GPR Kit Arrived

[Mike_AK]

My GPR kit arrived from Midway USA today. Is it normal for the buttplate, trigger assembly, lock, and nose cap/ramrod fitting to be installed on the stock already? If so, what do folks use to drive those tiny little pins out of the nose cap and ramrod fitting to remove them for polishing and finishing?

 

[MercerLake]

:v I generaly use nails that are smaller than the pin and grind the end flat. Then very carefully tap the nail against the pin with a small hammer to remove the pin. Sometimes the pin has been peened to prevent it falling out, they shouldn't be very tight in most cases. :v

 

[Birddog6]

Leave it on til you are ready to brown it, as you will sand the wood at the edge of it & round it off & then it is gonna look like H. Same way with the buttplate, get it on & fitted & do all sanding with the buttplate on, so you don't round off the edge of the wood.
:thumbsup:

 

[Wayne/Al]

Mike, Mine came with all that stuff on as you described. On my GPR those pins came out easy. I found a drill bit the right size and just tapped them out. I did what Bird Dog said and left that on untill I finished sanding the stock.

Good luck Wayne/Al

 

[Mike_AK]

Thanks for the answers, guys. I will leave them in place when I sand the stock, but I might take off the nose cap first and build the inletted wood up a little with Acraglas Gel first and refit it. The cap is a bit loose.

 

[Zonie]

Mike AK
IF you try to build up the area under the nose cap I would suggest that you apply the epoxy in a very small area where it looks like it will do the most good. The entire inner surface of the nose cap does not have to be making 100 percent contact with the wood.
Keep the stuff away from the pin holes or you will make epoxy pins that will lock the nose cap to the stock and use lots of parting compound.

Actually, I think a slight sliver of wood would do as well without the trouble and cost of using Acraglas but, it's up to you.

The metal parts will get scratched while your sanding the wood so you will need to sand them down just a bit to remove the scratches.

Also, when your sanding the wood remember, you want the wood to look like it flows from or to the metal part.

That requires sanding WAY up the surfaces to make sure they start to blend to the metal while they are a long way away from it. Start the blending at least 6 inches from the metal part. 10 or 12 is even better.

One of the more common mistakes made is to try to get the wood within 1/2 or 1 inch to meet the metal part and they forget about the rest of the surface except to smooth it off with a little sanding.
That ends up looking like the wood has been chamfered locally to fit the metal.

You will be surprised at the amount of wood that needs to be removed to make everything look nice and smooth and blended with no rapid or sharp changes in direction.

One area that does need a rapid change in direction is the flat faces where the lockplate and sideplate (or metal washer like screw support) fit.

The edges where the flat faces stop and the blend between them and the stock should be sharp. Use a small piece of wood as a backing for the sandpaper so it doesn't round over those corners.

Speaking of the lock panel (as it is called). They are usually much too wide as they come from the factory.
Try to find some pictures of original half-stocks and notice how narrow the distance is from that sharp edge to the edges of the lockplate.
The half stocks aren't as thin in this area as the longrifles but they are lots thinner than the Italians make them.

Have fun.

 

[Mike_AK]

Thanks for the good advice. I'm really looking forward to getting started.