Adding Weight to a Stock????

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Dennis_in_VA

New member
I would like to hear from the more experienced members, how they would go about adding weight to the butt of a McMillan Stock.

Would it be a benefit to have it so the weight could be removed if need be?

Thanks ahead of time for your wisdom.

Dennis
 
If you're shooting score with a 30, I'd make it 13.5 and forget it. Group is another story. One gun for two classes by taking out some weight is the way to go IMO, if the gun balances and tracks pretty well either way.---Mike Ezell
 
This is not a competition rifle by any means.

I don't have to adhere to any weight or configuration restrictions.

I'm building a rifle that might need some lead in the butt to balance it out a little and I am asking to find out how those that have done it did it.

I've heard epoxy + shot, lead rods, brass butt plate spacers......
 
Weight

One of the more common ways is to core a hole in the back of the stock, and attach the weight to the butt plate. I think most Macmillans have foam back there.

On stocks that aee hollow in the back, it is more difficult. I usually just make a butt plate out of brass for those. On my HV, which is built on a Robertson BRX, I have a 1/2 thick brass butt plate that weighs about 8 ounces.........jackie
 
This is nothing fancy, a piece of conduit with lead pored around a threaded insert then attached by a 10-32 screw to the butt plate. I have used lead shot mixed with modeling clay in a zip-loc plastic bag, pack inside of the butt stock then use Styrofoam to wedge in place; this is for non permanent weighting. A lot will depend on your stock style just how you will have to go about it.
Hope this helps……………Rick
 

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If you want to make it permanent, bore a hole and use a twp part epoxy and lead shot. The Devcon stuff that come in the double syringe works good, it's runny enough to surrond the shot well.

Of course you can always drill it out later if you need to.
 
Adding weight

Get some lead bird shot wash it in acetone to remove any oils. let it air dry. then mix it with fiberglass resin and fill where you need it.

Leave the shot loose if you think you will ever need to remove it. Just make a fiber glass or epoxie cap to contain it.

Nat Lambeth
 
Open up a cavity in the butt and put some loose #7.5 or smaller lead shot in there. It works fine rattling around in the butt. I actually think it acts as a vibration damper.
 
The loose shot has a recoil dampening effect over and above the simple effect of it's weight.

It's the same effect you see when you use a "dead blow" hammer.

Dead blow hammers do not bounce because the effect of the blow is stretched out in time. - It keeps pushing down long enough to counteract the tendency to bounce, so all of the power is transferred to the object being struck, instead of part of it being bled off in order to bounce the hammer.

Due to the lead shot being loose in its cavity within the stock, the shots effect upon recoil is spread out over a number of milliseconds, thus affecting the sensation of recoil so that it is less of a sudden, sharp blow and more of a push.

I load the handle of my short, light pool cue with loose shot, with good results by the way. It has power beyond its weight and size because of it.

Some anti-recoil devices utilize mercury within an elongated tube, and these operate by the same principle.
 
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Sorry, but I'll keep epoxying the shot in place. There is something about loose stuff rattling around in a stock that just doesn't set well with me. You know, the vibration thing and all. Small as it may be, can you be sure it "rattles" the same each time?

If you buy a stock with weight added, like from McMillan, they add shot into the foam filler within the skin, just like what's being talked about here.
 
I just did a McMillan Edge that had the weight system already in it for a 1,000 yard lightgun.Our guns can weigh 17 pounds and with the long barrels we use you need more weight than can be added to the skinny tube that comes in the stock.
I used a die grinder with a carbide burr that resembles a cone and after taping off the stock with several thicknesses of masking tape I removed the entire fiberglass buttplate the foam and the tube.The foam is very tough stuff not something that is easily removed.
I mixed 2 part epoxy and #8 lead shot in a pepsi can I cut the lid off of and poured it into place leaving 1/4 inch of nothing at the back.I let it set-up for a couple days then went down to Tap Plastics and got what they call Surfacer fiberglass resin in a quart tin $15 some hardener $3 some pigment $3 and a plastic bottle of microspheres $15.You take a tablespoon of microspheres and add some resin to it and stir the heck out of it making it very thick like toothpaste.When you get the consistency right add a very small amount of pigment by dipping a old junky screwdriver into the plastic bottle and it will double as a stir stick.When you get the color close add a half dozen drops of hardener stir it in well and fill in that 1/4 inch gap you left.It sets up in about 45 minutes depending on the weather and if possible stand it up straight so the fiberglass doesn't run.A padded vise would be helpful but in my situation I used masking tape and simply taped the stock against a fence post outside.
If you don't add the microspheres the resin sets up very hard and is more difficult to sand plus its runnier to work with.When your done you will have enough left over for 50 more stocks as they don't sell it in small tins but atleast its cheap.Don't use regular fiberglass laminating resin because it sets-up tacky and will pull on your shirt and collect dirt.
Waterboy aka Lynn
 
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