Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Notes from McMillans on ordering stocks from us.

There is a question that the ladies on the order desks will always ask that seems to be causing some confusion and problems with our customers. It concerns the length of the straight cylinder section at the breech end of a custom barrel.
The barrel makers ship their blanks with a straight cylinder section at the breech end of the barrel of various lengths. A Kreiger #5 will have a 2.75" length and a Shilen will have a 3.0" or 4.0" depending on contour, etc.
Part of this is threaded to screw into the action at various lengths for different actions. On a Remington it's usually about .780" and on a Defiance long tenon action it's about 1.030", etc. Also, the gunsmith may cut part of this off depending on caliber and the weight the customer wants the rifle to finish at. So, the remaining straight cylinder length is totally optional depending on what the customer/gunsmith wants.
What we need to know to inlet the stock properly is the length of this straight cylinder portion of the barrel from the front end of the receiver to the first contour break where the barrel starts to taper. Again, this is from the front of the receiver, not the front of the recoil lug.
In all our action programming there is a location code called the G54 location which indicates the very front of the receiver. When we run the barrel channel program we just indicate on this G54 location and run the barrel channel from there. This way our barrel programs work for actions like a Remington or Stiller with a sandwitched recoil lug between the barrel and the receiver and also for actions like a Winchester or Sako which do not. Also, since the recoil lug recess is cut directly in front of this G54 location it doesn't matter what recoil lug thickness you use, from .187" to .375" it doesn't affect this "front of the receiver to the first contour break" length.
We get quite a few stocks back where this clyinder length has been inletted too long because of the customers not understanding what we are asking for and giving us the wrong length, like the blank length on the barrel makers chart, or too short because they measured from the front of the recoil lug. Refilling and/or re-inletting the barrel channel is costly and if we ran it at the length the customer requested
then we will usually charge them for this. I hopes this helps smooth some of these problems out.
If you want to order the stock at the same time that you order the barrel and you can't measure this at that time, just get with the gunsmith or barrel installer and decide on a length you want it to finish at, like 1" or 1.5" or 1.75" or whatever you want and tell both of us this measurement. Then we can each do our thing to the same spec.
Thanks, Dick.

Dick,

Thanks for the post/comments. I like to call it a shank, and when ordering a stock, I just specify how long the shank is from the front side of the recoil lug. Never had a problem with it being wrong......but I'll start doing it as you suggest to save trouble.

Keep up the great work. I know campfire members typically prefer the stocks with the aluminum bedding blocks...but maybe they'll sway your way some day!

Thanks for the post. I have been very impressed by McMillan's CS and products.


Travis

I've told the ladies how long mine is and it's always worked out fine.

Barrel shank that is.

Schematics might help some.

Went through this today thank God my Smith was available to see how much shank would be left in front of the action!

Thanks Dick, but the girls always know I'm a LONG SHANK...

you mean short shank!

I just got a stock in that I ordered from you guys for a BAT VR action, perfect inlet. I really think I have no need to have it bedded. I like to run .750 shank from the recoil lug forward, so basically a 1" shank if you include the recoil lug like you are saying.

No, he means soft shank........

Always amazes me when somebody spends this kind of $$ on an item and doesn't know enough to order properly......

CC, I find it odd that you would buy the best parts available and then not want to squeeze every last bit of accuracy out of the build...bedding will not only make the package more consistant, but likely more accurate also!

AF- I would agree but I have a custom 300ROY that is scary accurate sans bedding in a McM edge. No way I'm messing with it.

I always give them the length of exposed shank.

Bedding a rifle ain't 'messing' with it, unless of course you believe in voodoo and pixie dust when it comes to making a rifle shoot well.

Dave, I can understand that if it's not broke don't fix it,for me I would always be wondering if it could be better, and would go out on a limb and say your rifle is probably the exception rather than the rule...but it sure sounds like yours is happy as it sits!

Good post, DickD.. What I've done over the last few years is to have this exact discussion with the customer before they'll order the stock.. However, I won't do anything with the barrel until the stock arrives - that way I can machine and match the barrel to exactly fit that inlet and give us all a 'safety margin', shall we say, to prevent as much as possible any return to McMillan..

It's been a good system, for me and the customer to date..

Having nightmares again??

Does anybody know what the measurement for a factory Rem 700 cylinder length is? I don’t have a barrel here to measure. My gunsmith said he always matches cylinder length back to the factory barrel to make it fit into more stocks since that area is a little more difficult for a customer to open up cleanly. My gunsmith didn’t have the measure committed to memory and it will be a while before he gets back to his shop due to his day job.

Reverse engineering by measuring a factory stock I have, I’m coming up with 0.680”. Does this seem correct? I’d like to get my stock ordered so that I will have time to get it back together before the fall. Otherwise, it may be several months before I can measure it myself. If anybody knows, I’d appreciate it.

Drop Point,
You do realize you are tagging a 12 year old post….??