...in school.

Unfortunately I was a moron and forgot to take pictures while machining the barrel and action, but here's a few of it mid-way through inletting. Action is a Howa 1500, barrel is Shilen, eleven degree crown and chambering is .300 Win Mag. The stock is English Walnut and I'm planning on making the forend tip and grip cap from Cocobolo wood with the case head taken from the first round fired through the action inset into the grip cap (after chambering/headspacing the barrel and action we test fire it in the booth at school)... Hopefully more to follow once I'm done inletting and move on to glass bedding and shaping.







ETA: Obviously this stock is being built to the American Classic pattern. As I get along with this stock I'll also be fitting and putting together a synthetic with a Turkish Mauser 98 that I refinished earlier in school. It was scratched, marred , some pitting and the front sight had been knocked off some time in the past leaving just the solder remaining. I cleaned it up with a fine hand file and some emory cloth before polishing to 400 grit and then bead blasting and salt bluing. The pictures don't really show the extent of the damage before I started.

Before refinishing:




After refinishing:

That is going to be a beautiful rifle, keep us updated with pics please.

+1

I suppose if you like light calibers......

Actually I applaud your choice of caliber, the 300 Win Mag is probably the best single caliber for taking anything on the North American continent and indeed with the exception of dangerous game in Africa it will handle most any animal anywhere in the world. Load light for small game, heavy for big. Looks like you will have a real classic when you are finished...look forward to seeing more progress.

Ahh my first update....

After about 50 hours of scraping away I've finally inlet the stock for the barrel and action to approximately a 1:1 fit. Note that the areas for the bolt handle, safety and bolt release haven't been relieved yet.




The next step is to open the forend up a bit more in order to free float the barrel. For this I've attached some 10 mil tape from the chamber forward on the barrel and proceed to do some more scraping.




Prussian Blue along the entire length means I'm done with this step.




Oh and I changed my mind about the Cocobolo wood. Instead I'll be using some Amboyna Burl for the forend tip and grip cap. Here's the block. (This crap was pricey. )



I've already got the tip and cap cut and the tip is currently attached to the stock and is in the drying cabinet. Pics of it next week.

Wow... Freakin sexy, bro!

Very nice.

HO LEE Shit

Thats some real gun smithing...

Nice I love that wood. (lol at saying I like wood) but really that is gonna be sweet, don't forget to post pics and a range report.

Looking forward to seeing it finished. You haven't mentioned a stain or finish but one of my favorites is the Pilkington Classic Spirits pre-64 stain. This give the wonderful red brown color of the pre-64 Winchesters and is available from Brownells. I used it to stain the walnut stock I fitted to my Winchester Model 24.

Not going to be using any stain, but likely a hand rub oil finish.

That should work nicely as well on English Walnut...light or dark is simply a personal preference when it comes to stock finishes. I have done walnut with linseed oil as well, it is therapeutic just rubbing in coat after coat after coat....lol.
Lin-Speed is my favorite and it is available after being gone from the market for some years. I also use a bit of rottenstone in the earlier rubs to help insure no whiskers are still around.