Im making my own weight system

S

skeetlee

Active member
This is my first attempt at making a weight system and i could use a little advise. I took two 6" x 1" brass rods and tapped them for a tapered machine screw. I fastened the brass rods to the metal butt plate. Al this went pretty smooth. What i am a little nervous about is drilling the holes into the back of the stock. Do i only need to go 5" and tap the brass rods in the last inch so they settle nicely, or do i drill the hole all the way and let them float? Or should i drill a 7" deep hole and fill the holes with some type of expandable spray foam to make a beadding area. I dont have an end mill so all this will be done by hand. I'm not even sure of what type of drill bit i should use to drill the 1" hole. I'm figuring a cork screw wood bit would work fine? Any thoughts? Thanks gentlemen! Lee
 
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why not

make a brass but plate to weight.no holes needed.just another angle.
jim
 
I would think those two big brass rod on that small screw would set up all kinds of Vib's
 
there is some vibration for sure. i am thinking also about using a bigger screw. one thing i wonder is if the vibrations will be accuracy effecting? i also thought about beading them some how? lee
 
I got the holes drilled in the stock today and all is looking real good. I am going to go with a much bigger screw, and i thought about trying to bed the back end, or up inside the stock, at the end of the rods with something to help dampin the vibrations. Can anyone think of how i can do this? I thought about modeling clay. I could take a ball of it and push it to the back and when i push the rod in, maybe it would form around the brass rod??? Or I thought about that expandable foam in a can. I didnt know if i lube up the brass rods really good if that stuff would still stick? I have never messed with that stuff before so i dont know what to expect. I like the idea, but will it work? I want to be able to take these rods out when i need to. My rifle weighs 17 pounds on the money without the weight so i could shoot it it in light gun if i wanted. I probably never will, but just in case. The three pounds the rods gave the stock really balances out the stock nicely, so they will probably end up staying were they are! This hole idea is sort of a practice run for my new ppc i am having built. I have a BAT SV and i am going to glue it into a Robertson BRX stock. The bolt face on the SV is a combo bolt face so i can shoot ppc and maybe a 30BR. I will need the weights if i have a 30cal barrel chambered for the action. All in all i am very happy with how this is going. I really like doing things LIke this and i put a lot of effort into it. I want to bed those rods but i am just not sure the best way to go about it. So if any of you fellas have any ideas, they would be appreciated! Thanks Lee
 
Tap the end of the rods for a 1/4 x 20 screw so you can pull them out... apply a couple of coats of release agent (paste wax) and glass bed them in place using Brownell's Agra-Glas. They will not vibrate or move and you will be able to remove them.
 
If you have clearance around the rods now, why not just cut a piece of hard rubber and wedge it between the rods. That should dampen any vibration. Be sure the screw thru the butt plate is large enough to take the recoil force. Once I needed to heavy up the butt end of a rifle and to do so I cast a lead butt plate about 3/4 inch thick. It worked ok, but I didn't like the way it looked. I really liked Jackie's idea of making the butt plate out of thick brass. Should polish out real nice.

Donald
 
Yer doin good ..... :) ....... BUT!!!!! Fuh'GEDDABOUT the spray foam idea'r! Do NOT spray foam in there!

Here's what I would so (have done)

I have two parallel rods just like yours...... I carefully opened up the hole 'wayyy down in the bottom and made sure that there was lots of clearance, like 1/8 to 1/4 inch all-round......

Now wipe the entire hole with liquid epoxy to seal it all up.

Let 'er set.

Stick it all back together and make SURE there's no binding, still got clearance.....

Now put a coat of masking tape on the rods but leave just the last 1/4" bare and smooth, check for burrs, make sure there's no rolled end.....

NOW, stand the stock on it's nose, butt straight up, and put JUST 3/8- 1/2 INCH of epoxy goo clear down in the bottom.

Put 'er together.

The epoxy should just creep up 1/2 to 3/4 inch on the floating bars.

Now the bars are held fore and aft, no vibberation, and much less chance of permanentally bonding it together and being STUCK with it. :)

Yer good'ago

al


OOOPS!!!


Fergot..... put some release agent on the ends!!
 
I like that idea! Here is another idea i am thinking about trying. I am going to open the holes from 1" to 1.1/16" Then i will take some body putty (not bondo) and mix it together. I will fill the holes about half way maybe less put release agent on the rods and everywhere else its needed and push the assembly into the stock forming a cast or a bed. My buddy Jim has played with this stuff some and i guess it sets up in about 30min? I also thought about taking rubber o rings and placing them between the brass rods and the but plate around the screw that draws it tight up against the plate. I dont know if that will work but wouldnt it act like a absorber or dampener? Or with the bedding will that not be needed? I am going to practice on something some how before i do the final deal. Now i just need to figure out what to practice on. Thanks for the help fellas! I love this stuff!!!!! Lee
 
Well here is a little update!! I hate to even share this but what the heck!! Well my brass rods are now permanent! I'm not real sure what went wrong or why they wont come out, but they wont!! This isn't really an issue on this rifle, as it needed the weight anyway, and everything is balanced really well, so its not all bad. The bad part is that i am needing to do this again to a ppc i am building and i need to figure out were i went astray!! I used NAPA Micro lite body filler as advised by a good friend of mine. I mixed it pretty conservatively so it wouldnt harden to fast. After i had a good mix i put the puddy into a spent caulk tube that i cleaned really well. This worked really well getting the putty into the stock. I used paste wax in all the parts that didnt want to stick to.I used quite a bit of it to. I thought i had everything covered really well. the metal pad came off really easy but like i said the rods are stuck!!! I filled the holes to about half way and inserted the until as a hole, into the stock slowly. I had a little overflow but i was prepared for that. Once i got the rods and pad in place i tightened everything up really well and let it sit for about 45min. Maybe that was to long? I wanted to give each rod a spin but that didnt happen either. I tried everything i could think of to get the rods to brake free but no dice! Maybe the paste wax was my downfall? Maybe the body putty wasnt the best thing to use either?? Not real sure. I spent a lot of time and effort on this project and i would have just about bet a weeks pay (and i never bet) i had it all right. I should have ran some practice drills before i attempted this project? I think the next go around i will use some sort of fiberglass filer instead of the body putty. I dont know. Anyway i am kinda bummed and i thought i would share. I'm not a quitter, and i will get this right the next go around!! Like i said not all lost though! The rifle feels good the weight is right and i know there isn't any unwanted vibrations going on back there. later!! Lee
 
The ends of the rods are threaded?
You could try a slide hammer, if everything was waxed up I think this would be enough to allow the rods to be removed and replaced.
 
yes the rods are attached to the plates with 1/4x24 threads i believe. I thought about the slide hammer but im not sure were i can find one. I am pretty sure i waxed these rods pretty well. thats the crazy part. I was really careful, at least i thought i was!! No real big deal on this stock but the ppc has to be done correctly!! Lee
 
If you have an autobody shop near you they will have one. You'll probably need a screw threaded for the rods with the head cut off so you grab it with the slide hammer.
 
You bedded them full length??? The WHOLE rods, until it oozed out????

You ain't never getting it apart without drilling.

Consider this one a "permanent weight system." :)

al
 
Also might I add....... if the bars ARE/WERE perfect and the release agent were perfectly applied.... suction alone would assure difficulty of separation without a bleed hole.

If you do try to take the thang apart I'll suggest you pop it a couple hits with a slide hammer and then hang say 50lb on it overnight and see if she unsucks..


doubtful

al
 
Skeetlee, You know Al gave you a well thought out plan, quite foolproof
really. Now by adding a lot of thought into this, you managed to...........
well, do you see a pattern here.
 
Its definitely not screwed up. The weight needed to be there regardless. it was a must. Even if the weights would have come out i would leave them in 98% of the time if not 100% anyway. I did follow most of what al said to do. I didnt know how much epoxy to place inside the stock, all that was a guess and i guess a little to much. It didnt seem as if i applied all that much material. Displacement fooled me a little. I think i went wrong on my timing. If i had opened it up a little sooner i think i could have spun the rods and broke them free? Maybe not? If suction is involved then i dont think it would have mattered how much material i used? There again not sure? These are just lessons learned for me. sure i wish they would have come out but the bottom line is that i have a very secure weight exactly were it was needed!! Ill get right, i wont quit until i do! Lee
 
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