M14 Forum

tonyben

I really need to change that statement. It is actually referring to different diameters for different stock stiffnesses. The diameter that sits on the stock ferrule during bedding is larger for lighter stocks and smaller for heavy stocks if using the method laid out in The M14 Owner's Guide and Match Conditioning Instructions By Scott Duff and John M. Miller.

1.180" for heavy stocks
1.200" for light stocks

The smaller diameter will give a lighter draw pressure for heavy stocks. I guess the thinking is that the heavy stock doesn't need as much draw pressure to control the barrel during recoil.

According to their book, a lighter stock will require more pressure.

ddeaton

So the barrel weight doesnt matter? When we say heavy stock VS light, we mean a dense stiff piece of wood? I have 12 stocks from Fred and am in the process of cleaning them up now for bedding practice. ( For real if it works out)
I have 6 birch and 6 walnut. All are the same profile, but are different densitys. I picked a couple that are heavy dense wood to start on and so far I have ground out the ferrule for the gas cylinder clearance. I will be bedding a heavy barrel reciever, so I want to make sure I get the right tension. I have a McMillian stock on order and want to get some answers on how to bed this beast also.
Thanks guys for all the tips so far, I enjoy working on these.

tonyben

Folks, after going through some old PM's regarding draw pressure, I was reminded by some very credible resources that contrary to what is published in The M14 Owner's Guide and Match Conditioning Instructions, it is not the stock that determines the amount of draw pressure, but rather the barrel weight. A lighter barrel will require more draw pressure than a heavy barrel.

I will try to summon the experts to interject on this subject so that it is crystal clear and you hear it from them.

ddeaton

Thanks Tony, I have plenty of time to get to that point. I am just doing my homework up front. I will wait on answers.

Gus Fisher

I most often use coat hanger wire from two sources. The smallest diameter rod is from the cheap wire coat hangers you get from dry cleaners. The second is larger diameter and you get that size when you buy them in a store. I use the size that puts the best pressure on for each stock and barrel combination. Now as I pointed out earlier, I ran across a commercial stock that was off on the geometry in many places and even the heavier wire gave no tension on the barel to the front band. I keep 18" lengths of drill rod on hand for making pins or other items. I went up through the sizes until I found one that gave enough and good draw, but not too much draw.

Enough draw is when the wire will indent the wood a bit when you lock the triggerguard down. For G.I. stocks, the two sizes of coat hanger wire takes care of 99 percent of all work. Same thing if the commercial stock is made to the geometry of a G.I. stock. Because you can never know how what size barrel will fit what size commercial stock, it's good to have some other sizes of wire or small diameter drill rod on hand.

P.S. Don't ask me about the diameter of the "doughnuts" that go on the ends of the barrel cause I quit using them over 20 years ago. I found they had a tendency to misalign the ferrule and the front band so you had to do some work on the front band so it wouldn't catch or squeek against the ferrule. You want the band to slide smoothly or the barrel won't come back to the same spot at rest after each shot.

ddeaton

Man, you guys are fast. I guess I need to go back and read the wire method. I dismissed this as I thought the bushing method might be better. I will read over this again as I can already see the problems with the bushing. Aside from the alignment issues you mentioned, the questions I brought up about diameter VS barrel weight makes this a big guess with this method.

Zardoz

Couldn't have said it better, myself.

jens5

Thanks Tony, for a most informative tutorial. Your research, experience and just plain hard work are greatly appreciated.
This is the kind of en-devour and priceless information that make this forum truly unique.

YardDogOne

This could not have re-appeared at a better time. I've been searching and taking notes but this seems to have summed it all up in one post.

I will be taking three M14's to the range in coming weeks to see which one will be the candidate for accurizing,

Thanks again