Jump to content
Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Adding Sling Swivel Studs


Clemson

Recommended Posts

This may have been covered before.......It seems almost trivial, but.....

 

It may be helpful to go through the process of putting sling swivel studs on a rifle stock.

 

I started with studs from Brownells. The sketch shows the counterbored hole that I planned for the buttstock. This stud has "woodscrew" threads.

Gunsmithing6308005.jpg

 

Next I leveled the stock upside down in a gun vise. You can eyeball this step.

Gunsmithing6308001.jpg

 

Swivels look best at 2 1/2 to 3 inches from the toe and the same distance from the forend. I marked about 2 3/4 inches with a center punch for this installation.

Gunsmithing6308006.jpg

 

Drilling and counterboring take place on the milling machine, although a perfectly adequate job could also be done on a drill press.

Gunsmithing6308008.jpg

 

Turn the stud into the stock using a punch for leverage.

Gunsmithing6308009.jpg

 

Finished buttstock stud.

Gunsmithing6308010.jpg

 

In like fashion, the stock is leveled for the forend stud and is drilled through from the bottom side. Do NOT drill from the barrel channel side to the bottom, as the bit will almost never exit the stock in the right place, and it will likely splinter the wood on exit.

Gunsmithing6308011.jpg

 

The forend stud has machine threads, and it requires a nut on the inside of the barrel channel. Had this channel not been relieved inside, I would have had to counterbore a recess for the nut. Insure that the stud is cut to a length that will not contact the bottom of the barrel when it is installed!

Gunsmithing6308012.jpg

 

Good luck!

 

Clemson :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brad, the nut itself has a flat on one side and a dome on the other:

Gunsmithing6408003.jpg

 

I have always installed them as shown in the photo so that the flat faces the wood. I don't suppose it would make any difference at all in the strength of the installation. I am curious -- How do the rest of you install that nut?

 

Clemson

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always installed them with the round side down into the hole. I felt that the rounded end would fit with the rounded cut down by the drill bit.

 

 

Brad, the nut itself has a flat on one side and a dome on the other:

Gunsmithing6408003.jpg

 

I have always installed them as shown in the photo so that the flat faces the wood. I don't suppose it would make any difference at all in the strength of the installation. I am curious -- How do the rest of you install that nut?

 

Clemson

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you needed to drill a hole for the forearm nut, would you make it just UNDER the diameter across the "ribbed" section of the nut, so that when turning in the stud screw, it will lock the nut into the wood? A mill bit or square bit would work best I think. If the diameter of the non-ribbed portion of the nut is the same as the diameter of the stud, then the stud counter-bore would be best I guess.

 

I'd rather have the flat against the wood. I'd be concerned about the rounded-end serving as a wedge, potentially splitting the stock as a round-bottomed receiver can. But then again, I'm just paranoid anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd rather have the flat against the wood. I'd be concerned about the rounded-end serving as a wedge, potentially splitting the stock as a round-bottomed receiver can. But then again, I'm just paranoid anyway.

 

Exactly the way I was taught, the hole is drilled undersize where when you draw the nut in spline side first it presses itself in and bottoms out. Then you glass it in when you bed it.

-Don

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...