a4 sporter?

[ssgross]

Well, Chuck, you did it again! Great job!
The serial was preserved! It's a bit more defined if you look at it at the right angle, especially once I wiped off the excess oil.
Attachment 120457
What was barely left of the leading "3 4" is more defined. Pics of how it was originally are in post 8...a link for convenience https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....l=1#post501780

NOS scant coming any minute this evening, and I need source a couple items...barrel bands, rear swivel, stamped trigger gaurd, butt plate, and handgaurd ring are all that's left.

Chuck actually did 2 barreled actions for me. That thread is here https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=73716...I've been slow rust bluing the small parts that need to bluing now that I've gotten pretty good (relative statement) at it.

Great work Chuck. Every time I call you've been an inspiration, and are never shy to inflate my confidence when needed. If I didn't know how busy you were, I'd call more often.

[ssgross]

NOS scant stock is in. It is stained, which is mostly uniform but slightly faded on the comb, very dry, and has that nice surplus USGI smell. All seems very sound. The stock bolts have heavy corrosion on the tips (but not the heads). They will need to come out and be boiled or replaced...carefully without tearing the wood on the way out. The exposed part of the rear screw bushing shows rust too. No rust on the hand gaurd clips. I set the action in and all seems nice and tight with plenty to work with. Will take minimal relieving around the sides of the receiver. Curiously, the hole for the front band is not drilled...must have been done in final fitting in case the band needed final adjustment.

Just to be clear, in regards to post 27 above
https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....l=1#post506265
Mt203 sent me a message that he misspoke - the good quality NOS scant he mentioned came from Numrich and not Sarco. The Sarco stock he got when they were available were junk. If I recall, only contributing members can edit their posts after a while, so I thought I would say something lest anyone else go looking for NOS scants.

The Numrich ones also come in the original government packaging and are still in good shape, but much cheaper than the one I just received from Northridge. I'm happy with this one and will keep it, but just bought 2 of the Numerich ones to finish two other rifles with all original parts but the crappy unfit boyds stocks they came in.

EDIT: some pics
Attachment 120495Attachment 120496Attachment 120493Attachment 120497Attachment 120494Attachment 120498
Some non critical imperfections...cutoff recess goes low and the band spring recess extends beyond the band's shoulder. Some discoloration on one side should come out when I finish it.

[Chuckindenver]

glad they turned out good...grease is your friend lol

[ssgross]

Finished slow rust bluing bottom metal today...I think I have it down pretty good now after all the practice I got with that krag project!
Attachment 120721Attachment 120720
The milled set is for the 1903a3 I have in another thread. The stamped one was in serious bad shape. It was the only one not parked I could find (parkerizing on such a part is a b&*# to remove well without a sandblaster, and I don't have one). I sanded most the raised filth and jagged pitting off from around the trigger gaurd and the bottom with paper backed by a file, but decided not to grind out everything, you can see what was left between the trigger gaurd and the magazine.

[ssgross]

Exchange from Northridge came in. much better than the one above. Any ideas on who made it? the USGI NOS scant's I bought from Numrich for the other rifles all had a "K" stamped on the forend tip - easy enough to identify. The Northridge USGI NOS scant (more than double the price) has no markings, but did come in it's original box.Attachment 120826Attachment 120825Attachment 120824Attachment 120827
This one looks to never have been stained, but maybe a single dunk in the raw linseed oil tank at the factory?. The magazine cutoff recess looks square at the bottom, where every stock I've seen its bottom is rounded. Easy enough to fix with a spoon chisel. I'll test the rough fit this weekend and decide which stock will go with which rifle in the end. I suppose this will be the tell as to whether it was worth over twice the price of the keystone scants.

[ssgross]

https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search...=1&permalink=y
Well, I'll have to go in to the library. Contract number should be in this document. I used to go at least once a month to catch up on reading for work, but haven't since the pandemic and since they barricaded the capitol. Unless anyone knows? I found a list on the CMP forum of scant manufacturers. With no markings, that only took Springfield and keystone off the list. Anyone know anything else?

[ssgross]

The replacement stock from Northridge is also pretty bad. went to start fitting today and...the inletting seems nice, but the trigger-guard is off center, and there is about a 1/4 inch gap behind the tang. Looks like another "factory blemish". I decided to fit one of the keystone's instead. There was some bad scrapes on the butt from fumbling around in storage, so I decided to sand it.

I'm getting ready to cut the bolt handle recess. I've sourced some pictures from an original...in post #28.

It looks like just a plunge with a ball bit, followed by a square notch cut at the top, from the side as well as a little from the top.

Can someone with an original please post some measurements? The width of the notch in the receiver is ~.622, and I have a 0.625 ball bit. I would appreciate
1) the actual diameter of the cut on an original
2) distance from the top of the stock to the bottom of the cut and/or to the center of the round part
3) the depth of both the lower round part, and the flat part towards the top (from the top as well as the side)
Some better pictures than what I found would be helpful too.

EDIT: I played around with a block of wood and free-handing my router. I think I have the correct technique. A 5/8 straight bit from the top to produce a notch, then the same straight bit on the side to get a notch, and finally changing to a 5/8 ball, plunge to complete on the side. Now I just need the depths...and some more practice.

EDIT: some good pics here https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=35919

[Randy A]

The replacement stock from Northridge is also pretty bad. went to start fitting today and...the inletting seems nice, but the trigger-guard is off center, and there is about a 1/4 inch gap behind the tang. Looks like another "factory blemish". I decided to fit one of the keystone's instead. There was some bad scrapes on the butt from fumbling around in storage, so I decided to sand it.



I'm getting ready to cut the bolt handle recess. I've sourced some pictures from an original...in post #28.

It looks like just a plunge with a ball bit, followed by a square notch cut at the top, from the side as well as a little from the top.

Can someone with an original please post some measurements? The width of the notch in the receiver is ~.622, and I have a 0.625 ball bit. I would appreciate
1) the actual diameter of the cut on an original
2) distance from the top of the stock to the bottom of the cut and/or to the center of the round part
3) the depth of both the lower round part, and the flat part towards the top (from the top as well as the side)
Some better pictures than what I found would be helpful too.

EDIT: I played around with a block of wood and free-handing my router. I think I have the correct technique. A 5/8 straight bit from the top to produce a notch, then the same straight bit on the side to get a notch, and finally changing to a 5/8 ball, plunge to complete on the side. Now I just need the depths...and some more practice.

EDIT: some good pics here https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=35919

5/8 is what my original A4 measured on the relief width. As far as the manufacturer of your stock I didn’t read through all the posts too see if it got answered but “could” be Milton Bradley. The Embossing Company and American Bowling and Billiard were also unmarked but I have photo archives of them for comparisons and am pretty sure it’s not either. On a side note AB&B put an offset on the butt. I have several from the original boxes they are very nice stocks for the A4.

[ssgross]

On a side note AB&B put an offset on the butt

like a cheek rest? weird. As a left shooter...I despise all the makers who insist on putting cheek rests on their stocks

Thanks for the measurement. Can you post pics with the bolt both up and down? The width of the notch on the receiver is 5/8, but in some pics and descriptions, it seems they are smaller...closer to the width of the bolt handle root. I haven't cut anything yet, and still haven't decided on a stock to use. Northridge was kind enough to let me return the second one.

So, I'm left with two stocks to pick from. First is a Keystone, with a nice visible "K" and and flaming bomb stamp on the forend tip that fits pretty good, but I had to sand it's original stain off to get rid of some bad scrapes it received in storage on the side of the butt. It will look very "new". I do have some test pieces, and bottle each of Birchwood's walnut and rusty walnut stains. Some areas, like around the cross bolts, I couldn't sand out all the original stain, so I will need to blend it first before I seal with raw linseed oil.
The other stock I have is an unmarked scant I took off a parts rifle. The fit is just as good as the NOS keystone, but there is a small chip missing on the toe because whoever made up the parts rifle didn't bother to fit the buttplate correctly. On the list of pro's...there is some subtle cross-grain figuring going on on the sides of the butt, under the years of grime and mingled with the usual dings and scrapes of its age. It would make the rifle look authentically aged, but I would need to stain a handgaurd and the bolt recess to match the rest of the stock.

Before I go milling out the bolt recess...I suppose I'll take some detailed pics of my two options and let you all vote on them

[Randy A]

You’re probably overthinking it, they were not all perfectly identical, yes, my original A4 had the notch width at exactly 5/8”. They also have a very slight rearward angle too.
As far as which stock to use, Keystone is notorious for very soft wood whereas the others usually had old growth dense/ hard blanks. You can usually tell just by picking the stock up, the softer ones are noticeably lighter weight. I had an NOS keystone C that was a gorgeous tiger stripe. Was so soft that 45 in/lb on the action screws (even alternating in steps) would suck the rear tang into the wood I ended up inletting harder wood, otherwise the stock would have been garbage.
The AB&B was offset on the butt, not cheek rest, butt was right of stock centerline. Bad news for a leftie though.