I think all of us lwould like to see pic's of your progress.

Are you building from a casting kit or from billit?

Regards,

Allen

Here we go...

The forearm tenon still needs final fitting.  Obviously the stock needs a lot of shaping and the receiver has a scan of a Zischang Borchardt from Seller's book glued to it.  I'm using that a template for filling off the shoulders and lower corners of the military action.  

The block of dark wood is desert ironwood that will be used for the nose piece and the panels.  It may also be used for the grip cap, but I think I'll go with steel there.

Off to the left is a palm rest that will be installed eventually.

It's a .38-55.  

Any help out there on forearm rules and regulations?

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Hi Brent, nice-looking rifle!

You already have flare panels in the wood behind the action, so symmetry & aesthetics virtually demand something similar on the forearm, no? I assume that's what you had planned anyway.

The Borchardt frame is quite deep at the front, even the sporters. I suggest that you incorporate a third flare panel in the forearm wood on the bottom side; this will allow a pleasing transition from the deep wood at the action face, through the flare panel & into the shallower (we hope) rest of the forearm. I further suggest that you form some sort of divider between the side panels & the bottom panel, by cutting the two outside bottom corners of the metal at the front of the receiver in whatever fashion. My original design included a small quarter-round cutout at each of the two bottom front corners, and I made the dimension such that the line of the top of the cutout in the receiver could be carried straight out forward into the wood and become the bottom line of the forward portion of the forearm. This helps greatly in serving to 'slim down' the visual appearance of the blocky action & forearm without actually removing much metal or changing the actual strength factors at all.

For the forearm tip I think an elegant solution would be an ebony insert in a shallow schnabel, somewhat larger than the Win walls. I did an 1874 Sharps that way & it turned out quite well although I made it a little wider & deeper than the original. I also like an ebony insert in a round-tip forearm although it's very uncommon. Of course there's always the common ebony tip (full tip), but this IMO is just barely better than no ebony at all, & sometimes worse. Simply everyone has one, dontcha see (VBG).

I specified ebony 'cause I have some of it but you may be able to get some horn & that IMO might be even better.

I don't know what that piece of figured walnut is doing in the picture, so close the rest of the rifle & all. Might contaminate sumthin u know. I wuz lookin around for any white-line spacer material but u musta hid it under the table. I don't blame u. If you use anything but ebony or horn, then may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits forever!
JMOFWIW, darn fine-lookin rifle, regards, Joe

Joe, 

Your ideas for panels on the forearm are great.  I don't think I can cut the metal quite like you suggest.  I don't have any machining ability beyond a drill press.  But I can do the panels to get the forearm slimmed down.  That is a very good plan.   

Your idea for a bottom panel has me thinking.  I have  a CPA made palm rest that will be attached down there somewhere.  I wonder if I could make a bottom panel/pedastal for it.  That would give me a bit more meat where the rest bolts on and maybe improve the looks a mite.   

I don't much like just the plain jane nose cap that modern rifles seem to have.  I have been contemplating a widows peak into some sort of gentle shnable, but not sure.  I could do the wedgie but they are SO Winchester.  I would like to avoid that.   

I think I rather like desert ironwood.  It polishes like ebony but doesn't look like plastic.  So, like it or not, that's what's going into the panels and the nose.   

The stock blank is fairly plain English walnut.  It is almost perfectly straight grain, but has a little contrast.  It is also very close to perfectly quarter-sawn as well.  It was cheap - in the $150 range or less, I forget.  I like my low wall wood much better.  But this will work. 

Currently, I have fantasies of sub-1 inch, 10-shot groups - at 200 yds.

Time will tell.

Brent
   

Joe,
I've been told that if I ever even allow my rifles in the same room as a dremel tool, they will probably never shoot straight again..

I'll file off the corners of the action to make it like a normal sporting action, but not much more than that.  I don't know what a Cratex wheel is either.  Though I'm sure I can find one.  I'll have to think about this but I see exactly what you are suggesting and it's a great idea for launching the panels out of the action.  I may have to give it a go.   

The Sharps will be checkered for sure.  I got the low wall checkered by Doug Mann and he will get this one eventually too.  Really does a fantastic job.  Have I ever posted you a picture since it's been finally case colored and checkered?  For the Borchardt, I'll have Ken scratch up some borders and corners on the Borchardt as well.   

I too enjoy SDH's books and have seen his stuff in a traveling show at the Minneapolis Museum of Art, but after having seen the guy interact on the internet, I enjoy them much much less than I used too.  My low wall was inspired by some of the things he had in his CRBW book.  BTW, that little wall shoots like no other rifle I own.  An amazing rifle.   

Say, does anyone want to venture an idea of how far out on the forearm I should attach the base of the palm rest?  I sure would like some best guess.  I've never used one before and have no rifles with a palm rest.

Brent

Chris, I don't know if you have ever seen my low wall with its lever-ball palmrest, but this puts the support point quite a bit behind the center of gravity.  I think this might be normal for heavy barreled schuetzen.  For sure, mine will be nose heavy due to its heavy barrel.  I suppose I could add weight to the butt, but the purpose of the hooked breech is to allow the nose drag to be caught by the lower prong of the hook under the shooter's arm.   

There is some adjustability in the rest, but not a lot.  I'll probably set it pretty far back - just wish I knew more about the details of these things.

Brent

Thanks Boats.  My rest is a CPA Schoyen style as well that will traditionally mounted (no rail).  Your suggestion about experimenting with a dummy forearm is a good one.  I might have to do a little of that.  I'm so damned in patient but this is to be the offhand rifle to end all offhand rifles.   

Might be the ultimate bench rifle as well.  But it may take a stock attachment to do that. The belly of the stock does not quite flatten out (front to back). So I have thought about a removable, bolt-on, bottom plate, but they may not be legal in all formats.  Sort of a wild hair idea that I thought of yesterday.  Someone must have already done this though.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, they help give me an idea of where to start.   

Brent