Cracked Stock

[psteinmayer]

I figured that the extra lateral protection would be a good idea... but I agree it's unnecessary.

I went to a wood working store today and picked up some structural epoxy today with a 30-45 minute set time, and 36 hour cure. Also, on the advice of the people there, I will use denatured alcohol to clean out the crack. It evaporates very quickly, and will clean the wood. I was told that the acetone contains a small amount of oil, which could prevent it from cleaning all of the oil from the wood. Attached are a few pictures with the crack opened as wide as I can without damaging it further. As you can see, it's not very wide.

Crack 04 (800x648).jpg
Crack 05 (800x604).jpg
Crack 06 (800x614).jpg

[psteinmayer]

Ok, the repairs continue...

I drilled a 0.1 dia hole on each side from the magazine well back along the line of the crack. Each hole extends approximately 3/4 inch, but because of the angle, is not perfectly parallel to the side, but rather at a slight angle.

I injected epoxy into the holes until it oozed out of the majority of the cracked area... almost the entire length of the crack. I also used my popsicle stick to try to force epoxy into the rearward areas of the crack where there was less oozing. I scraped the excess epoxy off the sides and in the magazine well and trigger slot areas.

I then secured the crack with several tight rubber bands, and then propped the stock upright and placed a 4 pound divers weight over the cracked area for added pressure. I'll now let that cure for a few days.

Pictures are attached, including one of the epoxy and injector I used.
Crack 07.jpg
Crack 08.jpg
Crack 09.jpg
Crack 10.jpg
Epoxy 01.jpg

[M2Phil]

.Looks great! Straightforward repair, well thought out, using quality materials. Recipe for success.

[Jim in Salt Lake]

+1, looks good. Once you shoot it, let us know how you did!

[SgtSki]

Nice job. Were did you get the apoxy?

[psteinmayer]

I got the epoxy and injector at a woodworking store in Royal Oak, MI. It wasn't cheap either... almost $30 for the kit... but well worth it! I'll have it now in case I need to make future repairs to this, or any other stock.

Incidentally, the stock is good and solid now, and the Krag will be assembled this weekend (I have other commitments during this week). I'll try to hit the range on Saturday and see if I can get sighted back in. More pictures to follow...

[madsenshooter]

Take your screwdriver with you. Shoot some then, check the tightness of the screws. The receiver will settle in a bit, least mine always does after taking the rifle apart.

[DRAGONFLYDF]

it is a little late in this case, but what I found that works great for clamping stock is electrical tape wound around the stock as tight as you can, but the trick is to wind it so the sticky side is OUT.

[psteinmayer]

The Krag went back together yesterday evening. I've loaded up some moderate 150 gr RN loads, and tomorrow I'll hit the range and get her sighted back in.

I found my front sight blade was a little loose also, so I used a C-clamp and some parallel blocks to slightly close the blade post before reinstalling the blade, which worked like a beauty - now my blade is nice and solid! This could have added to my accuracy issues.

I'll post my results tomorrow after my range trip.

[psteinmayer]

Back from the range. I fired some 65 rounds successfully and the stock is nice and solid!

I fired 15 nice mild rounds with 150 gr RNSP bullets, and 50 rounds of 165 gr SP Spitzer bullets that I wanted to use up. Now, here is the interesting thing. I have been trying to work up these Hornady 150 gr RN bullets (45.1 gr IMR4350/CCI 250promer) in an attempt to find a milder round for CMP competitions, but I've had no luck at all with accuracy. With my elevation set for 200 yards, I was still hitting low. The Hornady 165 gr SP Spitzers were loaded up more than 4 years ago (with 38.5 gr IMR4064p/CCI 200), and I wanted to just use them up because the brass was relatively new and I need the brass. I found, however, that these were peppering the center of the target. Bottom line is, I will order some more of these bullets and load up another 50 rounds. I'll shoot them in the match next month, and if it goes like I hope, I may just continue shooting them from here on out! Oh, and since the bullets have a cannelure and I apply a nice mild factory crimp, I have no issues with feeding... they seem to feed like butter!

Here are a few pictures of the Krag stock, now repaired. Enjoy!

Crack 11.jpg
Crack 12.jpg
Crack 14.jpg

[Mark Daiute]

Paul, thanks so much for posting all this. That's my kinda rifle. It has some of you in it now.

M

[Dan Shapiro]

Sounds like a winner!

[psteinmayer]

Ok, I went ahead and shot the Krag in a CMP match yesterday. I did ok... but mostly, that was me and not the Krag. I use a new load of Hornady 165 grain BTSP spitzers over 36.0 grains of IMR4064 and a CCI 200 primer. The results were encouraging, although I haven't totally abandoned my ole 220 gr loads yet. 80-1X prone, 83-1X rapid (with a saved round), and 71-0X off hand. The stock was nice and solid!

Here's a couple pictures of me shooting prone and off hand.

100_0221 (800x600).jpg
100_0233 (800x600).jpg

[S.B.]

Fret not, it can be fixed. If it is a recent development oil may not have infiltrated the whole depth and length of the crack. Pry it open as far as you dare and blow it out with compressed air. Use a syringe and inject acetone and blow it out again. Do whatever you need to do to keep the acetone off of the surrounding finish- mask right up to the crack and use plastic wrap on the rest of the wood to absolutely keep the acetone off. After the acetone evaporates out (a few minutes) use the same syringe to inject clear un-thickened epoxy down in as far as you can get it. Another trick is to warm the wood first as that promotes the epoxy to wick into the depths. Un-pry the wood (let it spring shut), carefully wipe away any squeeze out, clamp the crack tightly shut with whatever means is at your disposal. (Heavy duty rubber bands such as one can fashion from bicycle inner tubes work great.) Clean away the squeeze out that clamping will induce. Let cure overnight. Remove clamp. If any squeeze out of hardened epoxy has manifested itself (and it probably will), carefully knock it back with a razor sharp tool of your choosing, and lightly, lightly dodge it with 320-600x paper (re-masking the repair area at this point is a good idea). Remove masking tape, slather it up with linseed oil, and I'll bet your friends will never know it's there. It'll stay shut longer than you will be around to care about it.

Please define or give a brand of un-thickened epoxy?I have a Thompson Center Hawkins that needs this treatment.
Steve

[S.B.]

Good info here. Will this epoxy flow down into a very thin crack and can I inject it with an used insulin syringe?
Steve