Shotgun stock from scratch

[SHADOWFOX]

Been wanting to a tempt to build a custom stock for a used Browning 12GA shotgun my uncle gave to me. Anybody ever build a firearm stock from scratch? Would really appreciate if anybody could post some of their finished stock or some pics of the process.

Thanks,

[Hellrazor]

I haven't. There is a decent amount of work to make one. Check out youtube, there are a bunch of stock making videos on there.

[JimD]

I've done it but not terribly successfully. I've made stocks but they didn't always turn out well. My twenty gauge side by side has a forestock I made of a piece of firewood. It has crotch figure and looks nice but isn't real well inletted. It is functional and the grain is nice.

My bolt action 22, a left hand Savage, has a stock of slightly figured maple with a walnut piece in the center. That is nicer and fits me well but isn't super nice.

The problems I have are with the inletting and with working on curved areas. In other words, gunstocks are not flat and square. Power tools aren't always what you want to use, at least I don't.

You can buy a gun blank for may guns which has already been rough shaped and inletted. They didn't have one for my guns or I would have probably tried one. You can still customize the shape some and get to sand and finish the stock.

[Black wallnut]

I've done it. I made a butt stock for my Remington Sportsman 12 shotgun which is a budget 870 model. I did not have a large enough piece of walnut so made a straight stock without pistol grip. There is likely no action easier to inlet for than a Rem 870 and still it was a pita. Once it was done I choose to checker it, my first checkering job. I since have become a very good checkerer although I've not checkered in years. Are you thinking of starting with a stock blank? Have you considered buying a semi-inletted blank?

The process is blacken the action, press into the stock, scrape the transfer marks off the stock and repeat. you are done when you get 100% transfer. Magic marker works great btw for marking the action as a transfer fluid. When you are done you can clean the action with alcohol to remove any errant marker.

FWIW stock making is quite an art and there is good reason why the best stockmakers charge enormous amounts of money. Add on the cost of a top shelf checkering job..... well I can recommend a lady in Oregon that is awesome and reasonable at the same time; I'm not sure my eyesight is good enough anymore and I charge more than her. You might give checkering a try though as it is not exactly had, just tedious.

[Knottscott]

I've considered doing the same for my Maverick 88 (Mossberg 500 clone), so I'll be watching this thread with interest. It's already sounding like it might be worth more effort than I'm willing to put into it, but we shall see!

[Daryl]

You can check with Numrich http://www.gunpartscorp.com/ to see if they have a stock for your gun or Boyds, you will have to do a little work on it.
For what its worth, I made a flintlock stock from scratch. I carefully set up and made jigs and used my router as much as possible. Still there was plenty of "eyeball" work on curved areas and making it look half way decent. When I get a chance I will dig it out of the safe and take a picture for you.