Hollow rifle stocks?

G

Gary O

Guest
There has been some talk recently about the newer offering of synthetic riflestocks as being hollow in the buttstock area. Some have even removed the recoil pads to find bags of materials that were placed there in an effort to quiet these stocks down. Question: why not spray these hollow cavities with expanding foam that is sold at The Home Depot? What say you?
 
The spray foam works great but you have to be very careful going about it. It can swell the sides of the stock if not careful.

Hovis
 
Leave room for the foam to expand, don't try and get qute and cap the butt. Do a cut off with a foam saw. I have seen the foam break walls, warp window casings.
 
Blew up a nice Lee Six

I had a Lee Six, that was hollow. I filled it with expanding foam, and plugged the vent holes too soon. Still scaping foam off the ceiling.
 
It's not just new stocks that may be hollow. A lot of the old ones were too.

If you can get some of the tiny styrofoam balls, use that. Or, you can fill it with wadded up paper towels. Either way will allow easy removal for when you want to add some weight.

Ray
 
My Savage .22 has a hollow synthetic stock. It felt way too light in the rear, didsn't sit into the shoulder well.

I decided to put all that space to good use and add some ounces at the same time.

I had a few flat tins that cold medicine came in. I filled one of these with spare ammo, with a closed cell foam spacer between layers to prevent rattling around. I found that by using a wide rubber band around the tin it fit securely into the butt , the rubber band resting on the moldings for the buttplate screws.
There was still space to spare so I filled the rest in with a cord pull through and patch materials, a small tightly capped bottle of balistol, and a small lockblade knife, and a spare magazine.

I normally carry a knife with scewdriver blades in the field, but I figure to replace the philips head buttplate screws with flat slotted screws that could be unscrewed with the edge of a buckle or knife blade if need be.
A rubber gasket, cut from an inner tube, would keep the contents dry.

I may install sturdy snap fasteners in place of the buttplate screws.
 
I experimented some with a cheap synthetic stock that came with my Marlin .22 and filling the fore-end with Great Stuff (Big Gap), cutting it back, and lining that with a layer of carbon fiber helped stiffen it considerably.
 
If you use the spray foam be sure to use the low expansion foam - it is made to keep from creating the above mentioned problems. Yes, there is a real difference between it and the regular spray foam.

drover
 
Home Depot sells two different Spray Foam products. GREAT STUFF & DAP TEX. Make sure you use the DAPTEX, it produces a lot less pressure when it expands and will stop when it fills the void. The GREAT STUFF pushes much harder, and in fact will move the sides of window casings when using it around them .
 
Someting to try

You might look at that memory foam, tempura. It is kind of like the foam ear plugs, you can squish it down to put it in and it expands back up to fill the available space. You can get big pieces from Bed Bath and Beyond or other bedding places as a mattress pad. If you wanted to add weight you could wrap the foam around a piece of steel or lead and I expect it would hold it in place for all but the hardest recoiling applications. I have not done this myself but one good thing about this is that if you don't like it or want to change it it would be easy to undo, redo, etc.

Tim
 
I fill my hollow synthetic stocks with fine sand. Adds a pound of weight, but gives better balance and gives a different/better feel during recoil because it absorbs/dampens harmonic vibrations. Try it, you can always dump it back out.
Richard
 
Silicone caulk, you can use up that half tube leftover from the new tub install. Want extra weight, drop in wheelweights before/while "caulking."
 
Well I got some Daptex and put some in a sip/lock bag, it doesn't seem to have much body to it. Can anyone think of something else to use. The Great Stuff seems to have more body, do you guys think it could be used if it was put in in layers .
 
Empty stock

I took the pad off and found a big void that I could fill with bird shot.
Now my 223 weighs over 13 lbs and it is great for shooting at prarie dogs.
Paul
 
Savage 111 .270 , bushnell elite 4-12x40, it weigh 8.4 pounds, i removed the recoil pad and found a styro foam . It is hallow to the pistol grip. I added dry sand to fill the hallow cavity , this alone added 1.6 pounds to the overall weight. With scope, emty clip, sling, scope bikini. 10 pounds even. How it effects the recoil , need to test. Will post in a few weeks, weather pending ... Im hopefull ..
 
I have a Six stock that was hollow. I took the butt plate off and thought about filling it with spray foam. I did, and had a gooey slimy yellow mess. Spray foam needs air to react. If it does not have enough air, if just makes a mess. I bought some two part expanding foam, and that works, it reacts chemically! But, you have to go at it in steps so you don't blow it apart.
 
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