Stock repair ideas

[aroyobob]

I've got an old shotgun (a version of a Stevens 520A,) with a stock that must have gotten wet at some point and the wrist is spreading and developing some cracks. Wondering what people's thoughts are about repairing this or at least strengthening it. Not too worried about getting to perfection as the stock has already been bubbafied. The end of the butt was sawn short and a chunk of stock-shaped wood screwed to the end and all that hidden by a pacymar butt pad.
You can see from the pictures how the wood is warping away from the receiver tangs, more on the right than the left. One thought is to cross-bolt the wrist with a small, maybe brass or stainless, bolt and some washers. Fuggly but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Along with that cut a small slot fore and aft in the under-the-tang area to allow the two sides to move together. Maybe steam the wrist first to try and soften the wood and then clamp it and let it dry to see if some of the warp doesn't subside.
If none of this works, Boyds has 520A stocks but the inletting for the tangs isn't correct so I'd have to do some work there. If fixing the existing stock turns to sh*t I'll order one of theirs. I'm planning on cutting the barrel (or getting it cut) to 18 1/2 to make it more of a home defense gun. The take-down feature of these is interesting, the barrel / magazine tube mount to the receiver using slots cut in each that interleave and then are clamped by twisting the magazine tube.

Top of stock and receiver tangs.


top of stock without receiver (obviously)


bottom of stock



Thanks for your input.

[knockonit]

yep, i had to get a new one from somewhere, lol, gunparts something, dang it, they have all the older parts or at last at lot of them.
had an old steven side xside me gramps bought in the late 40s, somehow got the buttstock fubared and i found one there, had some hand fitting and of course doesn't match hand guard, but it shoots and holds up
good luck
Rj

[Kingjoey]

I've repaired a lot of stocks, but a wrist crack on something like that Stevens is difficult to repair. I have some special superglue with no filler that penetrates into wood extremely well but you'd still need to crossdrill the stock and press a knurled brass rod in probably to keep the stock from cracking again

[aroyobob]

Thanks. One or two threaded rods maybe.
Was thinking of something like these on each end of the rod to bear on the wood. Or even a couple of screw backed conchos.

[Kingjoey]

You can use a brass Chicago screw (also known as a sex bolt)

[aroyobob]

Thanks, good idea, if you get the flat kind they don't stick up too much.

[needsmostuff]

My stock repair tip is DON'T. Some things are more trouble than they are worth. Warped wood is one of those and never pulls back right.

I'd buy another whole gun, they can be found rough and cheap. At least pe-covid they could.
Save the best barrel as a long bird barrel and wack the rougher barrel. Makes a super cool convertible.
To make a true convertible you need the second whole front end , mag tube & wood anyway .
Same gun can often be found cheaper when brand marked Wards.
I I set one up once for a friend and always wished I'd kept it.

P.S those Humpback 520s slam fire so well they make a COOL fighting gun .

[aroyobob]

@needsmostuff that's what I have, a Wards Western Field from around 1947 so not a humpback, just a straight top. I thought I'd give improving the stock a shot since if I wrecked it (more than it was,) I'd get the blank from Boyds so no harm in trying. I have no interest in spending any more on this although getting another barrel assembly (if it was inexpensive enough) did cross my mind. Just checked Gunbroker and there's a humpback that just closed for $266 which is more than I expected it to go for but I think there's a cottage industry out there "manufacturing" WW2 Stevens trench guns.

I used the Chicago screw idea (thanks @kingjoey), got them in the nuts & bolts section of an Ace Hardware along with a 2" brass machine screw of the right thread which I cut off to make a bit of threaded rod to go between the two female screw ends. Drilled two holes in one of the Chicago screws so I could tighten it with a pair of small needle nose, kind of like a pin wrench. You can't really feel the screw head and there aren't any sharp edges that would cut or scratch when firing.

The clamp in the pics is just holding the mid-wrist area where I put a dowel. The screw is holding the wrist flat to the receiver which is a better than expected result. I also cut a slot fore and aft under the tang area to provide some flex for the ends of the stock to move together. I'll probably add some epoxy in the void under the tang to strengthen that area.

I put a couple of small dowels into the stock behind the tang area to try and stop a couple of cracks running back toward the butt and will fill those small hole ends with some wood filler.





Anyway, thanks for the suggestions.