DIY Rokstok Lite-ish (The Barnstok)

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Making my own rifle stock is something I have considered doing every sense a classmate of mine made one in highschool wood shop. I had issues with a poorly made wood stock combined with a 300 Win Mag during that same time that shaped my opinions of wood stocks for a long time and I mostly swore them off until recently for practical reasons.

I have spent the last few years rebuilding our 1921 farmhouse, through this process I have amassed enough tools and confidence to make something like building a rifle stock seem much less daunting. Doing all of the finishing work on our home has resulted in wood working becoming dangerously close to a hobby.

I ended up aquiring a Howa Mini action in 22 ARC on Black Friday. Now that I have become enlightened on proper rifle stock ergonomics with my Tikka Rokslide special, I cant bring myself to purchase a traditional style stock. I thought about a Chassis as I want to keep this rifle as compact as possible but I just dont want to spend the money or give up the versatility. So this and the fact that a Rokstok isnt available for the Howa Mini yet drove me off the deep end.

The goal for this rifle is to have a light and compact as practical; enough so that I can pack it with me shed hunting without really thinking about it for incidental wolf/coyote encounters. I also want to be able to have it on my back or in a scabard on my horse and be as low profile and safe as possible (this is one area I think a folding chassis would shine).
This rifle will also likely end up being what my kids end up shooting so I am considering that as well.

I will do my best to keep this thread current, I have a bit of a head start, as of today I have began inletting. I will post pictures along with explanations of my process as I have time. This is my very first attempt at a rifle stock and I am just figuring it out as I go and in no way conventional or intended to be a guide. I just thought it would be fun to share the process and might help keep me motivated, hopefully someone at least finds it interesting. Also I should mention the others who have shared their stock making process before me, too many to mention but I appreciate your willingness to share and inspiration. A lot of inginuitive and talented folks on this forum!
First picture is of my current Tikka Rokstok setup I shot my elk from this year, utilizing this rifle the past 2 seasons has shaped what I want in a hunting rifle and ultimatly inspired this build and the continued evolution of that setup.
 

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First step I created a template. At this point I wasnt fully comitted to the idea and was just testing otherwise I probably would have drawn it straight on the blank.
I referenced mention of the Rokstok lite specs as well as photo's and my rokstok to come up with something close-ish to the Rokstok lite.

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Rough template with the Howa action.20251214_152032.jpg
 
So this is where the un-conventional part comes in to play. I looked into getting a walnut or comparable hardwood blank and just didnt want to spend that much or experiment on a nice blank my first go at this.
I decided to use some of the old growth douglas fir we salvaged from our house. I have been using this wood for a multitude of projects and realized its nothing like the fir being cut now days. Its very tight grain and much more dense, its also relatively light with a great strength to weight ratio.
I had to laminate 3 pieces together which I hope help with strength/rigidity. I did my best to pick grain that would run through the grip area and aliged the pieces accordingly for glue up.

The fact this is going to be paired with a 22 arc gives me more confidence this will work. Hopefully if I finish it well it will be plenty strong. Worst case I'll have a weird looking boat paddle and will have learned something.
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Once I had my laminated blank I wanted to make sure I was starting with a square/even plane surface to layout the action and start the inletting. I don't have a jointer but have already had to go through this process for other projects and have figured out a method utilizing my hand planer to get it close then my table saw rigged up as a makeshift jointer with a plywood fence. I just realized I didn't take any pictures of that actual process...

I was able to get it true lengthways relatively easy.
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It took a little more work to get it across the width of the surface but wasn't too bad, this is before.
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My attempt to show after, essentially I made a couple of thin passes until I couldn't see any light shine through underneath the square when I put a light behind it. The finished stock will be much thinner but I chose to keep the width of the blank with the idea that it would help to have more surface area to work with during the inletting process, I would later find out this was a good decision.
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Following!!

I forgot to start the built thread this winter, it’s nearing completion I will share a thread once it’s finished perhaps. This winters project was built for donation to support wild sheep, defiance/benchmark carbon in .280ai/turkish walnut. It’s shaping up to be a thing of beauty.

If ever you have any questions on your build, don’t hesitate to reach out, happy to help!!
 
I’m about to start this project myself. I hope to build the stock correctly and then use my
Duplicator on some nicer wood. What kind of wood glue did you used?
Awesome, a duplicator would be pretty handy! Titebond III, its what I have been recomended and worked well with other projects.
 
Following!!

I forgot to start the built thread this winter, it’s nearing completion I will share a thread once it’s finished perhaps. This winters project was built for donation to support wild sheep, defiance/benchmark carbon in .280ai/turkish walnut. It’s shaping up to be a thing of beauty.

If ever you have any questions on your build, don’t hesitate to reach out, happy to help!!
I saw your most resent builld thread "new walnut for an old rifle". Beautiful work, really admire all of the hand work and effort you put into it. Would love to see the new build! This one obviously will be a lot more utilitarian and I am definetly cheating with the lack of hand tools. My wife has a pre-64 winchester 30-06 I would like to do a fancy stock for someday.
I appreciate that, I probably will.
 
Used a laser level and measurements to identify and mark center for the action.
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This took some time but was able to get the action screw holes located and marked with a nail set/punch.
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Action outline and recoil lug area.
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I almost went and bought a cheap drill press but decided to send it! I'll be getting one before I do this again, it would also help with inletting. If this isnt straight enough I can fix it when I instal the pillars I think.
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Using 1/4 inch plywood as a template with a bushing on my plunge router to remove the bulk of the wood, then free handing some of the corners and hand chisel for whatever else.
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For the most part seems to be working. Makes it easy to set the depth on the router based on measurements taken off the action with micrometer. Im glad I chose something like the Howa with a flat bottom action for my first build.
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