the words and the Islamic date: Kabul Arsenal 1874.

    Unfortunately, the purchaser of this rifle subjected it to a "duffle cut",

    Attachment 70379
    which brings us back to the subject of this thread:


    How to repair a duffle cut (Part 1)

    The very first things you need are a couple of 1/4" dowel centers. Smaller will be too weak in the dowels. Larger will leave weak walls in the stock after drilling the holes for the dowels.
    Attachment 70385
    Buy them, make them, but do not attempt the job without them! For success, it is absolutely vital that the dowel holes in both parts of the stock are perfectly aligned. For that, you must have the dowel centers - and a means of aligning the two halves of the stock!

    Here is the ominous cut.
    Attachment 70383
    And in this case, the hole and slot for the ramrod provide an excellent channel for alignment by using a piece of threaded rod (doesn't have to be threaded - it just happened to fit).
    The other option is to use the barrel channel itself. For the 1903 this will be the only option, as it does not have a ramrod channel.

    Step 1) Mark the fore-end for the dowels. I chose the fore-end as a starting point, because it is easier to handle than the back end.

    As you can see, I changed my mind about the location of the 2nd hole, because of the weakened cross-section resulting from the cutout for the band-spring.

    Step 2) Mount the fore-end so that the holes will be parallel to the barrel channel. Take great care over this - you only get one try, so it had better be right!
    I am fortunate in having an old Boxford (= Southbend) lathe that has a vertical milling slide that is large enough to clamp the stock. It is a tricky business to get the wood clamped without marring it!

    Step 3) Drill the holes. The holes must be wide enough to take the dowel material that you are going to use, plus about 1/64 oversize, so that the excess glue can be squeezed out when the dowels are pushed in. Start with a center-drill, as this provides a cleaner hole than a normal twist drill, which will tend to splinter the edges of the hole.

    Attachment 70380

    Continue with a standard twist drill to a depth equal to the intended insertion length of the dowel, plus about 3/8 to allow for glue piling up at the bottom of the hole!
    Attachment 70386
    (End of Part 1)
    Last edited by Patrick Chadwick; 02-25-2016 at 06:08 PM. Reason: Original, enlargeable photos inserted

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    Advisory Panel Patrick Chadwick's Avatar
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    How to repair a duffle cut Part 2

    Step 4) Marking the other half of the stock. Insert the dowel centers into the holes in the fore-end.
    Attachment 70387

    Assemble the fore-end with dowel centers and the back end onto the locating device. In my case, that was the threaded rod shown in Part 1. For a rifle without a ramrod channel, it will have to be the barrel itself. Simply tie the two parts onto the barrel with thick rubber bands or other elastic material. Now, making sure that the two halves of the stock are properly aligned, push them together very firmly, so that the back half is marked by the pins on the dowel centers.
    Attachment 70389

    Step 5) Dismantle the assembly and drill the holes in the back end of the stock, as already described for the fore-end. This is probably the most difficult part of the operation, as it is very awkward indeed to get the butt end properly clamped and aligned. Take your time over this.

    Step 6) Check that the holes are properly aligned by reassemblying the two halves on the locating rod or barrel. It should be possible to push them together without any binding, and the sides of the cut should match up well-nigh perfectly (OK, I'm an optimist).



    Step 7) Stop and think, before you do something irreversible! What material are you going to use for the dowels? What glue are you going to use. After the glued dowels have been inserted into the holes, it will be too late to change your mind! I used 1/4" beech dowelling, with a ribbed surface to allow excess glue to be squeezed out. If you think that this is too weak, then you could use metal, in the form of a threaded rod (for grip). The only suitable metal available to the normal consumer would be stainless steel.

    Just consider this: if something goes wrong with wood dowels, then it would be just about possible to saw the parts apart once more and redo the job. If you use metal dowels, you will never get it apart again without ruining the wood. I therefore advise wood dowels, which are quite strong enough for a target rifle - if the job is done properly. And PVA glue ("white glue") is also quite strong enough, as I have demonstrated elsewhere. Epoxy glues are risky, as they can start to harden up before you have got all parts properly aligned and pushed together. This is one job where you do not want fast-setting glue.

    If you are using the barrel as a locating device, you don't want to glue it to the joint. So cover it with thin tape before...

    Step 8) Apply glue to one half of each of the the dowels and push them into the holes.
    Apply glue to the the protruding half of the dowels and push the two halves of the stock together. Now stabilize this assembly by firmly binding it to the taped-up barrel in the barrel channel and then pushing both halves together. A tap with a wooden mallet on a block of wood held against the muzzle end of the stock will assist in getting the ends of the joint firmly together.

    Attachment 70388

    Now you can and should do nothing, but wait until the next day!

    Step 9) Undo the barrel/stock assembly, clean up any glue that has been squeezed out of the joint - which will anyway be invisible, as it is covered by the barrel band.



    And if you followed these instruction, you now have a nearly-invisible repair to the stock. A stock that is perfectly usable for a target rifle.

    FINISHED !

    P.S: to enlarge the photos you will have to click on the versions posted above by browningautorifleicon
    Last edited by Patrick Chadwick; 02-26-2016 at 01:20 AM. Reason: P.S.

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  12. #7
    Legacy Member Stretch32's Avatar
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    Thread Starter
    Patrick,

    These pictures are awesome. Thanks for the help and suggestions. I'm going to tinker with this over the course of the next few weeks and I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.

    Stretch

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    Advisory Panel Patrick Chadwick's Avatar
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    Upload of original photos

    Attachment 70363Attachment 70373Attachment 70372Attachment 70371Attachment 70370Attachment 70369Attachment 70367Attachment 70366Attachment 70365Attachment 70364Attachment 70374A fresh try at uploading my photos!

    There is something very odd about the software. I was able to upload and insert the above photos in my descriptive posts. But some of the photos cannot be uploaded, even though I reduced the size. Anyway, you can now see most of the photos in the original, enlargeable versions.
    Last edited by Patrick Chadwick; 02-25-2016 at 06:06 PM.

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    Advisory Panel browningautorifle's Avatar
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    Yes, those are better.
    Regards, Jim

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    Legacy Member Vincent's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Chadwick View Post
    There is something very odd about the software. I was able to upload and insert the above photos in my descriptive posts. But some of the photos cannot be uploaded, even though I reduced the size. Anyway, you can now see most of the photos in the original, enlargeable versions.
    I have the same problem now. It started fairly recently. Maybe after a VB software update or setting change? I also don’t like the little fingernails. So now I upload pictures to my photobucket account and link them in my posts.

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