Awesome, thank you for this. How's the shoot ability of that geometry?Absolutely! I’m putting this out there to encourage others to try it too. I’m no composites engineer, just going for it and seeing what happens.
Overall, the whole stock has at least two layers. I’m working from a box of super generously donated scraps, and I didn’t always take the time to look at what weight the fabric was - I just went by feel, thick vs. thin. From the forend back:
- The forend tip has two thinner layers, I think 3k each. This area shouldn’t see a whole of stress/impacts, and the thinner fabric contours over the tight radius better.
- Where the forend cap meets the straight portion of the forend, the layers overlap, giving strength to the front sling lanyard hole.
- The main section of the forend is two layers, one thick and one thin. I want to say one 3k and one 12k? Then the barrel channel is made up of two thick (12k?) layers. I think this is mainly what makes the forend so rigid.
- The action area of the stock has all the inletting structure covered earlier, and the same thick and thin layers as the forend on the outer skin of the stock. I was originally planning to put extra layers here, but didn’t feel it was necessary after the second layup.
- The grip-to-inletting area junction, down through the grip, and back through the wrist all have 3-4 layers of thinner (3k or maybe 6k) fabric. I used thinner carbon to wrap the contours better, and did extra layers at alternating fabric orientations because these areas have the smallest cross-sections, and need to be very stiff.
- The butt section has the same one thin and one thick layer as the forend. Towards the end of the butt there are some extra pieces of thin 3k fabric, but solely for the purpose of building up dimensions to match the recoil pad.
Overall, I’m very happy with the stiffness. Would I put the bare stock spanning between two logs and jump on it in the middle? Probably not. I think it’s more than adequate, but not ridiculously overbuilt, which achieves the strength and weight I was after.
Shootability? I’m all loaded up to go shoot a lot this weekend, so I’ll let you know. However, my previous stock build had a very similar grip, similar recoil pad height, and a negative comb (although with a funky curve) and I thought it was very easy to get behind.Awesome, thank you for this. How's the shoot ability of that geometry?
As an aside for anyone looking to buy carbon for doing this yourself, the "K" number of fabrics has to do with tow construction and not thickness, that's the oz/GSM number. And for building a stock with lots of compound and complex curves you would want to use an "X harness satin weave" with higher numbers being more formable fabrics with a tradeoff in stability and some other properties. I'm probably going go go with all 5 harness satin weaves for my attemp, and I might use some unidirectional tapes in some of the reinforcement areas.
That's awesome, looking forward to hear how it does.Shootability? I’m all loaded up to go shoot a lot this weekend, so I’ll let you know. However, my previous stock build had a very similar grip, similar recoil pad height, and a negative comb (although with a funky curve) and I thought it was very easy to get behind.
I degreased and loctited the Talleys, mounted up a SWFA ultralight 2.5-10x32, and still have an ounce and a half to spare.
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