Discussion Forums

Nathan Foster

Taken from an email query. The hunter asks: "I have a Swedish Mauser with a synthetic stock, the forend was pressure point bedded and did not shoot very well. After removing the pressure points at the tip of the forend, the stock appears to be very flexible. Will Matchgrade stock stabilizer fix this"?



My Response:

Hi ...., thanks for the photos, now I know what you are up against. The stock you have is a fiber glass jobby, we had the same run of sporterized rifles here in NZ with the same stocks. These stocks were built like surfboards/boats before makers understood that rifles need a different approach (although some makers still do glass over foam stocks). The trouble with this stock is that the glass layer is very thin, a simple layer over foam. To remove the flex, the entire forend has to be hogged out to the bottom line, the action has to be hogged out to the bottom line, followed by a solid fill with our stabilizer. I suggest you do not do this- its a hellish project.

I want you to try and find a Ramline stock. Can't beat these. They are a super tough plastic with fiber in the plastic mold. You can bed and stabilize one of these. You'll need the stabilizer not to strengthen the forend- but because it is hollow, if you don't stabilize it, you'll end up with a pile of heavy bedding compound in the forend where the start of the barrel is bedded, also with a potential for air bubbling with such a large fill. You will know what I mean when you go to bed the Ramline so don't worry if you don't understand me at this stage.

The drilling, tapping and Lynx base/rings on your rifle is sturdy. Inspect the barrel at the muzzle and throat to see if it is worth the investment (bedding etc). See my barrel break in article as to how I hold and view the muzzle. To inspect the throat, cock your head/eye off center a few degrees so that you are not looking at the shine of the camber/barrel. Inspect the start of the rifling. If the angle is acute like a well sharpened chisel, the throat is perfect. If its a long slow taper with a grey colour to it, its getting worn. You can take the risk of going ahead with the project and polishing the throat for a revival. I have managed to achieve optimum results in Swedes after doing this- but its always a gamble, you can never really tell.

The rifle has to be bedded. If not, the action can ride on the magazine box and pillars. Try to picture it, if the action is riding on metal- its not touching the stock (not bedded down into the stock). With the Swedes, you have to avoid the other extreme too. If the gap between the action and mag box/pillars is too large, the action won't feed. About 1mm is OK for a gap. People tend to overlook these subtleties of the original rifle.

I will add this note for forum readers:

I had forgotten about the Boyds laminate stock for the M96, was reminded this morning by another site reader (thanks Guy). I had a client buy one of our kits and a Boyds for his Swede. The stock design is the typical Boyds classic, stock strength is optimal. The rifle turned out to be a great shooter. So keep the Boyds in mind as an after market option. The Boyds has a more slippery texture in the forend, the Ramline has a very rough textured forend giving superior grip with optimum field shooting technique. But at Swede recoil levels, both stocks are very good.