Accurising keyed stocks

[Leatherman]

Good idea Mike. Loading up a bunch of shells right now. Might even try some play dough putty as there has been a lot of wood removed ( previous owner) under the barrel where it attaches to the action.

[Diz]

Leatherman, Mike beat me to it and makes a good suggestion. But putting a soft putty in there may defeat the purpose of having something solid under the barrel by moving around. I might be inclined to fill the openings with pieces of wood cut to fit if possible to give as solid a base to work from. Or fill with a good wood filler and shaped to the barrel channel. Will you be at the Southern? Thanks, Diz

[Leatherman]

Yes I will be there . Please stop by

[Leatherman]

Following up on my experimenting I tried just bedding the keyed lug and it had no effect either way. So next I filled the area at the front of the action where someone had removed a lot of the wood under the barrel with min wax wood filler . Note , do not use this stuff on blued steel! It took the blueing off my barrel and looks like it ate into the steel. Now I will need to reblue that area. It didn't stick very well to the stock either so I cleaned off the loose stuff and bedded the whole forearm from the lug to the action and the lower area of the action at the bottom of the action with J B Weld. I knew I needed to relieve the rear of the keyed lug to allow the forearm to slide forward or it would be impossible to remove the forearm so i removed the bedding 3/4" behind it. This locked the forearm tight but I still had the front of the forearm in contact with the barrel. I took a round scraper with me to the range . Right off the groups were even worse than before so I relieved the wood from touching the barrel at the front of the lug to the end and that was the trick. The next group of 5 was under an inch. So I think I have it solved.

[Diz]

Leatherman, an interesting solution to your problem. Looks like you have it now. Is it shooting to the sights? Thanks, Diz

[Leatherman]

I haven't put a rear sight on the 1/4 rib yet. I have a ramp front sight base but no sight blade yet either. I will get that done after my hunt in July. Right now it is wearing a Leupold 4x14 CDS in Talley rings.

[Diz]

Leatherman, went back and reread your initial post where you mention the scope. I would like to see pictures when it is finished. Good luck with your hunt. Diz