Here are some stocks set up to be cut for Southern Mountain Rifles. The master stock has an adjustable pull length feature and you can also see the patchbox placement for that option. You can see how much wood will be cut from these blanks to get down to the slim, trim, little Southern Rifle's dimensions!
Above are the stock masters which are used to cut the individual models of firearms. These are made from wood, brass, aluminum, epoxy and other materials to endure the production methods.
LEFT TO RIGHT; Crockett Rifle, Southern Mountain Rifle, French Type "D", French Type "C", English Fowler, Wilson Trade Gun, Left hand Wilson Trade Gun, Northwest Gun.
(ABOVE) Here are two stocks being cut using the 360 degree universal vises. Using the machine, I first contour the basic shape so I don't have to do my inlets through too great a depth of wood. The master stock and two blank stocks can be rotated to 8 different positions so I can work on any area of the stock. Those are the 1/4 inch stylus and cutters which remove most of the wood in each inlet. I rotate the stocks to 4 positions to do the contouring, 4 positions to do the 1/4 inch inletting and 4 positions to do the 1/8 inch final exact inletting. There are indexing pins on the barrels so I can index/position the 3 stocks exactly to each other and get the correct depth for any part to be inletted. There are also different "master" stocks for every firearm model. See below. This process allows me to produce very exact fitting of parts and correct stock architecture for each of the firearms produced here. After I pull these stocks out of the machine, I use an inflatable drum sander to remove the rough surfaces in preparation to begin assembling the parts.
(ABOVE) Various barrel molds for each model of guns. Left to right: Wilson/Northwest guns, French guns, English fowler, 12 gauge English fowler, Southern Mountain Rifle, Crockett rifle, small contour English Game gun. The machine they are leaning against is the ramrod groove machine. By using various spacers, the ramrod groove can be run in each stock, except for the Southern Mountain Rifle and the Crockett rifle. Those two require ramrod groove to be cut off of stock masters.
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