super_hunt54

Honestly Mercy I believe the Aluminum pillars with a healthy epox bedding would be sufficient. You never said whether you were going Lam or Natural with the stock. If going with a Nat I would go with the extra lug with the epox and alum pillar. If Lam just the epox and alum pillar. Plus your other plans too for the variability purposes of switching barrels and such. When you get the beast done yell and if I'm mobile by then I'll swing out and bring the Krieghoff double out as well as the new .338 you helped me figure out and we can play a bit. I'll load up some express specials for the Krieghoff just for you May load up some yote smackers for the 7mm08 and bring her out to and go smack a few yotes

Nomercy448

For the short term, my wife's rifle is getting bedded into a "coyote" laminate Prairie Hunter from Boyd's. She decided she wanted me to screw the factory barrel back on so she can use it for deer this winter.

We have a couple of cheap american walnut blanks from Richard's Microfit (got them $68 a piece, shipped) to serve as fitting stocks to send out to Macon to get custom Turkish walnut stocks duplicated. Still waiting for Macon to call me to let me know they've found two suitable blanks that are well matched for our rifles - kinda hoping that call doesn't come too soon, since that signals a hefty bill...

I wouldn't mind getting a purple Prairie Hunter for mine, or black/grey, possibly to have it as a "hunting stock" for beating around the deer woods, but my wife says that if we're spending money for "fancy stocks" then by God, we're going to get our money's worth out of them. She insists that if we're afraid to hunt with them, we shouldn't be bolting them to our rifles.

super_hunt54

I hold the same view as her. I have a few rifles that people get flat out flustered when they see me pull them out of the case for a hunt. I usually get a "you taking THAT thing out to hunt?" Of course I do tend to "baby" the purdy ones a little more.

So, your going with matched grain walnut blanks (and it is hard to beat that Turkish for some pretty wood) then I would definitely go with adding a lug. It's good hard wood yet still has some flex to absorb punishing recoil (many of your finer express doubles have it) but with the serious expense of that particular blank and having it worked I personally would do everything I could think of to make sure it lasts a LONG LONG time. And it's not like it's a hard thing to do nor very expensive as you have the abilities to do it yourself so why not just take that extra precaution and worry yourself less?

jeepkid

I would think the recoil would be easier on a stock compared to a 338 Win Mag shooting a 250 gr bullet? I've never shot a .458 but I would imagine it's more of a big push then a sharp job and the latter I would think is a stock killer??? I could be completely off base and talking out of my butt too...lol

super_hunt54

According to the load of course Jeepkid but a .458wm has more crack that you would think. You would imagine a .500ne to be more of a "push" as well but them buggers have the crack AND the shove. A .458wm has pretty much the same results as well. Again, all according to the load setup as well as the stock design (felt recoil) and weight of the overall rifle. I would imagine Mercy will be loading his up for optimum results from that particular cartridge.

Big Uncle

You could bed the front lug with enough clearance that the barrel itself would have no contact with the bedding. Tape the barrel well and let only the lug sink into the bedding compound. If your other barrel is a different shape you might have enough clearance anyhow to avoid a pressure point.

If you use a single lug it will probably be fine with good bedding but to take the chance of ruining a trip (along with the stock) due to a split would be too much risk for me.

To address the original question - I have split stocks more than once with 50 rounds or less. The wood will continue to shrink a little with age and recoil compression so it could happen much later but I have seen most problems occur at the beginning.

Big Uncle

Have you figured out what you are going to do with the new stock yet?

Nomercy448

I'm gonna go for it without an additional lug in the test stock.

The 7mm, 300, 338, and 416Rug exists in multiple models without an additional lug, so I'm deferring to that experience for those barrels, so the only odd man out was going to be the 458WM. With a hefty bed of Devcon Steel behind the recoil lug, dual cross bolts, and a relieved tang, I'm going to give it a shot for about 100-200rnds of 458wm with the pattern stock - Circ Walnut, weaker than the Turk Walnut I'll have for the permanent stock.

If it does break, I'll add a dovetailed lug to the barrel, and as you mentioned Uncle, I'll shape/step the lug and relieve the "anchor" within the stock such that it can't touch the other barrels. If it doesn't, then I'll take the 100-200rnds as confirmation that it'll survive.

Of course, the whole thing's kinda on hold right now, spending my limited free time in the deer stand instead of the workshop!

Big Uncle

That sounds like a reasonable approach. If the stock (and you) are still in good shape after that many rounds you should have a winner. Please post a picture of your rifle when you get it nailed together.

Nomercy448

Seemed reasonable to me too, given the information I have and the limited logical reasoning capacity I possess - but that doesn't mean it's the "right answer"!!

Hopefully it doesn't land me in hot water with a very expensive stock playing the role of useless paperweight, ruining a very expensive hunting trip. Stuff happens, and usually at the least opportune times, so I could find myself in a position where I built the rifle out of titanium tempered with dragon tears, but then drop it off of the side and the safari jeep drives over the top of it and bends the barrel... Just gotta mitigate as much risk as I can.

It'll probably be spring before I start tearing into these again - I'm sending them both out together, and my wife wants to use her 7mm for deer and coyotes this winter, which is nice, because that gives me time to save up for the scopes and practice my checkering.