When building a medium to large caliber rifle it's important to
reinforce the stock to prevent splitting. This is a pretty straightforward process,
let's take a look. All wood stocks can be made stronger by reinforcing the areas
behind the recoil lug and in front of the trigger. You'll see this
reinforcement on many World War One and Two military rifles such as this Mauser
98 and Remington has traditionally installed a small threaded rod in front
of the trigger cut on their stocks. When the energy gets up to 375 H&H levels of
4,000-foot pounds or more. It's generally a requirement to reinforce these areas
to prevent them from splitting under recoil, such as on this unreinforced Pre
64 Winchester Model 70. There are two methods of reinforcing the stock. The
first is what we call cross bolts. So named because this method employs one or
two bolts secured crosswise in the stock like on this timber 375 H&H. We call these exposed
cross bolts because you can see the head of each bolt. Some stock makers prefer
covered cross bolts so they cover the heads with wooden plugs. While still
others use a brass escutcheon with an ebony plug inside, providing a little
extra class. One note is that if you are applying a hard synthetic finish as a
top coat to protect the wood, you'll get some slight cracking around brass
escutcheon over time as the brass doesn't expand and contract with changes
in humidity as the wood does. Notice this 460 Weatherby stock has no exposed cross
bolts but rather pockets machine behind the recall lug and in front of the
trigger. This is the second method of reinforcing the stock. In the front
pocket a piece of all thread is epoxied it into place
along with a horseshoe-shaped steel strap epoxied in front of the trigger.
Weatherby has been using this method quite successfully for many years. We're
going to install these cross bolts made here in the shop, they consist of a 10x32
screw and two brass cups. One slips over the screw and is captured by the screw
head and the other is threaded. Both ends are covered with ebony plugs. We begin by
marking the location of the front
and rear holes then measure the distance from the top rails to the top of the
wood we plan to reinforce and mark that on the stock. These holes will need to be
just under the wood inside the stock.
With the stock leveled in a mill vice, I can drill the through-holes. Each hole is
counter board for the escutcheon. The counterbore should only
be about 350 thousandths deep.
A plug cutter and chisel are used to make the ebony plugs. Now I can simply
mix up some epoxy and black dye, place a dollop in the stock, and drop in the
threaded escutcheon. A bit of masking tape holds it in place while I flip the
stock and install the other. After adding epoxy to the screw I push it in
through the escutcheon and turn it in place. All that's left is to glue in the
ebony plugs and clamp them in place. Once everything set up I secure the stock
using a horse and file off the excess with a babbit file to prevent brass
shavings from embedding in the grain.
These cross bolts will never come loose
and will help the stock hold up under heavy recoil.