Fox Collectors

Hi,
I have my grandfathers old Fox AE 12 ga shotgun made in 1912 and I cherish it and still shoot it a few times a year. When I inherited it the original stock was cracked on the left side of the receiver and the chunk of wood was glued back on years ago it seemed. So I had a new stock made by Wenig and fitting by my local gunsmith who is used to such work. Then I finished the outside myself. It was fine for a while but now it seems to be loosening up a bit. During the finishing process I think I may have sanded down the recess where the top tang resides and/or the sides of the stock that fit into the sides of the receiver a little to much. That's just my theory anyway. Is there a way to rebed the metal to wood fit? I noticed that Wenig added some brown looking material to the inside of the original stock which took the shape of the metal parts inside. I remember they said they had to "make sure the fit was right" before they used a pantograph (wood carving duplicator) to make the new stock.

the bedding compound they used is likely Acraglas - available from Brownells

i find it odd it was on a newly made stock

I'm no expert on these things but the ambient humidity in your area coupled with wood that may not have been fully seasoned could be a culprit.

An obvious question is have you checked the action screws? They can work loose or the wood can shrink a bit over time and cause the screws to become loose, more of a problem with older guns but not impossible with newer wood. As far a glass bedding goes it is pretty straight forward. I use a good two part epoxy colored with stove black (the black blends well and makes a nice almost invisible transition from the wood to the metal). Use a good release agent on anything you don't want permanently attached to the stock. The are a number of products such as paste wax but I have found that masking off the metal with 3M clear package tape works great, easy to work with and clean-up is simple. Probably the key is to use the epoxy sparingly. I apply a small line of the epoxy with a round toothpick about an eighth of an inch below the wood line and only do one surface at a time leaving the tang for last. If you get a little bit of the epoxy on the wood don't panic a bit of very fine wet/dry sand paper and stock oil will clean up any over-run. If you have any other questions PM me.

I can check the screws again. I did that once and they seemed fine.

Wenig didn't add Acraglass to the new stock, they added it to the old original stock so that the pantograph would copy surfaces that resulted in the best possible fit. Or that's what I interpreted given the conversation I had with them years ago.

Wood aging can certainly be the culprit. I didn't consider that. Being a decent wood worker I was careful when I finished the outside of the stock and I remember scraping the sides of 1/8" recess of the tang area with an razor blade to remove just a hair at a time until it fit nicely. But now I can see a visible gap there probably about .015-.020" wide all the way around. Bedding would probably help this, but it probably won't look very good. Even if I color the epoxy to match either the wood or the metal. But at least it'll be tight and shoot well eh?

Also, and I can't remember exactly as it's been a while since out looked at it, but I think the vertical seam where the stock sides butt up against the receiver sides had a tapered gap. I'd have to double check that. If that's the case, it would seem the stock is deflecting relative to the receiver causing misalignment.

If you intend continue shooting this this gun it is important that you address the loose stock. A loose stock can lead to a split in the stock and you will right back to where you were before you had the gun re-stocked.

Providing everything was fitted properly from the start, then climate changing the wood is likely the issue.

If it is the issue, just re-bed everything with acraglass.

You can fit a buttplate or pad to a gun with a perfect fit and 6 months later have the fit be not so good due to climate. It is just the nature of the beast when dealing with doffering materials, and one of them being natural.

Brian Dudley wrote:Providing everything was fitted properly from the start, then climate changing the wood is likely the issue.

If it is the issue, just re-bed everything with acraglass.

You can fit a buttplate or pad to a gun with a perfect fit and 6 months later have the fit be not so good due to climate. It is just the nature of the beast when dealing with doffering materials, and one of them being natural.

Believe Brian is spot on. I recently had a Mannlicher stocked with 5 year old air dried walnut and the wood shrank around the metal buttplate leaving it proud. The buttplate has since been removed and filed down and put back on the gun. The wood shrank approximately 1/32". Amazingly, the wood only shrank around the buttplate and no where else (thank god).