Wooden stock for the Bullshark.

[OneAcreFarmer]

Greetings Everybody
Here is a project I am working on. A wooden stock with a short forearm for my stoeger bullshark. The wood is Curly English Walnut with a beautiful figure.

This is intended for a squirrel hunting gun. I’m hoping to shave even more weight off of the already light gun. Currently the wood stock is only 7oz. heavier than the factory plastic and I still have a lot of shaping to do. Question; Does anyone have ideas or photos for the butt pad, end of the pistol grip, and end of the forearm. I am planning on installing sling swivels and making a leather sling. Thanks

 

[imtrigerhapy]

Looks good so far

 

[OneAcreFarmer]

Looks good so far

Thanks. I had one mistake while inletting the trigger. I measured from the wrong area on the stock and mortised my trigger square into the pistol grip. Thankfully I could fix it with a tenon and it won’t show in the finished stock. For a moment I thought I was going to have to throw 4 hours of work away and start over.

(Edit so I don’t sound like a complete idiot)

This was before I had cut the shape and it was just a block of wood, but I had 90% of my inletting done.

 

[ToddGeddes63]

Nice wood grain on the stock blank, and good on you with the skills!
As to your question about the butt pad, maybe an adjustable butt pad or hook, maybe some dark cherry or Mahogony wood to accent the stock & pistol end. Kind of an old school look, but I think a clean and classy one.

 

[imtrigerhapy]

Thanks. I had one mistake while inletting the trigger. I measured from the wrong area on the stock and mortised my trigger square into the pistol grip. Thankfully I could fix it with a tenon and it won’t show in the finished stock. For a moment I thought I was going to have to throw 4 hours of work away and start over.

(Edit so I don’t sound like a complete idiot)

This was before I had cut the shape and it was just a block of wood, but I had 90% of my inletting done.

It seems like whenever i make something its always the second or third that turn out right ...the first one or two i call practice runs and skill building excercises

 

[Joedirt199]

Now we are talking. I think the Bullshark would look so much better in a wood stock than the modular plastic stock.

 

[Scotay42]

This is the bullshark's brother, i have no idea what wood it is though.

 

[JimD]

Congratulations on getting the inletting done and on your nice piece of wood. I've made 5 for my 3 P35s. The bullshark and P35 are not identical but either action will fit into either stock. I attached a picture of the most recent. It is mainly a piece of cherry left over from a bed for a grandson. The nose piece is a piece of highly figured oak from a tree that fell over in my back yard. I'd like to do a grip cap of the same wood but the end of the grip has to be flat and even then it's gluing end grain and I've chickened out. I use a 8mm domino tenon to help attach the nose piece. For a butt pad I attach a piece of 1/8 thick synthetic rubber with fast cap double faced tape. I sand the stock after attaching the rubber. I like 80 grit flapper wheels for rough shaping.

 

[Joedirt199]

Most likely birch.

 

[JimD]

I think the P35X stock is probably beech but considering it comes from China it could be something more local. Looks nice.

 

[Joedirt199]

Beech that's what I meant.

 

[OneAcreFarmer]

Congratulations on getting the inletting done and on your nice piece of wood. I've made 5 for my 3 P35s. The bullshark and P35 are not identical but either action will fit into either stock. I attached a picture of the most recent. It is mainly a piece of cherry left over from a bed for a grandson. The nose piece is a piece of highly figured oak from a tree that fell over in my back yard. I'd like to do a grip cap of the same wood but the end of the grip has to be flat and even then it's gluing end grain and I've chickened out. I use a 8mm domino tenon to help attach the nose piece. For a butt pad I attach a piece of 1/8 thick synthetic rubber with fast cap double faced tape. I sand the stock after attaching the rubber. I like 80 grit flapper wheels for rough shaping.

View attachment 525713

That’s very nice, love the end cap. I had the same reservations about glueing on an end cap with it just being end grain, especially since the pieces of wood I have are either Spanish Cedar or Purpleheart neither of which respond well to glueing. I thought about trying a thru and thru dovetail joint running from the bottom of the forearm to the airtube. It would look good but I figured no need to over complicate my first try at a gunstock. I think I will keep it simple and do nothing for now.

 

[OneAcreFarmer]

This is the bullshark's brother, i have no idea what wood it is though.

View attachment 525700

I saw that on some website (I forget where) and that’s what gave me the idea/desire to build a wooden stock for the bullshark. I’m not sure I’ll try the cheek piece or just leave the factory plastic.

 

[OneAcreFarmer]

Congratulations on getting the inletting done and on your nice piece of wood. I've made 5 for my 3 P35s. The bullshark and P35 are not identical but either action will fit into either stock. I attached a picture of the most recent. It is mainly a piece of cherry left over from a bed for a grandson. The nose piece is a piece of highly figured oak from a tree that fell over in my back yard. I'd like to do a grip cap of the same wood but the end of the grip has to be flat and even then it's gluing end grain and I've chickened out. I use a 8mm domino tenon to help attach the nose piece. For a butt pad I attach a piece of 1/8 thick synthetic rubber with fast cap double faced tape. I sand the stock after attaching the rubber. I like 80 grit flapper wheels for rough shaping.

View attachment 525713

I see you increased your LOP with the wooden stock. I am doing the same although only planning on 1” increase.

 

[OneAcreFarmer]

Some more progress.
I have most of the rough shaping done. I used a sanding wheel in an angle grinder for some but most of it was done with a rasp, more control that way and less chance of messing it up. Now I need to do more shaping around the trigger area, then a lot of sanding to bring out that beautiful grain. I’m thinking for the butt pad I’ll do a grind to fit deal from Limbsaver.

As a bonus the weight is already a bit lower than the factory stock.

 

[MongooseV8]

Looking great so far. For a rear pad I like the leather wrapped ones you see sometimes, probably lighter than a Limbsaver too.

Did you do most of the inletting with a router?

 

[JimD]

I like what you've done with the pistol grip. I tend to leave them too square on the back. I push the grip back so that the last digit of my trigger finger falls on the trigger. I hope you got it where you want it. It looks like you left room for a nosepiece. If you want something different from what you have you might want to look at turning squares on Rockler.

 

[Loren]

Nice craftsmanship!

A straight and 90 degree pneumatic die grinders and a selection of tools from www.saburrtooth.com and www.kutzall.com are real time savers for "hand" carving the stock shape. Stay away from the 4" diameter wheels for a angle grinder. From my experience the bigger grinder just does not provide the finer dexterity needed for stock shaping.

 

[OneAcreFarmer]

Looking great so far. For a rear pad I like the leather wrapped ones you see sometimes, probably lighter than a Limbsaver too.

Did you do most of the inletting with a router?

Thank you. Please explain more what you mean by a leather wrapped pad.

Here is info on my inletting process.
The first step I did was start with an oversized rectangle piece of lumber making sure all edges were square and true. Then I cut the air tube slot on a table saw with a stop block clamped to the fence so I don’t cut too far back.

Next I cut the receiver slot with a 3/4” straight bit on a router table with 2 stop blocks since it is a stopped mortise. I raised the bit in 1/8” increments until I reached the correct depth. As all you woodworkers will know stopped mortises on a router table are a tricky affair since you have to plunge the wood into a spinning bit. Always use stop blocks if you don’t want to say goodbye to your wood and fingers!

Last I drilled the trigger mortise with a 1/2” Forstner bit on a drill press with a fence to keep my holes centered. Twice.

I then cleaned up all the rounded mortise ends with chisels and cut the channels for the air tube clamps as well. The remaining air tube slot was final shaped with a card scraper.

 

[OneAcreFarmer]

I like what you've done with the pistol grip. I tend to leave them too square on the back. I push the grip back so that the last digit of my trigger finger falls on the trigger. I hope you got it where you want it. It looks like you left room for a nosepiece. If you want something different from what you have you might want to look at turning squares on Rockler.

Thank you. I am modeling the pistol grip after the factory bullshark one since I really like the shape and handfeel of it. I moved it back ever so slightly. You were big inspiration for this project. I had read in another thread that you had made multiple stocks for your P35’s.