TC 17 Mach IV

[Jay T.]

I'd been talking to REM for the last 4-5 years about buying an old Bullberry Contender barrel in tight neck 17 Mach IV that he said he never shot anymore. Well, shortly before Christmas, it (along with dies, brass, & loaded rounds) appeared at my door. He told me to shoot it and see what I thought. It was winter, and I wanted a nice stock for it, so I figured I'd try my hand at stock making. I went and spent $34 for a chunk of 8/4 curly maple and $8 for a little board of birdseye maple. I would have preferred to have the whole thing in birdseye, but I couldn't find the right piece. So I lamenated the birdseye in the middle of the forend and then made a grip cap out of scrap. About a million hours worth of whittlin' and sandin' (yes, I've still got all ten fingers) and then 18 coats of tung oil, I ended up with what you see below. I think MontDoug is a pretty good judge of character, so I took his word and bought a Burris Timberline scope that looks just right on top of that 20" barrel. I'm pretty pleased overall, especially with the character showing in the wood. I learned a lot while making it, and will likely try again next Winter for a more refined stock set. I expect to shoot it next Tue or Wed and will let you know how it turns out. Regardless, I'm keeping it, so I guess I'll have to send REM a check.

Jay T.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/jaythomason/IMG_0080.jpg?t=1268965681

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/jaythomason/IMG_0071.jpg?t=1268965624

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/jaythomason/IMG_0070.jpg?t=1268967675

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/jaythomason/IMG_0073.jpg?t=1268967716

[ab_bentley]

Very nice, I like Birdseye Maple.

[GLWenzl]

Awesome Jay! Looks like you have been making stocks for years! Nice grip cap and fit up with it and the recoil pad. What you do on the laminate?? Just glue a strip in the middle??? Do you have stuff like jointers??? My son is after me to get one and now I am starting to see where I could have a NEED for it LOL also wondering if you bedded the frame into the butt stock. I have been thinking about this on another 2-piece stock that has been in the works for some time now…

Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing… watch out for that Rem guy, he seems nice enough but he’ll mentor ya in a minute LOL

[csterner]

I tried my hand at making a fore end for my contender this winter out of some walnut that fell on my property. I turned it into a wide, flat target-style fore end and while I made a few mistakes, it came out pretty well. It's all straight grained walnut with no figure, but I wanted it to use, not just to look at. I'm afraid if I had something that pretty, I wouldn't want to scratch it up!

My next project will be a matching pistol grip, then after I have things figured out, I may try to do another rifle fore end and complete buttstock.

Again, nice work!

Charlie

[ray h]

Jay, great job. Hope you bring it along this spring.

[Jay T.]

I did not bed the action, though I think I'm going to try and put a pillar in the bottom of the main bolt hole in the pistol grip. The wood is a little thin between the hole and the grip and has a hairline crack already. I'm afraid the tension of the bolt head will make it worse. Hopefully, a pillar will distribute that tension to more substantial wood inside the grip. I did bed the hanger bar on the barrel.

The trickiest part was the cut for the action in the grip. I used a tenoning jig (http://www.grizzly.com/products/Tenoning-Jig/H7583) on a table saw and guessed relatively close on the angle. Had I guessed a little better, the bolt hole would have run more down the center of the grip and avoided the problem noted above. A couple different forstner bits in the drill press did all the inletting work from there in the grip. The most useful tool was a spindle sander that I was able to do a lot of the shaping with. Between it, a belt sander and a random orbit sander, the rasp and file work were held to a minimum.

I used a planer for the pieces in the forend, but a jointer would have worked just as well. The barrel channel sucked! In fact there is only about 3" of half round channel, the rest I just dado cut on the table saw. Before I do another one, I'm going to buy a set of barrel channel scrapers. Sandpaper and sockets are way too much work. The cut at the rear of the forend for the action turned out the worst of the whole project. It's way too wide and sloppy. I got in a hurry, and screwed it all up. It should have been relatively easy to have done right. Live and learn.

Thanks for the kind words from all.

Jay T.

[17VLD]

Very nice work Jay.I like the cartridge too!
Its amazing what a guy can do when motivated huh?
I see your getting some of our cool weather this weekend too.
Hope you get some good days soon to shoot it.:)
Matt

[Jay T.]

66 degrees on Thursday - snow on the ground this morning. I'm done with winter!

Jay T.

[GLWenzl]

That was the reason I asked Jay. I had issues with getting the angle drilled just right and had to go completely through the butt stock with the hole (a PIA). I feel grateful that I got as close as I did after drill through over 14” of wood but got to thinking about bedding the action into the but… for inferior wood worker as myself sometimes epoxy is a man’s best friend! Not just everyone carries that long of a wood drill around here either!

After looking and reading the link you provided I am not 100% sure how the TJ works, am I correct in thinking it slides on the table saw? Geezzzzz between you and my son Taylor I will never stop looking at wood working tools….

Nothing like making something out of nothing Jay and you have a lot to be proud of there, someday a kid will say my great, great grandpa made that stock!

Not sure what his prices are now but when I bought my roughed-out stock from Fred at Bullberry you could not go wrong and they (the pistol grip, butt stock & forearms) didn’t require a lot of work if I remember right. Fact is the chunk of so called utility wood he sent me was worth what I paid for it just as a blank (don’t tell him that, I might need another LOL)

We had close to 4” when I first woke up with even some nice lil drifts… I’m ready for spring too but this isn’t too bad, won’t be long now and you’ll hear complaints about an AC bill or dry weather LOL

[sicero]

Nice job Jay. Everyone should do one from scratch at least once in thier lifetime. Kenny

[REM]

That really looks nice Jay. Great job.

I don't know how I missed this thread the first time around.
Gary said you posted a pic of a TC stock you made but I had not seen it.

Package going out today with the rest of the brass.

Later REM

[TOU]

Looks simply beautiful...you have more talent than I!