New Stock or Re-Cut Checkering??
I have a Kimber .22 Rifle that rests in a decent enough piece of walnut, but that has been, to be kind about it, checkered in something less than stellar fashion.
This rifle is very accurate and I like the design better than most, if not all, quality .22 actions.
I'm considering one of the 3 following options and would appreciate any thoughts y'all might have:
1. Forget my appreciation of the action, sell the rifle, and stick with my Cooper 36 and pre-war Mauser.
2. Find a new stock with checkering more to my liking, or,
3. Have someone re-checker the existing stock.
Your thoughts??
Thanks,
Rob
This rifle is very accurate and I like the design better than most, if not all, quality .22 actions.
I'm considering one of the 3 following options and would appreciate any thoughts y'all might have:
1. Forget my appreciation of the action, sell the rifle, and stick with my Cooper 36 and pre-war Mauser.
2. Find a new stock with checkering more to my liking, or,
3. Have someone re-checker the existing stock.
Your thoughts??
Thanks,
Rob
0
-
Compare costs of options 2 & 3 0 -
If you like the rifle that much, then I would add a fourth option. Find a brilliant piece of highly figured walnut, and have a custom stock made to FIT YOU, with the checkering you like. Yes I do realize this would cost a small fortune, but there is no replacement for a rifle or shotgun that fits one exactly...not fits the majority.
Best0 -
My first love is a good shooting rifle, it could be ugly, plain or nice as long as it shoots good. I have had some nice looking rifles that didn't shoot good but I didn't have them for long.
So I'm thinking bubba's checkering job could be sanded off or maybe routered out and inlayed with something to take it's place.
added WoW that is some nice work rhmc24!0 -
RCrosby,
I respect your appreciation of fine actions and stocks.
Trying correct existing poor quality checkering is probably impossible. Pictures might help with that assessment.
Removing the offending checking and re-doing the checkering is also a no go because if the depth issue. Inlaying a proper piece of veneer is tedious, requiring a better skill set and would look old fashioned in my opinion. Think Weatherby diamonds... Winchester tried maple stocks with the checkering areas dyed black and that too, failed miserably.
Get a new stock blank, have it checkered to your desired taste and enjoy the rifle!
Best.0 -
Kind of drastic but there is a fix for damaged checkering. Collector piece had sound but unsightly pistol grip repair. I cleaned out the area & filled it with epoxy-sawdust mix to get a new surface & checkered it. My second checkering job, ever. Dealer-owner couldn't find anyone who would tackle the restoration job. I first did the fill and surface part for someone else to checker it. After a few months it came back, he couldn't find anyone to do the checkering. This is about the solution, so criticize my checkering if you will! 
Checkering on the fore end was all there but worn so I sharpened it to match the work I did on the pistol grip.
EDIT #2 Sorry if there are doubts & sorry I didn't keep more pix of the job. Difference in appearance probably due to lighting and different cameras, etc. I didn't refinish or remove the stock for fear of finding more problems. The only other evidence I have is two billings I did, one for preparing the work to be checkered and and later for doing the checkering. One would-be checker-er kept the gun several weeks and sent it back with no work done, saying he couldn't find a way to hold it without taking the stock off. About 90% of my work is on jobs nobody else will tackle or have screwed up & I have to rescue.
Here's another one before & after. I did the rescue and Turnbulls did the lettering & blue.0 -
It's a zillion percent improvement. 0 -
I guess it's the eye of the beholder, but I think it's really tough to imagine it to be the same stock. Bravo, in turning something that looks unsalvagable into pretty darn nice. 0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
7 comments