S&L7x57
Well-Known Member
In spring 2018 I acquired a left hand Rem 788 in 308 Win which ticked several boxes for me inc. RH ejection port and safety. The trigger was horrid but Timney do a drop in replacement so that was quickly sorted. Once the nasty mounts had been replaced with a Picatinny rail the whole project sort of ground to a halt while I tried to find a suitable stock. This challenge was overcome with an un-machined LH thumbhole Boyd, the inletting copied by a good friend with a pantograph.
As it arrived:
After the Boyd makeover:
So now I had a heavy range rifle but no real urge to punch paper. Hmm, what to do?
Fast forward about 18 months and a week spent chasing hinds in Cumbria convinced me that my much loved, lightweight Ruger No1 had to go to make way for a similarly lightweight and short bolt-action. To get the OAL needed for my car's security box, it needed a 18" barrel. The T3 seemed suitable in many ways but LH T3's are not common nor cheap and the idea of buying new and promptly hack-sawing several inches of the barrel didn't sound kind!
So I started thinking about savaging my under-used R788.
February saw the arrival of a LH T3 stock from a member of this forum and then C19 arrived!
I have been working weekdays on my C19th shotgun restoration business but allowed myself some time each weekend on this project.
It was not wholly straight forward and I really couldn't have done it without my old mill.
The whole action area of the stock had to be opened out by 3mm, fortunately the R788 action is a true cylinder so this could be done with several passes of a suitably sized half-round router.
The barrel channel didn't fit anywhere much so more passes of a smaller half-round router were needed.
Also the distance from the triggerplate recess to the action was too much so the t'plate recess was milled out by about 4mm at the rear end, shelving to nothing at the front.
The trigger plate was milled and hand filed out of 6mm alloy plate and the t'guard likewise from 20mm plate.
The bolt handle recess had to be extended back for about 10mm and the safety lever recess had to be cut in its entirety using a Dremel.
The original alloy recoil spacer was filled to fit, smoked in and Devcon bedded.
Stock was milled out to take 11mm alloy pillars at the (slightly) longer spacing of the two action screws and the action was bedded into the stock using Devcon.
Weight bare with mag but no optic, mod or sling is 7lb dead. That is 2oz lighter than my RNo1 and within 1/2" once the barrel has been shortened. Result!
So how many hours? God knows and I'm not telling! But it certainly kept me out of trouble for several weekends!
Next it is off for the barrel hatchet job!
As it arrived:
After the Boyd makeover:
So now I had a heavy range rifle but no real urge to punch paper. Hmm, what to do?
Fast forward about 18 months and a week spent chasing hinds in Cumbria convinced me that my much loved, lightweight Ruger No1 had to go to make way for a similarly lightweight and short bolt-action. To get the OAL needed for my car's security box, it needed a 18" barrel. The T3 seemed suitable in many ways but LH T3's are not common nor cheap and the idea of buying new and promptly hack-sawing several inches of the barrel didn't sound kind!
So I started thinking about savaging my under-used R788.
February saw the arrival of a LH T3 stock from a member of this forum and then C19 arrived!
I have been working weekdays on my C19th shotgun restoration business but allowed myself some time each weekend on this project.
It was not wholly straight forward and I really couldn't have done it without my old mill.
The whole action area of the stock had to be opened out by 3mm, fortunately the R788 action is a true cylinder so this could be done with several passes of a suitably sized half-round router.
The barrel channel didn't fit anywhere much so more passes of a smaller half-round router were needed.
Also the distance from the triggerplate recess to the action was too much so the t'plate recess was milled out by about 4mm at the rear end, shelving to nothing at the front.
The trigger plate was milled and hand filed out of 6mm alloy plate and the t'guard likewise from 20mm plate.
The bolt handle recess had to be extended back for about 10mm and the safety lever recess had to be cut in its entirety using a Dremel.
The original alloy recoil spacer was filled to fit, smoked in and Devcon bedded.
Stock was milled out to take 11mm alloy pillars at the (slightly) longer spacing of the two action screws and the action was bedded into the stock using Devcon.
Weight bare with mag but no optic, mod or sling is 7lb dead. That is 2oz lighter than my RNo1 and within 1/2" once the barrel has been shortened. Result!
So how many hours? God knows and I'm not telling! But it certainly kept me out of trouble for several weekends!
Next it is off for the barrel hatchet job!
