CMP "C" stock

[2aimtrue]

I received my CMP C stock today. Looks like a nice piece of wood and, to my surprise, it is already stained a walnut color. I had been planning to apply a wormwood stain to get that great red color but...oh, well. I guess I'll just hand-rub some linseed oil into the wood and let it go at that.
They provide an extra trigger guard screw bushing and instructions to re-tighten the screw after every five shots until the everything seats in the stock. I haven't put my rifle into the stock yet but someone told me that I might have to relieve the area at the rear of the tang to avoid splitting the stock under recoil. The hand guard does not have the metal bands inside it as the photo on the CMP website shows.
I have not acquired any metal, yet. I sort of have to proceed in stages as money is tight. When I get the rifle in full military dress I'll post some before and after photos.
I'll be sending the scope out to Vaughn Everlast soon for refurbishing.

Information

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[Harlan (Deceased)]

I was curious when you started your post what you were going to say about fitting. It sounds to me like they're hit and miss, but sometimes you have to take into account what someone else thinks is good or bad. I understand that it's better to need to take some off to get it to fit than the other way around! Yes, you need to have some clearance between the tang and wood behind it - I don't remember he recommended distance, but one of the experts will be along shortly.

If you think there's something missing that should be there I'd contact the CMP - they're really helpful and will let you know.

It's great that it's already stained, but I hope you don't need to take anything off and mess up the stained area. I haven't heard of that. Maybe the new stocks fit out of the box(?)

Please let us know how it goes for you, and wish you the best of luck! I love 'C' stocks and it should look (and work) great.
~ Harlan

[2aimtrue]

Checked the stock fitment to my rifle today. There is not enough clearance at the recoil lug mortise for the front guard screw stud to mate up to the recoil lug properly. The screw will not thread into the recoil lug and the magazine walls do not fit up tight to the receiver. Should I try to take a little off the recoil lug mortise with a half-round file or would that mess things up? Should I return it to CMP?
The rear guard screw goes in just fine but how do I determine which bushing to use?
As I mentioned there are no hand guard clips and no recesses in the hand guard for them. Will the stock work without them and will it be considered correct?
By the way, this is a Boyds item, ink-stamped inside the stock with a date that looks like 2008 or 9 but I can't be sure.
Everything else looks OK but my sporter stock is a much finer metal-to-wood fit around the guard and it will sink below the wood surface in the CMP stock when it is tightened up.
Thanks for any advice or comments. I'll try to get some photos up later on.

[Salt Flat]

2aimtrue, I have fit several barreled actions to similar stocks. The important thing is to have the recoil lug fit to the wood tightly. If you glass bed this will not be an issue. I also like to leave about .030 to .050 gap at the rear tang. I have seen many cracks in this area. I think this happens when the action is loosely fit to the stock and the hard recoil of the 30-06 slams the rear tang into the wood. (or the rifle is dropped butt first). Glass bedding spreads the load of the recoil over many areas and will not allow inertia to shift the action in the stock. You will also have improved accuracy. Lipstick smeared on the action will aid the inletting process. Use small wood carving tools. and remove small amounts of wood where the lipstick transfers to the wood. It takes many trial fits and relieving to fit a stock. The small gouge is most useful but get it double sharp. Make up a few scrapers from old files. I have one that I really like for scraping the barrel channel. One of the stocks that I fit was a Boyds. It was not machined very well at all and had way too much wood left on it. It took me forever to thin it out and make it look right. I wouldn't send the stock back, I think any stock you buy (original or repro will have some small fitting issues to deal with. Good Luck--Hope you post some pictures, Salt Flat

[2aimtrue]

Salt Flat, I am trying to keep the stock legal for Vintage Sniper competition should it prove to be a decent shooter. So glass bedding is not an option, I believe. The machining on this stock appears to be pretty nice to me. I appreciate your advice on fitting and will carefully proceed along those lines. I think I can make the necessary adjustments for a nice fit.
When it's time to finish the stock, would it be advisable to go over it with fine steel wool prior to the application of linseed oil?
I still have questions about which rear guard screw bushing to use and whether the absence of hand guard clips will disqualify it for Vintage Sniper.
Thanks to all for comments.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

I've seen some that have been finished by using steel wool to rub in the oil and they came out looking fantastic. Someone posted a few photos of a Boyd C-stocked 1903 here on this forum a few months ago that had been finished that way and it was beautiful looking.

The thing I can't really fathom is in this day and age of computer controlled machines is why the consistency of Boyd made stocks is so poor. Their quality control must be terrible when some of their stocks fit OK but others are way off. It makes you wonder when you can get a NOS stock that was made as a replacement stock by a subcontract company in the 40's and it fits well right out of the old box.

[daveboy]

I got one of the CMP C stocks a few months ago, also. As is yours, mine is a Boyd's. I was very pleased with mine, but as with almost any new stock, it needed some minor fitting. The above advice about using lipstick and working slowly is good. I had to slightly relieve the hole for the fwd action screw. Also, removed a little wood in the triggerguard area.

What you want to do is to rub lipstick on the lower areas of the receiver and the upper area of the triggerguard and bolt everything up tight. Gently pull it back apart and ensure that you have transferred lipstick evenly to the recoil lug, the flat area behind the lug, the tang area and contact points for the triggerguard. If lipstick is evident unevenly in this areas you should slightly scrape the wood until the lipstick transfers evenly, which means the pressure is even.

Concerning the bushing--you want the bushing to be slightly shorter than the hole it fits in. In other words, you want the bushing to fully (or almost fully) encircle the bolt. However, you do not want the tang and triggerguard resting on the bushing. When you tighten the bolt you should be squeezing wood--NOT squeezing the bushing.

You said that the triggerguard fits deeper into the stock than your sporter...this is a good thing. That's better than the other way around. My understanding is that military stocks were manufactured a little oversize knowing that they would be sanded during arsenal reworks. If the metal/wood fit in this area was level then sanding it would cause the triggerguard to be higher (or "proud" if you're British) than the wood...not good.

I removed the stain from my stock using stripper (personal preference). Then finished with my own stain topped off with BLO. Can send you photos, but am on the wrong computer right now.

daveboy

[2aimtrue]

Daveboy, does your stock have hand-guard clips?

[daveboy]

Daveboy, does your stock have hand-guard clips?

No, but I had read on the CMP website that they would not be installed, so no surprise. It is my understanding that the clips were done away with during wartime production on the military stocks. They were installed because the designers feared that the handguard would not be strong enough without them. But, it was later learned that they really served very little if any purpose and were eliminated. I don't know at what time in production this took place.

Can't find the photos of my stock, but I posted it on another forum: Photos of my newly refinished A3

daveboy