Wood

[tucansam]

Years ago I purchased a Savage model 12 in .223. It came with a tupperware stock but I managed to win a few local matches with an ancient Weaver 3x9 TV scope attached. I love this rifle dearly and found a "varmint" style laminate wood stock a few years back. The wood is beautiful and I bedded the rifle in it and sanded out the barrel channel to allow for ample free float room.

I am wondering about the long term reliability of this stock, seeing as how its porous wood. I was wondering if its possible to seal the wood, ie, place the stock in an oven for a short period of time to fully dry it, and then seal with with a varnish or laminate, to prevent future moisture from getting in an swelling the wood. Am I over thinking things?

I'm also wondering about the wood flexing under recoil vs something like a Choate (or other) after market composite stock...

Thoughts?

 

[KTDLS7]

Re: Wood

If it shoots to your satisfaction and you obviously like the wood, by all means keep it in the wood stock. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

You may be overthinking a bit. A .223 is not going to affect the wood through recoil, unless the action is loose. Is the barrel channel still "full-floating"? If not, there is some warpage or expansion taking place and a sealer may be in order. Since it is bedded, you might want to seal any exposed wood with stock finish like Tru-Oil or a urethane varnish.

I re-stocked a rifle over 45 years ago. Full-length bedded the stock, relieved the barrel channel to free-float, then finished the outside with Tru-Oil. Though it has been soaked in the rain, it has never changed to this day.

Regarding "drying the wood", if it has been in an environmentally controlled area (your house?), I don't think it would be necessary prior to sealing. Don't know your location, but here you could dry it outside (104* tomorrow) - oven not necessary.

Kevin

 

[Willys46]

Re: Wood

If you are concerned about moisture you can go to the local wood working store and get a sand able sealer. When I finish raw laminate stocks I put one coat of sanadabe sealer mixed 50/50 with denatured alcohol and sand it off after it dries. One coat of full strength and sand it off. If it's in the barrel channel, I would not sand the last coat.

With that said laminate is very stable. The wood is already impregnated with the glue that was used, pressed in with heat and pressure. So there really is no room for moisture to get in.

The sand able sealer is like water and can be applied all over exposed surfaces.

Warning, if you get it on the current finish it may leave a stain. A little goes a long ways.

 

[tucansam]

Re: Wood

Thanks guys.

Its the stock shown here:

http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/12bvss

The outside of the stock is finished in a satin finish of some sort, and appears to be non-porous. The action is fully bedded from tang to recoil lug, with PC7, which should resist moisture. The barrel channel is fully relieved and I have a little more than a millimeter of space between the barrel the stock, and since the wood is porous here (from me sanding it), I could apply a sealer there.

It is presently sitting in a safe in my home, and yeah, 110 degrees today where I live in AZ, but with huge amounts of humidity due to it being monsoon season. May wait til the rains pass for good before I seal it, just to be safe.

Not interested in changing the color of the wood, so maybe a clear polyurethane type sealer would work on the barrel channel, and I'll probably try it on the outside of the stock just to make sure its sealed.