Hi Folks,

Could we throw our heads rogether to test the idea of a stock cast from epoxy?

In the previous thread I mentioned the Mauser Ms420 with some spares missing. The owner has decided to keep it as is, yet my mind races on to test the following idea:

How would one proceed to cast a stock from epoxy? In the Mauser case, I cannot easily find an original stock to buy or copy,  and would need to make a new one from scratch. 

Could one wrap the action in plastic film, or oil it appropriately,  and use the action to cast a new stock to fit the action?

One could either use the epoxy stock on the rifle, or use it as a template to copy one into wood.

- Which type of epoxy would work?
- What are the steps?

Casting an entire stock from epoxy would be ruinously expensive, very heavy and not very strong. Epoxy as part of a composite of glass fibre, carbon fibre etc laid up as a shell is a different story and that's how they are done commercially. Some are foam cored to make up a 3 part composite structure.

I don't think that epoxy will survive the multi-directional stresses that are place on a rifle stock on cartridge ignition.

That said, I have seen an epoxy that is used to cast racing bicycle frames.

The best thing to do is contact the epoxy manufacturer, and ask them what the tensile and compressive limits would be, as well as the shock resistance.

It may be cheaper to have the stock made from fiberglass.

Musgrave have a stock duplicator. It might be worth the effort to find out if they can help with a stock.

https://www.musgraverifles.co.za/musgravestocks

If I were to set out to make a one off composite stock I'd go foam core. Glue up layers of high density insulation foam and carve out the stock and generous inletting with the overall dimensions 3-5mm undersized. Once satisfied with the shape and finish I'd lay up 5 or six layers of s-glass with high strength laminating epoxy to make a foam cored shell construction. Once that was done finishing, paint and bedding would be as per a commercial stock that you were redoing. 

If I were to set out to make a one off composite stock I'd go foam core. Glue up layers of high density insulation foam and carve out the stock and generous inletting with the overall dimensions 3-5mm undersized. Once satisfied with the shape and finish I'd lay up 5 or six layers of s-glass with high strength laminating epoxy to make a foam cored shell construction. Once that was done finishing, paint and bedding would be as per a commercial stock that you were redoing. 

How does one tighten action screws on a foam/carbon chassis?

How does one tighten action screws on a foam/carbon chassis?

I would embed aluminium sleeves/pillars shaped to fit the actions and bottom metal. S-Glass with laminating epoxy is plenty strong so unless you'd want to be able to see the carbon or were worried about the 10s of grams that it would save I wouldn't bother with it as it's quite a lot more expensive.