Stock repair and fitting

[ssgross]

Stuck at home too much this year is putting a dent in my backlog. Up next is a Gibbs repro 1903a4. The stock has a CMP cartouche. The rifle shoots just fine - pretty good as is, ~1.25" at 100yds. But,
1) Under the front band, the hole for the screw was mis-drilled (even nicked the barrel), and then just opened up to fix it. Now it looks like it was dug out with a spoon.
Attachment 112279Attachment 112280
The band is very tight - takes a nylon punch and love taps to get it on and off. However, the required small gap between the top and the barrel is there.
I have debated on how to clean it up. I've thought about drilling it out, gluing in a dowel, and redialing the hole, or filling it with epoxy, or sawdust+glue like you would any other application.
2) The stock is fat. The forearm sticks out well proud of the handgaurd, and the barrel bands need driven on/off with nylon love taps. It is also fat in the other direction, the walls of the barrel channel are high. When the action is screwed in, the the handgaurd base ring sits so low that there is stress on the base of the handgaurd.
Attachment 112281
The tight fit on the front band (covering the botched hole) is due to the high wall as well. So, if I fix the outside profile, I'll need that screw hole snug as the band is likely to fit normally when I'm done.
3) lastly, it's fat in it's magazine to action fit - way to big a gap between the magazine and the receiver. The follower easily gets stuck at the top, causing the last round feed difficult if at all, and loading the magazine takes a delicate balancing act.

I plan to attack one thing at a time - advice for fixing that hole first?
After that, I'll carefully check the bedding before I start releiving material at the trigger guard to bring the magazine up. Next I'll follow Chucks advice on trimming the tang bushing 1/8" to improve metal-wood contact. Lastly, I'll lightly sand down the outside, and relieve the upper surface of the forearm. Still debating wether to inlet the hand guard for the little clips, but that is mutually exclusive from anything else.

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[browningautorifle]

Drill and dowel the front hole. Drilling is done very carefully...

[ssgross]

Drill and dowel the front hole. Drilling is done very carefully...

That was my instinct. What worries me is the hole is so close to the top and weirdly shaped. I suppose I can make a jig to clamp the top part of forearm to a fence on my drill press, and go very slowly with a forstner bit to keep it from pulling off-center. The top of the dowel will protrude significantly into the barrel bed area, and have to be inletted. I'm a bit worried getting it nice and smooth without affecting the bedding. I suppose if I can get it close chisels, I can afford a couple thousandths all around smoothing it out with sandpaper. probably good to tape off the area around where the dowel protrudes initially to make it harder to get carried away.
For quick reference, here is the discussion with chuck's posts about his simple bedding improvement by trimming the tang bushing. I'm not sure what happened to the pictures he showed, but I'm sure his targets looked nice.
https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=11313
I'll post back pictures of my progress, and lessons learned along the way.

[browningautorifle]

I suppose I can make a jig to clamp the top part of forearm to a fence on my drill press, and go very slowly with a forstner bit to keep it from pulling off-center. The top of the dowel will protrude significantly into the barrel bed area, and have to be inletted. I'm a bit worried getting it nice and smooth without affecting the bedding. I suppose if I can get it close chisels, I can afford a couple thousandths all around smoothing it out with sandpaper. probably good to tape off the area around where the dowel protrudes initially to make it harder to get carried away.

Yes. Lots of gentle strength and a sharp bit. Only one opportunity to make it right...it'll work fine. I'd clamp the front in my cross slide vise so it's absolutely captive for the operation...

[ssgross]

the buggered hole at it's worst is 0.445, and only 0.232 away from the top. I'll go very slow indeed, and likely sand my dowel to not fit too snuggly, and pressure could split/crack the little bit remaining on the top wall.
Looks like I'll need to buy a walnut dowel online, and wait to finish my job. I could use oak or poplar, which the big box has, but I'd prefer walnut to maximize my chances of hiding it as much as possible.

EDIT: While I wait, I decided to check the inletting in the forearm. Wiped some jerrow's inletting black around the whole barrel (a little goes a very long way!), and gently put the action in, followed by handgaurd and bands. No black on any wood except the bedding area pictured below, and a smidge on the front band. I think there is room for improvement there after fixing the hole. that high spot in the right of the pic is causing the other side to contact that little spot on the band.
I went to double check since I didn't have the action screws in (which would change pressure)...and to my surprise there is no rear bushing! Good thing I've only put maybe 50 rounds through it tops. One is on the way.
Attachment 112313

[browningautorifle]

I'll need to buy a walnut dowel

Originally I thought of just using a plug cutter for that but you need a decent piece of walnut to be donor and getting it to cut and not slit apart while you work could be close to magic...so dowel it is I guess. Yes, walnut dowel. Make blending easier.

[ssgross]

the nose is ~1inch wide, so I would need a 2x2 piece to make a plug. You have a point - using a plug I can cut it cross grain so it matches the grain direction on the stock, as opposed to using a dowel and having the end grain showing, but I don't have a plug cutter that can go 1", so dowel it is. I think is to cut a clean and uniform 1/2" hole, and sand my dowel so that it just barely slips in with little effort, and use plenty of wood glue, or epoxy, to fix it in place. I've never done such a delicate repair up against a delicate edge. Should I worry about future expansion/contraction of the repair splitting the stock?

UPDATE: Here is the patient, before and after surgery. Only the slightest tearing on the exit wound.
Should I use wood glue or epoxy on the insert?
Attachment 112358Attachment 112356Attachment 112357

[browningautorifle]

Should I worry about future expansion/contraction of the repair splitting the stock?

I don't think so...other opinions may vary but no one has chipped in so far. Too bad too, there are a few here that have committed magic with utter field trash...

Final hole looks good and clean. After is a touch of fine paper anyway.

[Daan Kemp]

That hole looks like an excavation!

[browningautorifle]

Should I use wood glue or epoxy on the insert?

I just saw this question, I would have used Brownell's microbed and that's a two tube epoxy...so I guess it should work. If it's clean a carpenter's glue should work too. It's more of a filler plug not a working area so it's just going to be held in place.