Do I have a problem with my new McMillan stock?

[YotaEer]

I just dropped my CTR with PVA light Palma barrel into a McMillan game hunter and it appears that the stock is not free floated the entire way. I cannot slip a piece of paper the entire way down.

are the stocks designed like this or do I have an issue?

I’ve only had it in a KRG bravo which has a massive amount of room...

 

[Holliday]

Is that “Hunter” stock rated to accept a “light palma”?

 

[Jakeweb09]

Definitely looks like it’s not cut for your barrel contour

 

[ShtrRdy]

The McMillan stock was inlet to accommodate a certain contour of barrel. The barreled action you have is not the same. You will have to open up the channel .

 

[diggler1833]

Typically one either custom orders their stock directly from McMillan, or gets one from a distributor that has basic features such as a a barrel channel for a sporter or Remington sendero barrel contour.

If you slap a heavier/different contour into a channel that wasnt cut for it, you are likely to run into fitment and free float issues...Fortunately, wooden dowels and sandpaper can open up the channel perfectly with just a little elbow grease and careful measurement.

 

[YotaEer]

It was cut for the CTR barrel contour. So figured it would fit with the light Palma of my action.

back to the drawing board

 

[b6graham]

just sand it out...

also...you assumed a straight contour would fit a palma double contour barrel so there's your issue

 

[LongRangeJunky]

Wood dowel/ pipe wrapped in sand paper taken back and forth carefully has correctly floated several McMillan stocks for me! Looked like it came that way each time

 

[YotaEer]

I just did some minor sanding with 150 grit and elbow grease.

I can now slip a piece of paper the whole way back to the lug. Thanks guys!

 

[spife7980]

Double the paper up and then do it again. I like to have it slide freely down there still when I pinch the end of the stock to the barrel.

 

[LongRangeJunky]

I just did some minor sanding with 150 grit and elbow grease.

I can now slip a piece of paper the whole way back to the lug. Thanks guys!

A papers width is typically not enough. Loading a bipod alone can cause contact still. Ask the pros, but I always have a very healthy gap all the way around, from recoil lug to end of stock

 

[YotaEer]

Double the paper up and then do it again. I like to have it slide freely down there still when I pinch the end of the stock to the barrel.

I doubled up the paper and it still slides fine down until this point...

do I need to sand this some as well back to the actual lug area?

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

Edit:

Only sand the brown part in front of the recoil lug.

You don't want to mess with the bedding, which is where your actions sits.

 

[YotaEer]

Edit:

Only sand the brown part in front of the recoil lug.

You don't want to mess with the bedding, which is where your actions sits.

makes sense. There’s only slight contact on the sides with the brown part touching but I will sand it down until I can fit the same amount of paper back to the action.

thank you!

 

[spife7980]

Some people bed that first bit of barrel, some don’t.
I would clear out all of it in front of the brown so it’s clear. Whether you chose to sand the brown down now or once it get rebarreled is up to you.

 

[YotaEer]

Some people bed that first bit of barrel, some don’t.
I would clear out all of it in front of the brown so it’s clear. Whether you chose to sand the brown down now or once it get rebarreled is up to you.

I will sand it back to the "shelf" area in front of the lug for now. That should be more than enough room with this light palma.

 

[srt-4_uk]

A papers width is typically not enough. Loading a bipod alone can cause contact still. Ask the pros, but I always have a very healthy gap all the way around, from recoil lug to end of stock

Wouldn't loading a bipod push the forearm down and away from the barrel?

 

[supercorndogs]

Its also pertinent to mention, even if you order a stock with your contour cut for it, you may have to do some sanding to make it fit. Or you will have to measure how the long the first taper, at the chamber end of your barrel is. I.E The XYZ brand Remington Varmint blank fitted by your gunsmith, is going to be a little different than a factory remington varmint.

 

[Terry Cross]

You can order your stock with the exact contour and still get it wrong.
For instance Palma contours have a straight cylinder 1.250" dia for X inches before starting the first taper.

Some barrel makers have different lengths for this straight cylinder......
Some smiths cut different lengths off of the breech end before machining and chambering......

Both of these variables can result in a large range of finished straight cylinder lengths on your barreled action. Therefore most stock makers will insist that you specify what this dimension will be when ordering your stock.

Example of this being a problem is when you take a stock with a properly cut light, medium or heavy Palma contour that starts the first taper @ 2" from the receiver face and try to stick a barreled action with same contour barrel except with 2.5" straight cylinder before the first taper. This would cause the exact same type of interference as you pictured and described above.

**Failures of customers to order and supply components with correct specifications is just one more reason I stopped taking individual customer spec'd builds years ago.

***I'm not saying the OP did anything wrong or criticizing in any way. Just throwing this out there in hopes of saving others some heartache and aggravation because they don't know what they don't know.....

./

 

[YotaEer]

You can order your stock with the exact contour and still get it wrong.
For instance Palma contours have a straight cylinder 1.250" dia for X inches before starting the first taper.

Some barrel makers have different lengths for this straight cylinder......
Some smiths cut different lengths off of the breech end before machining and chambering......

Both of these variables can result in a large range of finished straight cylinder lengths on your barreled action. Therefore most stock makers will insist that you specify what this dimension will be when ordering your stock.

Example of this being a problem is when you take a stock with a properly cut light, medium or heavy Palma contour that starts the first taper @ 2" from the receiver face and try to stick a barreled action with same contour barrel except with 2.5" straight cylinder before the first taper. This would cause the exact same type of interference as you pictured and described above.

**Failures of customers to order and supply components with correct specifications is just one more reason I stopped taking individual customer spec'd builds years ago.

***I'm not saying the OP did anything wrong or criticizing in any way. Just throwing this out there in hopes of saving others some heartache and aggravation because they don't know what they don't know.....

./

This is all great info.

I picked up the stock used here on the hide so it wasn't specified on my behalf. I'm new to all of this and didn't know any better. Now I do lol.

A quick bit of sanding cleared up the actual stock to barrel interference. Now I just need to sand back the brown part in the last picture some so it doesn't interfere with section of the barrel closest to the action.

 

[Winny94]

I just did some minor sanding with 150 grit and elbow grease.

I can now slip a piece of paper the whole way back to the lug. Thanks guys!

Now just do it until you can slide a business card and youre golden