Eddystone M1917 Stock Warp Issue

[Ridolpho]

I should add that I have been taking this gun apart over a series of several months, adding raw linseed oil to the inside and outside of the stock. Over this time I have seen no change in the bend in the stock, which is bending down and to the left, away from the barrel. If it was bending upward, a small amount of wood removal could be done.

In this case, I think the best option is going to be attempting the hot linseed oil method, however seeing as the barrel channel is thinner it may be easier to try a heat gun first before resorting to the torch.

I'll post my results after trying this later this week.

Be careful- you have to get it hot throughout and the oil-soaked cloth wrapped right around is a good way to do it. If it isn't hot enough on all sides you may crack it. You also must bend it a bit past the desired shape to allow for a bit of elastic springback while it cools and sets in the new shape. Good luck with it!

Ridolpho

[WarPig1976]

may crack it

Incidentally, I'm running a 10% discount on crack repair this week only, "compound cracks excluded".

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[Hcompton79]

Well, today was the day. I went ahead and strapped the stock down on my bench and wrapped an old towel around the forend. I tied it on with cotton string and made sure it was thoroughly soaked with raw linseed oil. I tried heating it with my hat gun and found that that wasn't cutting it, after about 15min, I could still touch the oiled cloth. So out came the torch and I carefully heated it until it was smoking and very hot.

I applied force and felt it bending, and then hung a 30lb weight on the end of the forend and stripped off the oiled cloth and let it cool for a couple of hours. After I came back I checked it against the action again and unfortunately, no difference.

I guess at this point I can resign to live with it, or I can basically do a duffel cut under the rear barrel band and reattach with epoxy and threaded rod at a slightly different angle so that it has proper bearing at the muzzle.

[CINDERS]

Well it was worth a go and at least you had a crack at it, your second option may be a course of action as you say you can hide the cut under the barrel band.

Just asking those wood workers would you need a thin spacer in there to take up for the lost material from the cut and reshaping or would the slight loss of length not be an issue in the overall scheme of things. TIA

[Hcompton79]

Taking off about 1/8" of wood from the overall length probably wouldn't affect the stocking up or the nose-cap/front barrel band that I can tell as the front band can slide further down the barrel to compensate.

What would be an issue if I were to make the cut under the rear barrel band is that the barrel band has a small retaining pin in the stock to make sure it doesn't move forward under recoil, so either that pin would need to be moved forward slightly to compensate for the lack of wood or a spacer (small piece of thick walnut veneer would probably work) added in.

Fortunately, if I were to cut it under the rear barrel band, there is no lightening cut in that part of the forend there so I would have plenty of material to reattach the two haves together.

Would it be seen as sacrilege to cut up a complete stock or not so as long as the finished work looks the part and performs properly?

[Patrick Chadwick]

"Would it be seen as sacrilege to cut up a complete stock or not so as long as the finished work looks the part and performs properly?"

IMHO there is no problem here. The rifle is not a museum exhibit, but a piece of machinery that is not functioning correctly. It is thus quite acceptable to refurbish it in such a manner that the proper function is achieved, while avoiding unnecessary falsification.

As to the cut, the wood loss will be nothing like 1/8". More like 1/16", and if you use a fine saw like an Exacto modelmakers blade, or one of those superb Japanese pull-saws (my choice for this kind of work), then the wood loss will be less than 1mm - about 1/32". In other words, the length reduction will be so small as to be unnoticeable. And if, as suggested, a sliver of veneer is required to set the pin to the correct position, then there is no net reduction at all.

This thread on making a duffle-cut repair may be helpful:

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....t+threaded+rod

[Ridolpho]

Well, today was the day. I went ahead and strapped the stock down on my bench and wrapped an old towel around the forend. I tied it on with cotton string and made sure it was thoroughly soaked with raw linseed oil. I tried heating it with my hat gun and found that that wasn't cutting it, after about 15min, I could still touch the oiled cloth. So out came the torch and I carefully heated it until it was smoking and very hot.

I applied force and felt it bending, and then hung a 30lb weight on the end of the forend and stripped off the oiled cloth and let it cool for a couple of hours. After I came back I checked it against the action again and unfortunately, no difference.

I guess at this point I can resign to live with it, or I can basically do a duffel cut under the rear barrel band and reattach with epoxy and threaded rod at a slightly different angle so that it has proper bearing at the muzzle.

That's too bad it didn't work. I know on the two I've had success with I had to go through many lengthy burn/heat cycles to get the bend I needed. Even using the torch as the main heat source I would say I continued with the burning/ boiling of the oil for well over one-half hour (with several pauses for new oil) before attempting the bend. In hindsight I wish I had practiced with an old junk forend to really get a feel for the heat required for a permanent bend. Yesterday I pulled the No.4 that I bent 3 years ago and was happy to see it has remained true with the barrel dead center and the correct up-pressure. The technique can work.

Ridolpho

[WarPig1976]

Leave it be, what are you going to fix by chopping the front off?
It’s not a duffle cut. You’re going to cause other problems by trying to correct the bow and or twist by cutting the forend off. Blade kerf is the least of the problems.
You have to account for the wedge of wood that has to be removed to bring the tip up. The stock will take on a V shape.....it goes on and on.
It’s a can of worms, hear me now, believe me later.....

[Hcompton79]

Well, I went ahead and cut the stock, and the end result came out perfectly.

I made sure to take out as little wood as possible with the cut and then trued up the cut ends to make them as square as possible. I went ahead and fabricated a shim, as I realized in addition to the barrel band retaining pin moving, taking a bit of wood off the forend could cause issues with the attachment of a bayonet. I modified the thickness of the shim in order to change the angle and thus where the tip of the stock touches the barrel.

I reattached everything with acraglas and drilled out and installed a several inch length of 1/4-20 threaded rod for strength. I used the barreled action as a jig to hold everything together while the epoxy set up, with a shim under the chamber end of the barrel to make the muzzle end a bit higher so that when reassembled normally the stock will put up pressure on the barrel.

After letting it setup overnight under the heat of a lamp, everything lines up correctly now . I did have to remove a small bit of wood from the inside of the forend on the right side near where the joint was made, and now there is no contact from the action to the muzzle except for at the tip where I probably have 3-4lb of pressure pushing up on the barrel, and its centered.

The joint is barely noticeable and will be hidden under the barrel band anyway:Attachment 96440

Now I do have one question, with the rifle set up now, when the nose cap/front barrel band is on the stock it pulls the barrel firmly against the forend and there is no play. Is this how these rifles are designed to be set up or should it be more like a no.4 lee enfield where there is a bit of play in the barrel but it comes to rest against the top of the stock due to the up pressure?

[rcathey]

Awesome results! Thanks for sharing. I’ve been following this thread and it’s great to see the happy ending!