Broken stock on .460 wby!

[BB340]

I was out at my range the other week sighting in my .257 and .460 WBY rifles ready to go on a Western Queensland hunt here in Australia. Everything went well and they were both shooting accurately...
Come the morning before I was to leave for a 6 hour drive, I was packing my rifles when I noticed the unthinkable had happened! There was several cracks in the wood around the rear tang and side! What the hell, I couldn't believe it.
Panic stations kicked in. I had been wanting to use this rifle on this hunt from the time I booked it 6 months ago.
So a quick ring to my gunsmith mate had me rushing into town to see what he could do. "Leave it with me" he said.
He then had a good look at it, realised he didn't have suitable gear to pin it, so he then put the rest of his days work on hold and drove an hour to another gunsmith mate of his and together they both fixed it for me and had it back in my hands ready to pack that evening.
The good news is she has held up just fine and I secured some nice critters with it. (Hunt report to come).
The stock looks ok but one can still see the cracks. So I am now going to buy a nice new AAA or better stock for her to get dressed up in.

[Blackbear3]

Ouch, glad to hear you at least could squeeze your hunt in and it was successful. I hate when something pops up right before a trip or vacation. Nice having a gunsmith that will help you out when your backed in a corner too.

[rockville]

Sorry to see that happen.
You should just give me the barreled action. You are not going to be shooting it with that stock anyway. Kidding of course. I am sorry though that kinda of a crapy deal.

[257 Shooter]

Yup. 460s will do that. Glad you got it fixed well enough to hunt.

[grizzly340]

Another bummer BB.
But this one dosent suprize me.
I have a pre 64 in 375 h&h that had a cracked stock. (Thank God for E bay )
But I did read article by Jim Carmichel where he said he never seen one that hadnt cracked. And that 460.has about 3 times the recoil.
Glad your all patched up. Looking forward to the stories and pics.

[Chris338378]

Wow. Lucky thing it didn't break off completely, that could've gotten really ugly and painful really fast.  I have a .375 H&H Magnum in an 1970's era Winchester model 70, 1978 Ruyger M77 in .458 Winchester Magnum, and never had any problems with either of them.  I haven't shot my .460 Lazermark so I can't comment on that one.  Did you happen to check the trigger guard screws after you noticed the crack to see if one worked loose and contributed to the stock cracking?

[BB340]

Wow. Lucky thing it didn't break off completely, that could've gotten really ugly and painful really fast.  I have a .375 H&H Magnum in an 1970's era Winchester model 70, 1978 Ruyger M77 in .458 Winchester Magnum, and never had any problems with either of them.  I haven't shot my .460 Lazermark so I can't comment on that one.  Did you happen to check the trigger guard screws after you noticed the crack to see if one worked loose and contributed to the stock cracking?

Hi Chris, yeah mate I did check the guard screws as I wanted to see the cracks on the inside. The screws were still done up nice and tight so that wasn't the cause.
The next stock I put on it will have crossbolts thru it to beef it up a bit.

[.257]

Yes BB crossbolts and complete bedding will help. But wood is wood the wrong pressure on the grain of the wood and it cracks.

Glad you got it fixed up for the hunt anyway.

[7mmweatherby]

Glad hear you fixed up and ready to hunt good luck !

Have fun and make some good memories!

Mike

[dubyam]

Glad you got it fixed in time. On your replacement, make sure you have it bedded well, and be sure there is ample clearance for the bolt shanks in the holes through the stock. Saw a 1903-A3 with a beautiful curly maple stock with a busted rear tang area about 25yrs ago (before google...). Tried to help my friend (rifle was given to him as payment for some work, and he thought he got a good deal...) repair it, and while trying to figure out what happened, got lucky and noticed the impact marks inside the screw hole in the stock. Took it to a friend's dad who had a woodshop, and he helped me drill out the hole and glue/pin the little penny sized portion of the tag which was loose. Turned out nice. If I had it to do over again, I'd have bedded the action to ensure no further contact, but that rifle took several deer along the way.

[BB340]

Thanks all for the advice. I bought this rifle second hand and they had put two crossbolts in it, but up the front near the recoil lug... Don't know why. As we all know one up front and one at the rear is a much better way to go. They also only bedded the front of the action and not the rear tang... Again cannot understand their reasoning for this.
The only reason I didn't have it all changed was because the thing is just so dang accurate! But I sure will be getting it all done a lot better so as I won't have any trouble in the future. Especially not next year when I take it to Africa for cape buffalo.

[PARA45]

Hey BB, glad you were able to fix the stock.  I hope you find a nice wood stock for your 340.

[truck driver + 2]

Thanks all for the advice. I bought this rifle second hand and they had put two crossbolts in it, but up the front near the recoil lug... Don't know why. As we all know one up front and one at the rear is a much better way to go. They also only bedded the front of the action and not the rear tang... Again cannot understand their reasoning for this.
The only reason I didn't have it all changed was because the thing is just so dang accurate! But I sure will be getting it all done a lot better so as I won't have any trouble in the future. Especially not next year when I take it to Africa for cape buffalo.

If you can get them down under I would be looking at putting that beast in a H&S Precision carbon stock with the full metal bedding block. I put one on a Ruger Hawkeye 338Wm and it sure tamed that baby down. You won't have to worry about it cracking or changing point of impact.

[BB340]

Thanks Oscar, it's for my .460 though lol.

Thanks for the input Truck Driver 2. But I love the feel and warmth of a nice piece of timber on my cheek. Plus I have done this thing up a bit with 24 carat filled engraving and I just had a beautiful custom floorplate and bottom medal made with Cape buffalo engraving and 24 carat gold in there as well.

[truck driver + 2]

Thanks Oscar, it's for my .460 though lol.

Thanks for the input Truck Driver 2. But I love the feel and warmth of a nice piece of timber on my cheek. Plus I have done this thing up a bit with 24 carat filled engraving and I just had a beautiful custom floor plate and bottom medal made with Cape buffalo engraving and 24 carat gold in there as well.

I can understand and would put a great looking piece of wood on it also for show but for hunting I would also have the carbon fiber I could switch to so as not to scratch that gorgeous piece of wood.