m95 steyr stock repair

[abqrunner]

Hi
Just bought an m95 steyr carbine (cutdown rifle). Great looking rifle. One issue, loose fit. The stock does not seem dry. The outside had some kind of laquer applied and the inside had quite a bit of cosmo that I cleaned out. There are cracks in the wood between the trigger and the mag well. Also in the front block. See the pictures. At some point, staples were use to hold together. Side to side movement is minimal and will probably tighten with some BLO. Forward and aft movement are considerable (about 1/16"). Screws fore and aft on the magazine housing are tight. I'd like to shim but dont know where to put them. Also thought about wrapping the aft trigger guard screw as that's where the slack should be. Thoughts on the above or advise on how to tighten the fit?
Thanks in advance
Adam
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Attachment 68800

Information

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[WarPig1976]

Have you considered epoxy bedding.

[Peter Laidler]

First I'd ask this. Are you concerned that a outwardly visible repair will put you off? I ask because there are many well tried and tested repairs that real Armourers have used for over 100 years to keep their kit serviceable. You could repair the split very easily just as we did on the bench. I won't go into it all again as it's been written and repeated here time and time again. As for the loose front and rear mounting screw holes then, once again, that's a simple job too that we did. This time you accurately bore out the holes oversize to suit, then glue in hardwood dowels. Bore out the dowels centrally to suit new made steel collars that are a tight fit into the bored out hardwood dowels. The steel collars are bored to within a few thou of the bolts.

There........ Repaired split, rebuilt screw holes, tight fitting bushes that'll leave you with a good serviceable and shootable rifle with repairs that'll still be going strong 100 years from now

But there's one last plea from the heart.......... With respect to Warpig, please, please. please don't consider epoxy anything......, please!

[WarPig1976]

Can't argue with that Peter....

[abqrunner]

Ha, no, no epoxy going on ANY of my milsurps. The dowel method would be doable once I dig out my drill press. i would think getting that angle right will be a chore. I done searches in the gunsmithing and repair sections for loose stocks and loose actions on this site and haven't come up with much. Any keywords for the former posts you mentioned will be appreciated.
Thank you both.
-Adam

[Patrick Chadwick]

At the moment, your rifle is heading for total failure of the stock. So here are a couple of comments as to how the damage occurred and how it will progress if you do nothing.

1) The recoil shock is intended to be taken up primarily by the recoil lug - not the front system-screw bushing. Which is why Mausers have a recoil cross-bolt for the lug to bear on. It is VITAL that the wood behind this is sound. In this case, it is probably battered behind the lug, letting the bushing take the force, which then splits the wood, which then leads to 2).

2) The recoil, in compressing the wood around the receiver and magazine cut-outs, creates a force that tends to widen the cut-outs, i.e. split the wood between the magazine and trigger cut-outs. As can be seen here.

3) As a result of 1) and 2) the stiffness of the wood between the front and rear system screws is seriously weakened. This can lead to a split in the sides of the magazine cut-out as a result of excessive flexing.

4) The recoil shock now acts fully on the wood behind the rear system screw. If the tang is too tight in the recess on the butt, it acts like a wedge, and in due course the wood will split behind the tang.

BEDDING IS NOT THE ANSWER, BECAUSE IT WILL NOT STIFFEN UP THE WOOD. Bedding will be no more use than plastering over the cracks in a subsiding wall.

YOU MUST TREAT THE CRACKS to prevent further degeneration of your rifle.
Bearing in mind that it is the sideways force that is producing the splits, the mechanically sound solution is to glue in beechwood dowels crosswise to take up this splitting force and restrain the wood - in effect wooden cross-bolts - as Peter Laidler has indicated. Please follow his advice (above) and look up his solutions for such problems.

[Patrick Chadwick]

The recoil force is intended to be taken up by the recoil lug against the wood, not the system screws in their bushings. The lug is flat-faced, to produce a purely compressive force, whereas the bushings will always tend to split the wood by forcing it apart like blunt wedges.

When you have repaired the splits, but before finally reassembling and shooting the rifle, you must make sure that the lug is bearing properly. Your photos do not show the area concerned, but the cracking indicates that the wood behind the lug has been battered so that the load was being taken by the screw bushing. You will need to restore the lug bearing by repairing the wood and/or shimming between the lug and the wood.

[Patrick Chadwick]

P.S. Do NOT apply any BLO yet, as this will end up in the cracks that you wish to glue!
Rather wash down the affected areas - especially the splits . with acetone, to remove oil/BLO/grease etc. before reparing the wood.

[WarPig1976]

When you have repaired the splits, but before finally reassembling and shooting the rifle, you must make sure that the lug is bearing properly. Your photos do not show the area concerned, but the cracking indicates that the wood behind the lug has been battered so that the load was being taken by the screw bushing. You will need to restore the lug bearing by repairing the wood and/or shimming between the lug and the wood.

And this folks was my train of thought, but I digress.