Anyone have experience with Macon Gunstocks products

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  • BugI02

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    Has anyone had occasion to use stockwood sets from Macon Gunstocks in Warsaw, MO (https://www.macongunstocks.com). I am contemplating restocking a Winchester model 1901 lever action 10gauge shotgun and they make what appear to be several nice sets of varying wood quality that require only final fitting. Since they make similar products for a pretty extensive list of firearms, I thought I would ask if anyone had used them and if they were satisfied with the figure and quality of the wood as well as the faithfulness of the shaping.

    Appreciate any help anyone can offer
     

    jcj54

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    I have bought one semi inletted stock from them. Required a LOT of work to fit and had they not been the only source and had I not been planning to epoxy bed the rifle it would have been sent back....
     

    BugI02

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    Understood. Thank you for the responses, gentlemen. Would it be something someone of modest skill level could accomplish, or would it be relatively simple (and thus not too dear) to have done by a professional?
     

    Squirt239

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    I do a lot of gun work, and it took me quite a while. I used my mill with a ball end mill, which sped up the process.

    I honestly charge straight machine time on work like this because it's such a pain.

    You might try to find a woodworker in your area.
     

    JEBland

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    Here's one article on it: http://www.treebonecarving.com/how-to-fit-a-gunstock.html
    Looks like a fair bit of work.

    I ordered a semi-inlet stock through http://gunstocksinc.com/, but won't get around to it until summer. The ordering and shipping went great. I've seen plenty of forum posts (that showed up in web searches) saying that Macon and Gunstocks Inc. have good service. Gunstocks Inc. also has "reject" blanks if you want to practice using your chisel/file on a piece of scrap wood, finishing, or checkering, but they appear to be out of stock at the moment.
     

    BugI02

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    I'm not really confident in my woodworking skills to take on that level of a project, I was envisioning just a bit of final fitting. I'm researching a plan B

    Does anyone know of any other options for what I wish to do. The shotgun was refinished before I got it and too much wood was sanded, perhaps to remove dings and dents. The butt plate no longer fits correctly. That actually allowed me to get a good price on the firearm and all of its metal is in beautiful shape, but the stock wood bothers me
     

    maxwelhse

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    I'm not really confident in my woodworking skills to take on that level of a project, I was envisioning just a bit of final fitting. I'm researching a plan B

    Does anyone know of any other options for what I wish to do. The shotgun was refinished before I got it and too much wood was sanded, perhaps to remove dings and dents. The butt plate no longer fits correctly. That actually allowed me to get a good price on the firearm and all of its metal is in beautiful shape, but the stock wood bothers me

    Have a new butt plate made..?
     

    BugI02

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    That's original metal from '06 when it was made. I'm unwilling to mess with that, but the sanding changes the look of the grain and takes away a lot of the beauty from the stock wood. My mistake was in assuming it would be more like getting a new stock for an M1 or hunting rifle. I thought they would be more like 90+% with only a minimum of fitting required. I can do the finishing, it is the woodworking skills I'm not sure of. It seems if I DIY I could wind up right back where I'm at now :)

    Not trying to make it a 100 point restoration, but the
    stock wood just jumps out at me and makes me want to do something about it (without paying Turnbull or somebody $1000s to do it for me)

    Hoping to find out about someone who does what Macon does but takes it a bit further along. I don't think the process needs to stop at 80% when it is for a specific type of firearm, and usually somebody somewhere on INGO has done just about everything at one time or another, so maybe has a lead on someone who has what I'm looking for - or at least can give me a realistic idea of whether time and YouTube could teach me to do an acceptable job.
     
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    JEBland

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    Since this has been a week and you've not gotten a resolution on this, I'll take another stab at replying. Again, I haven't done this. It's on my to-do list. But grad school is in the way at the moment.

    Most semi-inlet stocks say that more than 80% complete, but the main thing is that the fitting is the tedious, large time-consuming aspect. In order to (1) look good, and (2) be functional, the fit needs to be done on the individual gun basis, especially for older models.

    If you are comfortable with taking some time to learn the chisels & filing, it seems like it is possible to learn with practice. Whether or not you feel comfortable doing it is of course up to you. Ralph Walker in his book on home gunsmithing seemed to think that this wasn't beyond the skills of a mechanically-inclined individual after a little practice.

    For Youtube discussions... Here's a (slightly old) video from Macon:


    And a couple from Midway :



    There are ready made stock like Boyd's. But most folks who want more than Boyd's can offer in terms of fit basically have to go through this semi-inletted route (as I understand it, anyway).

    For lever guns in particular, some forum posts that I've read is to leave a little gap at the very end of the tang to help prevent splitting. I'll let you look into that if you decide to do it.

    It seems if I DIY I could wind up right back where I'm at now :)
    That's true. But it's also true if it were your first time refinishing, too.

    If you want to do this with a fancy stock - I'd say to just buy two. One with cheap wood just to practice on and feel more comfortable, and a second with the actual wood you want for the project.
     

    BugI02

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    Thank you for the reply and the video links. I'm still mulling over what my actual woodworking capabilities probably are. Another poster said I might be able to get reject blanks from Gunstocks Inc to practice on, but haven't checked yet to see if they make sets to fit the 1901 or anything close enough for good practice. The more time it is likely to take, the less likely I am to get to it anytime soon, so I may look for a gunsmith/craftsman to do it for me. It sounds like the quality of the stocks themselves isn't a concern, but if I go that route I may find the guy to do the work first and see if he has a preference for supplier

    I do appreciate everybody's help, and the record is intact - I still have never had a question that INGO couldn't answer
     

    JEBland

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    I checked the Gunstocks, Inc. site. It seems that the reject stocks are out of stock. I have one lever action reject stock when I ordered a set of 5 from him in the past. I'll actually be passing through Columbus tomorrow (roughly noon-ish) and heading East for the weekend if you could meet somewhere on I-70/270/US-33. Shoot me a PM if interested.
     

    BugI02

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    Thank you very much for the kind offer, JEBland. I must confess to not paying close enough attention to INGO to catch it, as we were out of town for a family wedding. I truly appreciate the consideration, alas it was not to be
     
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