Carbon fiber stocks - DIY tinkering

[Mt Al]

Thank you! And sorry if I come off as arrogant calling it low tech. The purpose of the thread was to show what can be done with relatively basic equipment, and with no prior skills or experience with resin and carbon fibers - but lots of patience, trying and failing... Especially carbon fiber skinning in a nice entrance into this game. Similar to other threads on this topic, this one hopefully might inspire some of out the starting blocks

I had to do some adjustments to the last stock after this hunting season, meaning I also have to re-do the finish. I'll try to post some pictures of the process as it progress.

Not arrogant at all and definitely inspiring. Jumping into carbon fiber often seems like a bridge too far but threads like this make it seem in the reach of more of us.

Really appreciate the time you took sharing the story, materials, process, etc..

 

[ElkJunky]

Great work!

 

[Stearinlys]

Bra gjort @hpmr , det ser flotte ut!

What did those projects end up costing you in the end?

 

[Stearinlys]

Or for anyone else who has done this, you're more than welcome to chime in. I have experience with fibreglass and resin, and am just wondering how the cost to work with carbon compares.

 

[JerryLeblanc]

Wow an impressive job. way to keep at it and experimenting until you get what you want.

 

[hpmr]

Bra gjort @hpmr , det ser flotte ut!

What did those projects end up costing you in the end?

Takk

As always, a project gets more expensive than first estimated… New project = justification to buy new tools.

The stocks however aren’t that expensive thou, and you’ll get a long way with hand tools. Material costs are; core material $50, carbon fiber cloth $30 (1sqm is enough for 1 stock), resin $35, paint(s) $30, (breather/peel ply/vacuum bag $25) + misc for bedding, sling studs/sockets and recoil pad. So somewhere between $150 and $200 will get you close to a finished stock. And of course, lots and lots of hours and elbow grease…

 

[hpmr]

Or for anyone else who has done this, you're more than welcome to chime in. I have experience with fibreglass and resin, and am just wondering how the cost to work with carbon compares.

I recon it should be pretty comparable.

 

[Stearinlys]

Takk

As always, a project gets more expensive than first estimated… New project = justification to buy new tools.

Ha! Always love a good reason to buy new tools! (As a mechanic I can always a come up with a "good" reason for new tools) LOL

The stocks however aren’t that expensive thou, and you’ll get a long way with hand tools. Material costs are; core material $50, carbon fiber cloth $30 (1sqm is enough for 1 stock), resin $35, paint(s) $30, (breather/peel ply/vacuum bag $25) + misc for bedding, sling studs/sockets and recoil pad. So somewhere between $150 and $200 will get you close to a finished stock. And of course, lots and lots of hours and elbow grease…

Beauty, thanks! So $200 US is like.... $400 Canadian.. LOL. I might do a little looking around to see if I can find some deals or cheap suppliers up here.

 

[waspocrew]

Very impressive!

 

[hpmr]

Its closing in on hunting season, so I figured I had to get this rifle ready again. I've made some small adjustments from last season; tweaked LOP, pillar bedded and added a second spartan mount. Doing this also ment I had to give it a new finish. I tried to take some pictures of the process.

Sanded down and cleaned, ready for the first layer.



I used an epoxy paint (kinda similar to the paint used for garage floors etc.) It gets super hard once it is cured. It is kinda thick, so I applied it with paint roller and a small brush. Once it "settles", it gets pretty even with minimal structure and it has a matte finish. (The NCS color code is S 7500-N).



In order to cure the paint layers a bit faster, I turned the garage beer fridge into a temporarily "baking oven" with a 75 watt bulb.



Installing a second spartan gunsmith adapter for tripod shooting.



To make it more grippy I used a webbing/marble spray and sealed it with a two component matte clear coat.

 

[hpmr]

The texture turned out pretty good, making sure its grippy even when its wet (which I'm pretty sure it is atleast 50% of the days out hunting).






And some bling:


Gonna try out a new spotter/tripod/head combo this season. The tripod might be to light (=flimsy?), but I've gonna give it a try. It has enough height for me to glass or shoot standing up, and I really want the spartan setup to work (but im not sure before some field testing...)


Going back to lead bullets again this season. I prefer bonded bullets over match bullets, as the red deer hunting sometimes can get really up close. Thin jacket, non-bonded core and shoulder hits isn't always the best combo. I'm trying out Scirocco II in my 280 ai. The load looks good at 100, so I'm gonna do some testing and verification further out.