May 8th - Sling Studs and Checkering

May 8^th

Sling Studs and Checkering

The title above does not reflect a bar in Laguna Beach or West Hollywood. 

We’ve gotten to the point now in this Remington project where we start making the rifle look like a high grade rifle.  Put another way…this is the time we get to start decorating it!

First thing we need to do is put some functional furniture on it.  Since this is hunting rifle (as opposed to a bench rest rifle) the user is going to need to lug it around the woods.  Having to hold the rifle the entire time would be kind of a pain,…so we want to put a sling on it. 

Besides throwing the rifle over your shoulder, slings also can be used to tighten the rifle to your arm helping to make you more steady if God forbid you are forced to make an off hand shot.  (A shot where you are standing, and have no available rest to steady the rifle on).

So…first thing we need to do is drill some holes into the wood.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  We need to put the studs in the exact center of the fore end…easy enough…AND in the exact center of the butt stock…a real pain in the ass.  There are specialized tools that you can use to do this, but I’m too cheap to buy those.  For this operation I’ll be measuring, measuring again…using a punch to start the hole, and then a 3/32 bit to pilot the hole.  Once the holes are in place attaching the studs is easy.

 This is the sling stud stet into the fore end.

Now it is on to the best part. 

Checkering is the “grip” pattern carved into the wrist and the fore end.  It serves two purposes…it helps to keep the rifle from slipping in your hands, and it looks really really cool.  There are people who just do this for a living and are ridiculously fast at checkering a rifle…I don’t do this for a living and I’m unbelievably slow.  But…it is fun, and actually kinda like a form of meditation.  I’ll show you how I do it.

First I need to mark out the pattern on the wrist.  The hard part is duplicating the exact pattern on the opposite side.  Since the wood is unique and not an exact surface area from side to side I really can’t use a template.  I need to use measurements, then a degree of eyeballing it to make sure it looks 

equivalent on each side. 

 Ok...it's drawn out!  Those two diagonal lines that intersect with each other will set the pattern for the "diamonds".

Ok…that’s done…now I need to scribe in a line to allow my 60 degree cutter a pre set grove to follow so I don’t dance around the stock as I cut. 

Now I need to form the guide lines.  These are the two master lines that will ultimately set the shape and direction of the “diamonds” that will form the grip.  I like to do all of this “master” cutting on both sides so I can concentrate later on simply laying out the diamond pattern.

 The ink has been removed and the lines have been cut into the wood with a 60 degree cutter to 2/3 final depth.

 

Cool…now that these are all etched in at about 2/3 of their final depth I can start etching in all of the parallel lines that will form the diamond pattern.  First I will add a couple of ink guide lines that will assist me in making sure that everything stays parallel.  

 See the ink lines?  They will "assist" me in keeping all of my lines parallel as I start to cut them.

Now to start cutting the diamonds!  That will have to wait till next time though….I’m tired now, and want to go to bed!