The 10/22 Spencer Carbine Project

[TINCANBANDIT]

I saw this cool "tribute" gun on another forum, (http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/sh ... p?t=230598#)

I thought I would enjoy attempting to build one of these myself.



so the idea is to recreate the look of the cavalry carbines of the late 19th century

The Spencer



The Sharps



The Springfield Trapdoor



Key elements:
semi-crescent butt plate - Ruger 10/22 already has
short barrel - ditto
barrel band - ditto
straight grip - we can modify
tapered forend - we can modify
saddle ring - we will add
slings - we will add

[TINCANBANDIT]

So I began searching for an affordable 10/22

didn't take long and I was able to score a 2013 vintage 10/22 for a very reasonable price, and it came with an extra stock!




stay tuned, in the coming weeks I will post updates as I go along

[mauser54]

Sounds like an awesome project. Looking forward to seeing the results.

[TINCANBANDIT]

The first step is collecting the necessary parts. I have the gun and the stock (which is made of either maple or birch)

I found this set of slings from a Enfield No.1 Mk3, I'll modify the front one to fit the Rugers barrel band and the rear will get inletted into the butt stock



I bought this handmade 1" leather sling on ebay.



I didn't care for the sliver Chicago bolts, so I bought some brass ones

[TINCANBANDIT]

I was planning on building a custom saddle ring, but I was lucky enough to pick up this one from a Krag-Jorgensen Carbine



I went shopping on the Bolt Depot and picked up some oval head screws for the butt plate, saddle ring and rear sling



I also found this rear sight, I think it's from a Winchester .22 (model 67??)



The guy who inspired this build installed an extended mag release, because it sort of resembles the lever used to open the action of some of the old carbines, so I got one too

[TINCANBANDIT]

I decided to use this stock for this project, it was the ugliest of the 5 that I had collected.

Notice the splotchy finish, both birch & maple are notorious for resisting stain (which will make refinishing a challenge).





I removed the butt plate (to prevent it from getting scratched) and mounted the stock in my vice. Time to start making saw dust

The first task is to remove the pistol grip with a wood saw

[TINCANBANDIT]

Using a straight edge we can see that we have a lot of material to remove.



We'll need to remove some from the sides as well



progress

[TINCANBANDIT]

After much rasping, filing and sanding we have it close, the tape is for the modification to the fore end



I then cut flutes in the front of the comb, I may remove a little more material in front of the comb to accentuate it more

[TINCANBANDIT]

Following Hipshot's instructions I start on the fore end by marking a line and then cutting the line in with a fine tooth saw



I then start rasping, filing and sanding





The final cut is made with a wood chisel



Almost fits perfect, we'll clean it up a bit more and then taper the end considerably

[TINCANBANDIT]

Now we mark a line to start changing the taper to the rear of the barrel band



Some rough guidelines, don't worry, I am not removing all of the material outside of the lines, I am just using the lines to remind me not to remove too much inside the lines.



I started with the rasp

[TINCANBANDIT]

Then went to the file



Then I started on the nose, I drew a line and began tapering the fore tip



but I forgot I wanted to shorten it, so I cut 1" off the end and trued it up with my disc sander

[TINCANBANDIT]

Then I worked the nose, tapering it and rounding the edges

[TINCANBANDIT]

Here is a picture of the stock next to an unmodified one, it appears to be a lot shorter, even though we only removed 1 inch

[TINCANBANDIT]

The brass screw heads were a little bigger that the factory butt stock screws, so I opened up the holes a bit

[TINCANBANDIT]

Time to start with the more difficult task, inletting is a skill I want to master, so this is a good opportunity to get some practice.

I trace the outline with a sharpie



Then I start removing wood. I am using an Exacto knife tool, I thought it would be easier to be precise with this. I will remove the material well inside the line, then fit the saddle ring plate



almost there



pretty much done, I'll clean up the channel and edges a bit, but it fits flush on the back end and looks at home

[TINCANBANDIT]

I then followed suit with the sling swivel



almost there



done




next step is to clean up the edges and drill the holes for the screws

[Flawlessfoose]

Very nice, looking forward to more!

[TINCANBANDIT]

Holes drilled and screws mounted

[TINCANBANDIT]

My blog will be catching up with these posts

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2016/0 ... art-1.html

The sling mount was pretty ugly, so I cleaned it up a bit before bluing





I also had to slim down the front sling to fit the barrel band

You can see it here compared to the Uncle Mikes swivel mount

[TINCANBANDIT]

I was warned by some wood workers in the know, not to try and stain the stock with typical wood stain. I was instructed to use a dye. I had found a guy on line who made a replacement birch M1 Carbine stock look like a military issue walnut one, so I followed his lead.
I used some Fiebings dark brown leather dye and a cotton swab



I followed with some brown shoe polish



here is what it looks like in the natural light, there are some dark areas, but I think it looks pretty authentic





here I laid it over the top of an unmodified factory stock so you can see what changed