Warped forend/barrel channel on precarve kit

[Cossack]

I recently got a Chambers York kit secondhand but unstarted. This will be my first rifle build.

The forend has a very noticeable warp to it. See the photos.

How big of an issue is this and what's the best way to approach it?

While I'm guessing that when the wood is nice and thin and the barrel is in place, the wood will bend to the barrel, I'm also thinking this will make the build itself - final inletting of the barrel and tang more difficult.

[satwel]

Probably not an issue, though hard to tell from your pictures. I bought a Jaeger parts set this time last year. When it arrived the fore end had a warp (though not quite as much as yours). I carefully started scraping the inside of the barrel channel and opened up the breach and tang area to get the barrel seated. Once the barrel was a snug fit in the channel, I left it in place whenever I wasn't working on the rifle - during the night, while on vacation, while I was installing the buttplate, polishing brass, etc. After about two months, the warp had disappeared. When you start seating the barrel and you're constantly taking it in and out of the stock, you do have to be mindful of the warp, but the longer the barrel remains in the stock, the more the stock should retain its shape without the barrel.

Good luck with your first build.

[Stophel]

It's a non-problem.

[jerrywh]

Is the barrel swamped and what cal. is it?  If it is a very thin barrel like a b weight 50 or an a weight swamped this can effect the accuracy. Heat it with a neat gun and straighten it. I had the same thing once about 30 years ago.

[Cossack]

Is the barrel swamped and what cal. is it?  If it is a very thin barrel like a b weight 50 or an a weight swamped this can effect the accuracy. Heat it with a neat gun and straighten it. I had the same thing once about 30 years ago.

It's a swamped .45; I assume it's B weight since Chambers offers it in .40-.50 cal. I was thinking of exchanging the barrel for a .50 to reduce weight, but I don't think they'll take it since there's a little rust on the tang. Not an issue for the build, since it'll get filed off, but from what Barbie told me I think it negates an exchange. Maybe it'll be good to have the thicker walls for this anyway.

[WadePatton]

Heat lets wood move. Big or small-just a matter of getting the resins warm enough to move without scorching the wood.  If you've not bent wood before, I'd practice with a heat source and some similarly sized wood to get a feel.  Heat guns and steam are both uses regularly for bending wood, bare flames are used too but I wouldn't recommend it. 

[Cossack]

So, especially if I'm going to exchange for a .50 caliber barrel, I should probably try to heat and bend it, it seems.

I was already looking into borrowing a heat gun or getting a cheap one from Harbor Freight for the aquafortis process down the line.

I'd really prefer the .50 barrel if Barbie will let me exchange it (I'm going to email her again tomorrow) to shave a few ounces and for the extra downrange authority on Bambi. My ideal goal is to finish this over the summer and hunt with it this fall.

I'm not dead set against a .45, but I'd prefer the .50. However, if a .50 has the potential to suffer accuracy problems from the warped stock...well, I'd rather have a straight shooting .45 than a .50 with issues.

[Eric Krewson]

I did one of these the other day; I used a heat gun to heat the bent area to the point I could barely touch it, put the forearm in a padded vise with the vise jaws loose (no contact) and gave it a mild tweak in the direction it needed to go. It took 5 or 6 mild tweaks to straighten the stock but it was almost perfect.

I did have a helper running the heat gun on my last few tweaks to keep the wood hot.

You can also heat the barrel up to about 190, put it in the barrel channel after heating the stock, hold everything together with zip ties and continue to heat the forestock for a little bit. When things cool off you should have a very straight stock.

I have done it both ways, the first tweak was just the stock, my friend didn't have a barrel for the gun yet.

[Scota4570]

The wood is surprisingly ductile.  I had one with a sloppy barrel channel recently.  I soaked the forend with water, installed the barrel and wrapped the assembly with surgical tubing.  After drying for several days the barrel fit perfect.  It had stayed tight since.  A similar tactic may work well for this.  Do insert a ramrod to prevent crushing the forend.   

[snapper]

Just buy the .50 cal barrel and offer the .45 cal here for sale.

Even if you take a few dollars hit on it, you will be happier.

If you want the .50, get it and you wont have to second guess yourself if you dont.

Fleener

[Cossack]

Just buy the .50 cal barrel and offer the .45 cal here for sale.

Even if you take a few dollars hit on it, you will be happier.

If you want the .50, get it and you wont have to second guess yourself if you dont.

Fleener

Well I got the go-ahead to exchange it from Chambers, so that won't be necessary after all. So my only hesitation is to have a lightweight .50 caliber swamped barrel in that warped stock.

I've now had several people recommend getting the wood wet to straighten it out. Could that lead to problems later on since the wood will expand and shrink again due to the water - sort of like un-drying wood that has been air or kiln dried?

[smallpatch]

Water won't hurt it.  Make sure you let it dry well, WITH the barrel in place.

[Cossack]

Water won't hurt it.  Make sure you let it dry well, WITH the barrel in place.

OK. Thanks.
How do you protect the barrel from rust while its resting in the wet stock?

[TommyG]

Paste Wax.

[flinchrocket]

I wouldn't put water in the barrel channel. Just dampen the outside of the forestock a couple times and let it sit for a few minutes in between. After you get the barrel in put a few tie wraps on to hold everything in place and let it dry.

You might put a ramrod in the groove so you don't collapse the edge.

[smallpatch]

You're gonna draw file it anyway, so don't worry about a little surface rust.

[Stophel]

You should see how I rinse off a stock with a water hose after staining and neutralizing....

That little bit of warp, and getting the stock wet are not big deals at all.   

[WadePatton]

Water is often used, but is completely unnecessary for bending wood. Heat is the operative that makes the wood flexible.  Water is great for keeping you from scorching the wood with the heat source, and is also good for heat transfer.  This is why steam boxes are used for heating ribs of small boats. Mr. Engels bends really big ash in wagon building using steam (and hydraulic presses), but I've seen him bend small wood heated with an oxy-acetylene torch (completely dry).  I've bent dry wood myself.

Also water is almost always used for intentional grain-raising when the finishing process begins.

I'd suggest you heat and bend some wood other than your gunstock since you've got no experience at bending. Get some dowels, soak some, heat some, soak and heat some, bend 'em crooked and bend 'em back straight. See what works for you. Get a feel for it. Then fix your stock. 

Heat gun I have was cheap at the local big box HI store. It's a great tool--much less hazardous than using a torch.

[Jeff Durnell]

I wouldn't use water. It's just not needed. I've bent wood hundreds of times with a heat gun, no water, no oil, no problems.

I didn't see it mentioned yet, but if you heat wood, bend it and hold it in place until completely cool, it can spring back a little when released, so overcorrecting a small amount, 3-5% or so, can be helpful.

[Eric Krewson]

Like Jeff I go past where I want to be when I heat straighten, I take my whatever out of the vise and sight down it while it is still hot, if it looks OK I let it cool in place, no clamps. I get spring back during the bend but not during the cooling.

[Cossack]

Ok. I have my new barrel on the way. When it gets here - but after I practice on some other pieces of wood - I'll probably use a heat gun and bend it with or without water. Then I will store it with the barrel strapped in.

Here's a question:To store the barrel in it seated all the way down I'll either have to inlet the tang or remove the tang.

In Ron Ehlert's video, he removes the tang to inlet the corners of the breech-end of the barrel anyway, so I figured that what I should do. However, I've also read some comments that a fumbling new guy like myself has no business removing breech plugs. Are there two schools of thought on this? It seems like the next steps in my process (storing the barrel in the stock and inletting the breech end of the barrel itself) are beast done by removing the breech plug, which I would then re-install when it's time to inlet the breech plug itself to ensure that it's in-line with the barrel.

Am I thinking correctly here?
If so, do I need to invest in a specialized wrench for the breech?

[smylee grouch]

Hi Cossack: I can send you pics of my breech plug wrench that is adjustable and you can make yourself in about 15-20 min. I would remove the plug but don,t clamp barrel in vice over the breech threads or you can crush them onto the plug.

[Karl Kunkel]

Order a breach plug wrench from Rice:

http://www.ricebarrels.com/other%20products.html

[Not English]

A crescent wrench works just fine for pulling the breach plug. Just make sure that you come up from the bottom of the tang to avoid marring the top face of the tang. You will need to pull the breach plug and seat the barrel at the back of the barrel inlet. Once you have that done you can start thinking about straightening out the barrel channel. It's not real important which order you do this. Heat is important, more so than steam or moisture. Leave the forestock/barrel assembly clamped up until cool, even give it another day. Everything should be OK. Remember that absolutely everything is hung off of the barrel rather than the stock so if the stock will fit the barrel everything's OK.

[Cossack]

I just got my .50 caliber barrel from Chambers. Only now do I realize that this is Rice's Southern Classic "A" Weight .50 Caliber. I understand that it's a little thicker than a normal "A" weight, but we're not looking at a very thick wall. I'll be careful to get the stock as straight as I can to it's not pulling on the barrel.

I love how light it is - under 4 lbs with the breech plug included. It'll make a nice carrying hunting rifle. But I think I'm going to have to do a good job straightening the stock.