No. I bought it used. This was apparently a commercial Mauser stock. Had to modify my military Brno vz.24 action and the stock to make them mate. I also added the crossbolts and a 3/16" steel rod lengthwise through the stock's wrist for reinforcement.
I don't doubt I could make a stock if I put my mind to it. The first stock I put on the rifle was only semi finished.
I learned a long time ago to not drive anything I built or shoot anything I made. A simple rule to live by:Perhaps. Personally, I never accepted limitations. My observation is the current generation, my daughter included (especially), finds excuses to live in a slot. I never could. My life almost slipped away too many times, starting with one cold October night on a mountain at the age of nineteen. I learned early on life is too short and precious to hobble myself with boundaries.
How many rifles have I built? Only this one. How many mentors showed me how to do it? Zero. Well, one if the internet counts. Tonight my ten year-old grandson saw that rifle for the first time. I took it with me for dinner at their place to show his dad. Parker's eyes popped. "Papa, that is a beautiful gun! You made that?" After I'm long gone and he is also old and gray, he will remember tonight. Hopefully, it will have inspired him to achieve. That would be my most significant achievement.
But that's just how I am. Be who you are. Or maybe be more than you think you are?
You assume jewelers are born not made.
I have lived through a few generations so I feel somewhat qualified to make some generalizations. And you are free to disagree. I'm sure you've got seventy years of observation to support your generalizations.
No need to beat your horse to death, but remember those pictures you colored in kindergarten? It’s a quantum leap from crayons to Michelangelo’s Sistene Chapel…
I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. However, I'm fairly certain you don't either. My personal opinion: I would never pay someone to put a rifle action on a synthetic stock. About the same skill level as changing the brake pads on a truck. The point is, doing the work yourself is not difficult and it's very rewarding.
A lot of stocks come flat top only and need inletted, even if they’re synthetic. The whole “wood’s the only material worthy of this earth” argument is very outdated, and always has been.
My dad, my brother, and I "built" our family home back in 1965. No, we didn't mill the lumber or make our own plumbing pipes or glass for the windows. We put the parts together into a domicile. Concrete to framing to finish carpentry to wiring to plumbing to roofing. Some stuff was necessary to farm out: furnace installation and fireplace masonry. But though we didn't make the house entirely from scratch, I think it's not inappropriate to say we built it. I did most of the hardest work building that rifle. I watched my Springfield be rebarreled. Setting the headspace is not rocket science. Just requires the right tools. Now, changing the receiver, bottom metal, bolt and extractor of an 8mm 98 Mauser into a 404 Jeffery was a lot of delicate work. Mind you, I didn't open the bolt face, but I provided the instructions and guidance for a local machinist who had never done any gunsmithing before. I would have done it myself if I'd had the machinery. With my own tools I modified the bottom metal, loading ramp, follower, extractor, feeding rails, scope base, stock, and recoil pad. I specially modified two crossbolts and built a jig to drill the holes. Also built a jig to drill the hole for wrist pin reinforcement rod. I made the fore end for the first stock from a block of zebrawood. Sure, I didn't thread the barrel on the receiver, but I know what that involves. Making this military action fit a used partially buggered commercial Mauser stock required a couple days careful modification. How long does it take to thread on a barrel or open a bolt face? Trimming an 8mm extractor claw to snap over on 404 Jeffery requires something more than just attaching it to a lathe. So yes, I didn't cut down a walnut tree and mill and shape the slab or cut the rifling in the barrel, but I think I put more than enough specialized work into this project to claim it as my build. I'm sure you have a different opinion and that's fine.
I did follow the instructions that came with the scope. That was the problem. Bushnell acknowledged the mistake in their illustration. But of course you knew that.
