Finished mine last week. Probably won't be able to post a pic until I get new software or a new computer. My photo site where I keep my albums(photoworks.com) just upgraded their software and I can't even get to my old pics. Sucks. As I posted in another thread, I ordered the standard stock with schnabel forend in fiddleback maple; plus I ordered the steel spacer and triggerguard from NEF. The stocks were modified by cutting off the pistol grip to make a straight grip, then the nose of the comb was moved back about 1/2" to give me a lever action length grip plus a LOT higer nose on the comb. Came out nice. Overall profile is kind of like a model 94, but I left just a slight amount of "sowbelly" in the bottom of stock to give it that old time singleshot look. Ed had aleady installed the Pachmyr recoil pad for me, which made life a lot easier. The forend was a bit more trouble, since the barrel channel required a goodly amount of sanding to bed properly; plus the steel spacer also needed to be sanded down quite a bit to fit. Instead of using just the abrupt bevel between the back of the foreend and the spacer like the factory does(did), I used my belt grinder to grind the flat ovals you see on the back of some of the old stocks(sharps etc) and the Ruger #1's. Easy to do with a belt grinder or a disc grinder.....just make sure the workrest and belt are really square first. Also took a lot of the belly out of the forend, so the wood was level with the bottom of the spacer. After finish sanding and whiskering and staining(used a mixture of Oxblood and Meduim brown leather dyes to give me a dark reddish brown colour), I applied two coats of Watco's Teak Oil, let that dry for 3 days and then applied several coats of MinWax, waiting a day between coats to let them dry hard.
Took it to the range last Friday, but since the main Range was closed for the holidays had to used the much smaller Auxlliary range which has only a few positions for 25/50/100 yds, and no sandbags etc available. Lot of guys were there with their new Christmas muzzleloaders which Santa had brought a few days early. Second Muzzleloader opens tomorrow here. I managed to get off three quick shots at 50 yds just resting my elbows on the bench(it was also 14 degrees F with about a 20 knot wind blowing). All three printed exactly where the rifle had shot with the old stock, and all three were in a tight cloverleaf touching. Impressed the heck out of them guys with both the rifle's looks and the accuracy. I am a happy rabbit hound. DId take some pics and maybe I"ll figure out a way to get them here; but it won't happen soon.
