Made a lead plug for my 45-120

[AtlLaw]

I finally broke out the 7/8 inch drill bit and bored a hole in a piece of 2x2, 7 inches deep.  Filled it full of lead and then split the wood off after it cooled.  With some minor tweaking it fit in the stock bolt recess perfectly!   

I also mounted the BC front sight while I was at it.

Now I just need to get to the range and shoot it some.  Two goals:  500 gr. hard cast RNFPGC at 2150 fps and a 350 gr. hornady at 2500.  I'll leave the heavy loads to Tyler.   

[quickdtoo]

  Waiting anxiously for the range report.... I hope the paramedics can stop the bleeding quickly!!

Tim

[necchi]

Uhmm, ya coulda just filled it with shot, shook it down a bit an plugged the hole with silicon,
But it is good to know the American made stock isn't using a meteric bit for the bolt hole.

 With some minor tweaking it fit in the stock bolt recess perfectly  

How big a hammer ya need fer the "minor tweeking"  

[Smokin Joe]

500 gr. hard cast RNFPGC at 2150 fps

That ought to set ya back about a hat and a half.


 

[AtlLaw]

ya coulda just filled it with shot, shook it down a bit an plugged the hole with silicon,

That was the way I have been doing it, minus the silicon, but I'm always pulling the stock off for this, that or the other thing.  This is quicker and easier.  Costs less then a mercury recoil reducer also!   

How big a hammer ya need fer the "minor tweeking"  

Well, actually it was a rubber mallet!   

[AtlLaw]

That ought to set ya back about a hat and a half.

I imagine so...    But, there's only one way to find out!   

Also, after seeing what Tyler's jacketed 405 load did to deer last season, I wanna try hard cast 500's this year.  Them light bullets are too explosive when driven fast!  'sides, these south Jawja whitetails been known to charge when wounded!   

[gstewart44]

Durn Richard, sounds like a shoulder-jolter load.    How much did the lead plug end up weighing?           

[S.E.Ak]

Remember that lead will expand as dampness gets to it. Seen many an old single shot gun with a cracked stock at the butt and most had lead plugs. A easy fix is buy a two dollar cigar that comes in a metal tube and fill it with the lead and then put in the stock

[gcrank1]

Maybe wax it up good with any paste wax and keep that 'growth' at bay. Of course, since you say you are getting in there fairly regular it may not take you by surprise.

[AtlLaw]

I never did weigh the thing.   I thought about it, just outa curiousity, but didn't. 

I also never thought about lead swelling, thanks for the heads up!   

[Smokin Joe]

Remember that lead will expand as dampness gets to it

Lead sucking up moisture? Does the stock expand against the lead plug?

[gcrank1]

What I referred to as 'growth' is the corrosion that takes place at the surface of lead and effectively causes an increase in diameter. We've all seen it at one time or another and the last place we want it is in a buttstock with only a little clearance and the woodgrain wanting to hold against it. If the dia. of the lead is small enough you could probably wax it and wrap it with black plastic electrical tape which should let the slug slip out nicely when needed.

[AtlLaw]

Okay, I got a solution...  I'll only use it on days with low humidity!     If my wife caught me waxing lead she'd have me committed... 

[miyata]

Lead will oxidise and the surface will swell, it can do a lot of damage.  A good solution is to paint the surface with an epoxy paint.

I'm thinking of adding lead to my .45-120 ultra hunter.  Because it has a thumbhole stock there is no bolt hole in the end.  I'm considering routing or drilling some holes and then mixing lead shot with epoxy and filling teh holes.  It would be permanent, but I don't think that matters.

[silver surfer]

Gents,
  May I tell you a cautionary tale?  A few years back I was given an inline .50 cal ML as a Christmas present.  I had never even shot an inline and all of it was a new experience over my sidelocks that I had hunted with for years.  (To be honest; my wife got sick of me griping about mis-fires and bought it to shut me up .)  The new plastic stock was noisy as the devil and it recoiled much differently than my trusty straight walnut stocks I had grown accustomed to.  Not to mention this baby could hold 150 grains of velocity producing mayhem!  Well the recoil was a tad on the jumpy side for my taste so I load the butt stock with a heavy dose of saw dust and #8 bird shot.  This definitely deadened the noise...  See where this is going ? 
  The next weekend a buddy and I went hunting.  It was a nice weekend to be hunting, good weather, good food, and good company.  Saturday morning passed uneventful and we met at a designated area to walk back to the truck when two deer ambled out in front of us.  Both deer were legal to shoot so we crept up and were going to drop them both at about 100 yards.  We counted to three and pulled triggers, the next thing I know is he was looking down at me and laughing as I felt blood running out of my freshly squashed nose!
  I hadn't shot the rifle since i had weighted the stock and it changed the balance and recoil characteristics of the gun so much it caught me totally by surprise and the scope smashed my snoot!  Luckily I hit mine and my buddy missed when he saw my face cave in.
  The moral of the story is, be aware that weighting may change the way your rifle recoils considerably.  Shoot it several times before that moment of truth, it may save you some pain and embarrassment in the future.

[v8r]

Ouch

[AtlLaw]

weighting may change the way your rifle recoils considerably.  Shoot it several times before that moment of truth, it may save you some pain and embarrassment

Good point!  When I first rechambered it I shot mine some without any weight in the stock.  Come to think about it, no recoil pad either.    Being that I'm pretty fast on the uptake when something gets my attention , I soon put a Limbsaver pad on it.  Then I filled the bolt recess with birdshot.

I haven't noticed any change in the recoil pulse, but I did notice that the Leupold 2x7 scope I have mounted on it gets a llittle to close for comfort if my shooting form from the bench isn't what it should be!   

[Daman]

weighting may change the way your rifle recoils considerably.  Shoot it several times before that moment of truth, it may save you some pain and embarrassment

Good point!  When I first rechambered it I shot mine some without any weight in the stock.  Come to think about it, no recoil pad either.    Being that I'm pretty fast on the uptake when something gets my attention , I soon put a Limbsaver pad on it.  Then I filled the bolt recess with birdshot.

I haven't noticed any change in the recoil pulse, but I did notice that the Leupold 2x7 scope I have mounted on it gets a llittle to close for comfort if my shooting form from the bench isn't what it should be!   

With bad form a 243 will bite you much less a 45-120!

Daman

[NickSS]

I have first hand knowledge of damage to a stock by a lead plug.  I bought a 30-06 model 70 custom match rifle off an old shooter who was retiring from competition.  He had added lead plugs to the butt stock to balance the rifle for off hand shooting.  I shot that rifle for 10 years in competion and had it re-barreled three times while at it.  Then I put it away when I quit high power shooting.  A couple years later I took it out to have some fun and found the butt stock completely splintered from the lead swelling.  It cost me $500 for a new stock for it.