(Continued)

I had picked up a semi-inletted '70s style "Bishop" Monte Carlo stock complete with "white line spacers" a few years back. I found it rummaging around in the dimly lit back room of a local gunshop & nobody could mistake that in-letting for anything else but a Krag Jorgensen.  It had a few minor checks in the butt & the gunshop owner let me have it for $15. After that stock sat around for several years I got it out when my son expressed interest in using "Old Lucky. By laying the butchered stock on top of the Monte Carlo monstrosity, I found there was enough wood in that stock to make a straight grip replica of the original "sporterized" stock. I took a bench mounted belt & disc sander to it to remove the comb, cheek piece & pistol grip to get the straight grip shape & roughed in the schnabel forend.

I spent most of the day Sunday with in-letting black, chisels & a barrel channel scraper getting the action bedded. Yesterday I took an angle grinder & flap disc to it roughing it down closer to the final shape. Today I removed the plastic buttplate & took 3/8" off the butt in the table saw. After in letting the GI buttplate & drilling a trap for extra aperture discs, I'll be ready to finish sand the shape.

The shape is almost identical to the old stock. I'm not going to go for the black oil look or the fake ivory inlays, but I've had great results with Birchwood Casey "Rusty Walnut" water based stain & Minwax "Antique Oil Finish". Last year I learned how to rust blue & do niter blued accents in the kitchen oven. With a new stock, rust blue & the Williams FP receiver sight, I think my Dad would be tickled to go deer hunting with the resurrected "Old Lucky" if he was still with us.

Maybe my son can use it to kill that big bruiser buck that always seemed to elude my Dad.

As soon as I can get my laptop fixed I will post some PIX. I'm working with an iPad right now & can't upload pictures.