WLhunter,
don't waste your time messing with the forend or putting shims in....... these are things you do with one piece stocks.... a two piece stock is a totally different beast..... with a two piece stock the accuracy problems start with the butt stock, be it a smelly or a Winchester lever or marlin..... a solid fitted butt stock is key...... once you have it properly in place then you can fire it and mess with the forend... not so much for accuracy but to alter point of impact..... get the butt done then I'd fire it with no forend and make sure nothing touches the barrel..... this will give you a point of reference then put the forend on and fire again to see what changes happen.... then again with the hand guard....... this way you can see and understand what each part does and make corrections as you go.
yes the stocks were originally finished with linseed oil but not the way you might think...... all military stocks except japs basically threw the stocks into a huge tank of boiling linseed oil and left them in for varying lengths of time. then they just pulled them out and wiped them off.... they got tossed in a bin til they were needed. not much of a way of finishing a stock but it was fast and did the job for a tool that wasn't expected to last long. if you look at the areas that contact metal on most you will see black staining..... that's from gun oil and cleaning crap.... these materials are death to wood they kinda rot it away, rob it of all strength and nothing can fix it.... you can soak it out with various solvents best I've used is a vapor degreaser..... but these are mostly outlawed..... won't tell where mine is hidden lol!!!! all wood shrinks with age and it continues to shrink... I've done a lot of work with antiques restoration refinishing etc.... you can take a regular tape measure and actually measure the shrinkage on a round table.... it will be greater across the grain than with the grain..... (one way to tell a fake).... older the table the greater the difference in the measurements. fun to compare a new fake to say a hundred year old or two hundred and even a three hundred year old table..... not uncommon to see a inch or more difference. gun stock do the same thing.... ever look at an old LC Smith double... they all have cracks behind the lock plates.... if you see one that doesn't, be very suspect.... that's because they did the inletting all wrong... they did a beautiful job tight wood to metal fit but they didn't take into account shrinkage.... if they'd left a little gap on the top and bottom of the lock plates we wouldn't have the problems we do fixing or replacing cracked and broken stocks..... anyway putting more linseed oil won't correct shrinkage, it will kinda plump up the wood fibers temporarily but that will go away in a short time...... glass bed it and problem solved do it right and nothing will show...... I can assure you that two sides of that stock will show gaps from the years of shrinkage. and no one will fault you for re-bedding a stock, only if you f... it up. I've seen groups go from 12" to 1" just from redoing the butt stock. along with a little scraping of the front end of forend where it touch the barrel......... don't expect that accuracy, that's pure luck..... I don't remember what the brit's had to have but most military rifles were only required to shoot 3" at a hundred yards. please report back with what you do and results. myself and many of my gunsmith friends like to hear what works and if it's different than what we are doing... but my suggestions are the best that we've come up with in the last thirty five to forty years.
don't waste your time messing with the forend or putting shims in....... these are things you do with one piece stocks.... a two piece stock is a totally different beast..... with a two piece stock the accuracy problems start with the butt stock, be it a smelly or a Winchester lever or marlin..... a solid fitted butt stock is key...... once you have it properly in place then you can fire it and mess with the forend... not so much for accuracy but to alter point of impact..... get the butt done then I'd fire it with no forend and make sure nothing touches the barrel..... this will give you a point of reference then put the forend on and fire again to see what changes happen.... then again with the hand guard....... this way you can see and understand what each part does and make corrections as you go.
yes the stocks were originally finished with linseed oil but not the way you might think...... all military stocks except japs basically threw the stocks into a huge tank of boiling linseed oil and left them in for varying lengths of time. then they just pulled them out and wiped them off.... they got tossed in a bin til they were needed. not much of a way of finishing a stock but it was fast and did the job for a tool that wasn't expected to last long. if you look at the areas that contact metal on most you will see black staining..... that's from gun oil and cleaning crap.... these materials are death to wood they kinda rot it away, rob it of all strength and nothing can fix it.... you can soak it out with various solvents best I've used is a vapor degreaser..... but these are mostly outlawed..... won't tell where mine is hidden lol!!!! all wood shrinks with age and it continues to shrink... I've done a lot of work with antiques restoration refinishing etc.... you can take a regular tape measure and actually measure the shrinkage on a round table.... it will be greater across the grain than with the grain..... (one way to tell a fake).... older the table the greater the difference in the measurements. fun to compare a new fake to say a hundred year old or two hundred and even a three hundred year old table..... not uncommon to see a inch or more difference. gun stock do the same thing.... ever look at an old LC Smith double... they all have cracks behind the lock plates.... if you see one that doesn't, be very suspect.... that's because they did the inletting all wrong... they did a beautiful job tight wood to metal fit but they didn't take into account shrinkage.... if they'd left a little gap on the top and bottom of the lock plates we wouldn't have the problems we do fixing or replacing cracked and broken stocks..... anyway putting more linseed oil won't correct shrinkage, it will kinda plump up the wood fibers temporarily but that will go away in a short time...... glass bed it and problem solved do it right and nothing will show...... I can assure you that two sides of that stock will show gaps from the years of shrinkage. and no one will fault you for re-bedding a stock, only if you f... it up. I've seen groups go from 12" to 1" just from redoing the butt stock. along with a little scraping of the front end of forend where it touch the barrel......... don't expect that accuracy, that's pure luck..... I don't remember what the brit's had to have but most military rifles were only required to shoot 3" at a hundred yards. please report back with what you do and results. myself and many of my gunsmith friends like to hear what works and if it's different than what we are doing... but my suggestions are the best that we've come up with in the last thirty five to forty years.