Fitting an unissued stock on a No.4 MK1

I have a 1942 Savage No.4 MK1 303 that a previous owner had sporterized, complete with scope and hacked stock. I purchased an unissued stock set for it. The upper guards are walnut and the butt/forend are beechwood I believe. It will take a little work to make all the pieces match somewhat, but that's a whole other issue.

When I mated the forend to the action it didn't fit, which didn't really surprise me given it was an unissued and unfitted stock. There is a lug underneath where the magazine release attaches and the corresponding wood had to be shaved a little for it to drop in. Not a lot, I probably didn't take 1/16" off the inside of the stock in that one little area.

Before I quit for the night I went to put the butt stock on, just a dry fit. It wouldn't go into the socket, which again was no surprise. I supected there would be more final fitting.

One thing that surprised me was the ill fit of the butt plate. The butt plate is clearly 1/16" smaller than the mating area of the butt stock. I assume they left the back end of the butt stock a little large but never having fit a new stock I'd like to hear you guys' opinion.

At first I thought it might have been a Savage thing so I set aside the pot metal butt plate and tried the NOS steel one that came with the stock, still in cosmoline. it was the same fit.

I can do the shaping on the butt stock but I'd like to hear what you have to say regardless; any similar experiences etc. I can post pics tonight if that would help.

Thanks all.

Fitting a fore-end to a No4 rifle PROPERLY isn't a job for the feint hearted, believe me. BUT, salvation is at hand in the form of a thread on this forum that has been widely copied onto other forums. Indeed, some even written it up as their own work but there you go..........

Can someone who's computer literate direct KSDaddy to the thread that details it. On second thoughts, maybe the computer literate person could bring up all of the furniture fitting bits as it looks like Big Daddy has a whole lot of fitting to do. But can I make a suggestion Big Daddy? While you have an old gash fore-end there, practice on this one first. And when you've practiced, then take it off and practice again - and again!

If you look up the link on the bottom of Peter Laidlers post above, you can find the article on "stocking Up". I just did this on a No1MK3 with a new fore end, and while it did not just jump together, following the instructions, working in very small increments, it went together just fine. Remember the old woodworkers adage, measure twice, cut once. I am a mechanic by trade, and so don't have a lot of woodworking tools, so I used a chisel blade (very sharp!) in an Xacto knife to make my cuts. Not the easiest job ever, but do able even for me.

Jesse

If you are a mechanic, you will have files in your tool box. For the amount of wood to be "adjusted", a 1" file is the perfect tool.

True enough, and I used a file to true up the metal insert that fits around the stock bolt, but for shaving the "draws" for a perfect fit, slicing off a really thin curl at a time with the chisel blade worked great.

The Savage has been shoved to the back of the bench for several months now and tonight I dug it out to see what my next move is. One real quandary is the front barrel band. I bought a savage band and it will not fit around the metal parts of the forend and hand guard. It's like it's just too small a diameter. I don't see where any material could be taken off to make it fit and the notion of it not fitting is kinda silly to me. Did different manufacturers make slightly different sizes or am I missing some secret? I can post a pic if that will help.

I suspect that the top band is correct BUT the top handguard and/or the top of the fore-end is a bit toooo proud at the front/top end. You'll need to carefully remove the wood from the two mating edges of the handguard and/or fore-end - equally otherwise it'll flex - until the top band slides on and until the screw thread can engage.

http://photos.imageevent.com/badgerd...0correctly.pdf

Here's all you need , Read two times at least. After you have fully understood, remember: it's not the simplem thing to do accurately, at least for me.

"The upper guards are walnut and the butt/forend are beechwood I believe. It will take a little work to make all the pieces match somewhat, but that's a whole other issue."

I suggest looking for the right type of wood guards and sell off what you have. Beechwood uppers of the rigth colour shouldnt be hard to source, amongst the more frequent and cheap bits to see IMHO.

regards