Where can I find tang shims?

[Punch the Clown]

I have 2 stocks where the wood is a bit crushed at the rear tang. I understand these shims were made by Remington for their rebuild procedure. Where can I find them? Thanks.

http://i369.photobucket.com/albums/oo140/Stumedic/TangShim02_zps597d95e8.jpg (http://s369.photobucket.com/user/Stumedic/media/TangShim02_zps597d95e8.jpg.html)

http://i369.photobucket.com/albums/oo140/Stumedic/TangShim01_zpsafce99c9.jpg (http://s369.photobucket.com/user/Stumedic/media/TangShim01_zpsafce99c9.jpg.html)

[purple]

You can make them up w/o too much difficulty. Get a 6-32x 1/4 pronged tee nut from a hardware outlet and drill out the center post so that it will fit over the stock bushing. You then need to flatten one side of the nut disc so that it is a "D" profile to match the shape of the rear tang. The disc of the nut is .025 thick. I made one up a couple of weeks ago to correct the bedding of an 03A3 that I had rebarreled and installed in an original 03A3 stock. It got me the amount of forend pressure that I wanted. You can also do this by drilling out and re-profiling an ordinary metal washer of a suitable thickness.

[Punch the Clown]

You can make them up w/o too much difficulty. Get a 6-32x 1/4 pronged tee nut from a hardware outlet and drill out the center post so that it will fit over the stock bushing. You then need to flatten one side of the nut disc so that it is a "D" profile to match the shape of the rear tang. The disc of the nut is .025 thick. I made one up a couple of weeks ago to correct the bedding of an 03A3 that I had rebarreled and installed in an original 03A3 stock. It got me the amount of forend pressure that I wanted. You can also do this by drilling out and re-profiling an ordinary metal washer of a suitable thickness.

Thanks Purple. I'll give that a shot. Still would love to get my hands on some originals though.

[dave]

Are you sure the stocks have bushings at the rear tang screw? I only have three 03's and they (and every one I have had and seen) had a large gap behind the tang, for the rifle to be crushing wood at that point would take allot of movement!!

[purple]

All M1903 stocks originally had metal bushings,or sleeves, installed in the rear guard screw hole in order to minimize wood compression when the guard screw is tightened. In spite of this you will see stocks where wood compression has occurred to the extent that the barrel bedding at the forend tip is affected. A variety of military stocks, incl Mausers and M1917/P14 Enfields, incorporate rear guards screw bushings for the same reason. There should be some clearance between the rear face of upper tang and the corresponding cutout in the stock. If there is wood to metal contact here the tang may act as a recoil lug which will cause the stock to crack at this point. This is always something to check on a Mauser type rifle, incl M1903s.

[Tom]

All M1903 stocks originally had metal bushings,or sleeves, installed in the rear guard screw hole in order to minimize wood compression when the guard screw is tightened. In spite of this you will see stocks where wood compression has occurred to the extent that the barrel bedding at the forend tip is affected. A variety of military stocks, incl Mausers and M1917/P14 Enfields, incorporate rear guards screw bushings for the same reason. There should be some clearance between the rear face of upper tang and the corresponding cutout in the stock. If there is wood to metal contact here the tang may act as a recoil lug which will cause the stock to crack at this point. This is always something to check on a Mauser type rifle, incl M1903s.

Exactly right, I just cracked a stock, which had hundreds of 150 gr shot through it, with no problem. But after one box of 180 gr the tang (which was touching the wood, with no air gap) cracked the stock a distance of 3". There must always be some gap, and this one didn't have it didn't have it . We covered this subject years ago, but I forgot. I have dremelled a little circular gap and restained. But the stock is trash now.

I see from your picture that you have the lug recoiling (back) into the wood. It is not the job of the wood to stop the recoil The crack has already started but you can still save-it right now. Don't spread the crack to drop epoxy in it. It will just spread more. Remove the barrel and Drive a very fine nailfrom inside-out,Take Elmers carpenters glue and "shove-it into the crack, overnight it willsinkinto the wood. This peocess needs repeated 3 timesw.It would be nice to have sprayed the crack eirlier with electrical parts cleaner in spray can, then let it sit awhile.overnite.