[M1Army]

Oh I know the pain - I did not do this specifically, but I did complete a beautiful refinish and then found a hairline crack near the stock liner screw - my heart skipped a beat too as I would never use or sell a stock with a crack.

You have to drill out the rivets [I realize you already know this now] and carefully work them out after drilling. Also, you should really consider the sadlak front rail mount if you are going to take off the USGI front swivel and mount a bi-pod - our you may get another crack later!

MANY Options on Stock too many to list here depending on the route you want to take - pictures of the crack and damage would help. In many cases the crack would be repairable [again pics would help] but cosmetically could show if extends up to the front ferrule which could bother you in other ways!

Hey we have all done stuff like this in some form or another - just rack it up to experience and view it as a way to repair or maybe improve your M1A. When it comes to stocks I always try to remind the poster to consider what you do the most with your rifle and get a stock that will primarily satisfy a high majority of those needs. Don't compromise - save a little money up and get what you need as to me the stock is something that wraps the awesome M1A/M14 and should look good and be correct for your purpose.

Lastly - you should have posted this in the Stock or M14 forum as this may be moved by the moderator.

Just my .02

Good luck.... M1Army

 

[speerchucker]

Cracks in the forearm can be repaired with good wood glue and clamps. Can you post a pic ?

 

[Tophlor]

Thanks for the input. I will post some pictures tomorrow. I am traveling and don't have them with me right now.
I will try a repair since it costs me nothing. I will seek guidance on this at that time.

 

[KurtC]

If you really want to keep the stock, drill out the rivets and use the Sadlak kit to install a rail and nutplate. If you use Devcon or bedding epoxy, it will repair the crack as well.
http://sadlak.com/si_hd_front_rail.html

 

[Ric Flair]

Don't beat yourself up.

As others have said, it more than likely can be fixed. Put some pictures up here so the wood experts can look at it.

 

[Tophlor]

Here are the pictures. I have contacted SA and they have asked me to send it back. I have asked them to return a stock without the front hardware on it.

I hope this works or else I will try another way to embed a picture, I am new at this.

 

[KurtC]

Wow. When you crack a stock, you really go all out. If there are punch marks on the inside of the rivets, I wouldn't expect too much from SAI.

 

[M1Army]

If they replace the stock that is great - use a reinforced Sadlak rail or thier reinforced QD stud to mount your bipod or you may have other issues. Hopefully SAI will replace it of you....

Best of luck... M1Army

 

[Tophlor]

Here are the pictures. I have contacted SA and they have asked me to send it back. I have asked them to return a stock without the front hardware on it.

I hope this works or else I will try another way to embed a picture, I am new at this.

I will pay for my stupidity. I will not make the same mistake twice. My Dad always said that Ignorance can be cured but stupidity is bone deep.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

I would remove wood material on the inside of the stock and layer in some very fine fiberglass cloth. Something similar to :
3.22 Ounce per square yard
HEXCEL STYLE 120

http://thayercraft.com/Fiberglass Cloth Photo Gallery.html
-----------------------
This site has some information for small fiberglass applications.

Once the glass has set, take a Dremel tool and remove the excess glass. Use care not to allow the resin to weep out through the crack. Probably best to clamp it prior to applying the glass resin to the inside of the stock.

Good Luck.......

Hobo

 

[bigblock]

That stock is not cracked, its broke in two. Fulton Armory sell just the wood stock without the hardware. Sorry for your lose.

 

[khshockey44]

If you are going to try the glue and clamp route I would suggest using Titebond with the red label and using something to get the crack good and filled in them clamp it down. I known we are talking guns here but I do know that on guitars that they use this glue to glue necks to the bodies and also of someone breaks a headstock they glue them back together with titebond and it holds up to the tension of the strings. good luck with the repair if you do so.

 

[LoB]

Wood Working working is a Hobby of mine.

I have repaired much worse than this very successfully.

By the looks of that she is pretty much broken into two pieces, not cracked.

I would take a Popsicle stick (or something similar) and spread that gap so you can get the glue over 100% of the inside of the crack. On the tight part of the crack close to the stock ferule, thin the Titebond with a little warm water and squish it into the tight part of the crack with a small brush. This will allow you to get the Titebond II (or III) on the entire surface area of the crack. Then ~GENTLY~ (as in NOT TIGHT but Moderately) clamp. You can remove the glue that squeezes out of the crack with a damp cloth. If you clamp too tightly you squeeze too much glue out of the joint . . . it's a balancing act.

Regular Titebond original (Red label) will work also unless you plan on storing the stock in a pond.

There is no need to fiberglass anything. DO NOT remove any material. THAT is a very clean break along the grain of the wood. The easiest to repair.

A properly done Titebond joint will be stronger than the wood around it.

I would not buy a new stock, that one is easily repairable and if you are careful, no one will ever know except you (and us).

Edited to add:

If it were my stock I would try to separate the two pieces but the stock ferule may make that difficult. If the two pieces will separate easily this will make it a lot easier to glue up and clamp.

 

[NATOBTHP]

Brownells sells their own stock repair/bedding compound called Accuglas Gel.
It's the best "glue" I've ever used.
You'll barely see the crack line and the filled crack will be stronger than the wood that surrounds it.
Do like others say and use The Sadlak bipod mount too.

 

[Ric Flair]

Tophlor, It's worth a shot. Again, I think you're being a little to hard on yourself.

I wish some of my past mistakes could be fixed with a little time and a dab of glue.

 

[Capona]

I had the exact same snap in the exact same location. My snap was from excessive loading my GG&G bipod when shooting it.
I had a GG&G pic mount that uses both holes.
The USGI stock broke exactly like your picture.
A clean break along the grain and it is easily repaired with a strong wood glue and a clamp and will be stronger than before the break.

I did learn a lesson that any kind of bipod use on a wood stock requires some type reinforcement effort, unless you are just going to baby it when using a bipod. If you are going to load the bipod as you should, you need reinforcement. I choose to put the bipod on my JAE and only use wood stock with sandbags and no bipod.

 

[Tophlor]

I had the exact same snap in the exact same location. My snap was from excessive loading my GG&G bipod when shooting it.
I had a GG&G pic mount that uses both holes.
The USGI stock broke exactly like your picture.
A clean break along the grain and it is easily repaired with a strong wood glue and a clamp and will be stronger than before the break.

I did learn a lesson that any kind of bipod use on a wood stock requires some type reinforcement effort, unless you are just going to baby it when using a bipod. If you are going to load the bipod as you should, you need reinforcement. I choose to put the bipod on my JAE and only use wood stock with sandbags and no bipod.

I think that it will have to be reinforced. I will shoot with sandbags moving forward. Gun is too nice looking to ruin

 

[six clicks]

If it were me I would sell it for what it is, a cracked stock and buy a new one, that way you could recover some cost on it and some one else can fix or have a beater truck gun ect... And chalk it up to a learning experience to always drill rivets instead of punching them.

Or fix it and keep it as a beater stock for your self, I have a few of those along with my presentation grade usgi stock.

 

[Doug Carlton]

Pinned stocks are very common and function just the same is non-pinned stocks. All of my "shooter" M14s have pinned stocks. They are beautiful stocks that I have tested year after year to try and further crack and I have yet to do so.

Order the Stock Pin Kit from Brownells, it includes 3/32" and 1/8" pins as well as the drill bits needed and fix that baby up. It will twice as strong.

Post pics. Start a thread.