TargetTalk

Now that Neal Johnson is closed, what reliable gunsmith can repair a wood Anschutz 2002 CA stock? It has the classic crack in the pistol grip area. Has not cracked through, but the crack is visible.

tnx

Aside from asking our host, 10-Ring most likely would. But that would mean shipping cross-country to Florida/Georgia. Maybe someone has west coast ideas?

I would guess over the course of my career I have fixed at least 200 stocks with this problem, mostly at World Cups and the like where shooters arrive with airline damage.

But my gosh, any competent gunsmith should be able to do this in your local neighborhood

The rifle was bought used and I think it indeed is airline damage. But becuase it was not separated, the split was not obvious for quite a while. Which is somewhat odd since I grab the pistol grip, one would think I would have felt it sooner.

The local gunsmiths are not competition gunsmiths, so I'm hesitant about giving them an Anschutz stock to repair. I'll go talk to them and see how I feel. If not, I may be shipping it to you Scott.

WE TOOK OUR RIFLE TO A DRAG FAB SHOP AND HAD IT WELDED

AR JAYNES wrote:WE TOOK OUR RIFLE TO A DRAG FAB SHOP AND HAD IT WELDED

I suspect welding a wooden stock will prove a little tricky.

Rob.

Just a thought. You may want to see if someone who does furniture restoration might be able to do the job.

For Pete's sake, pull out the barreled action and lag screw, spring open the crack and run in some AcraGlas liquid or other liquid epoxy. Clamp and let cure. Maybe add a couple of Brownells threaded bronze rods. Clean up the excess, spot refinish and get back to shooting.

I've done several for TCU and other area schools, it's not rocket science.

I have see an Anschutz sevice technicain do similar at a comp many years ago.

He snapped the stock over his knee so it was in two bits, used some sort of epoxy type glue and put a long screw down through the action recess into the pistol grip. Said come back tomorow and was good as gold.

Unfortunately the person who owned the stock wasn't quite as good, nearly fainted at the sight of his stock being snapped.

Scott Pilkington is too modest. His method is the only one I would use. Several years ago he posted his method here I think and it is ingenious. I guess he probably did not invent it but it truly is great I have fixed several rifles using this method and it works very well. The key is to get the epoxy to coat the two crack surfaces completely. There are two ways to do this. One is to break the stock in two and wipe epoxy onto the surface and clamp it back together. The other (what I learned from Scott's post) is to drill a hole, say 1/4" down through the pistol grip and through the crack. Then fill the hole up with epoxy (i used a syringe to do so) and drive a 1/4" dowel into the crack. The dowel acts as a piston and forces the epoxy into the crack from the inside out. Then clamp the stock to hold the crack tight. I always left the dowel in but I don't think it really adds much strength. Clean up excess epoxy with laquer thinner after it is clamped up. The hole can almost aways be drilled from inside the stock so it does not show.

This method fixes the stock good as new. In fact any decent woodworker will tell you the a well mated side grain glue joint between two clean pieces of wood is as strong as the wood itself. You can do it yourself or send it to Pilkington's. Forget pinning, Forget trying to get epoxy into the crack from the outside, Forget the furniture fixer.

AR JAYNES wrote:WE TOOK OUR RIFLE TO A DRAG FAB SHOP AND HAD IT WELDED

LOL......that is why you make sure to take it to a competition rifle gunsmith with a good reputation. Some of these replies from people also makes me wonder what some of the gunsmiths are also thinking.....LOL