[FrankenMauser]

I got serious and did a little hand work tonight, with some 40 and 60 grit. It's coming along nicely.

In the process, I realized the original butt plate had been fitted very poorly - with uneven contours, and a funky taper. I don't know why, but I hadn't noticed before. So, I'm recontouring the entire butt, with the pad in place, to match.

I'm not really worried about trying to match any finish, because this stock is getting a textured pain job (it's already 90% done). Without the spray job, it looks like absolute garbage, since the shotgun was run over by a truck. (That, or a horse rolled over it ... but I'd say it was a truck.)

To make matters worse, someone continued shooting it with the mangled, shattered stock, until the recoil boss, screw holes, and all of the partitions in the inletting were ripped through/out by recoil. (Edit: For anyone unaware, the Stevens 258 is a bolt action.) By the time I got my hands on it, the only thing connecting the fore-end to the butt, was a 1/2" piece of wood. The two main cracks ran from behind the wrist, twisting through the inletting, and running beyond the front take-down screw. Aside from the wood between those cracks, the rest of the stock was held together by luck, workshop grime, and mouse crap.

So... the stock has had a lot of work done to it (14 cracks repaired, several holes filled, 3 threaded pins, 1 brass recoil boss reinforcement, 1 brass pin, 2 screws, and several dowels). It has actually gained over a pound of weight, with the added materials.

It was a bit of an exercise in "can I save something THIS effed up?".
Unfortunately, I can't locate my 'before' photos, or the stock repair photos. But I'll post a photo or two, once it's done.


Anyway... that's some history on the thing. I've been using it as a learning project, but the stupid thing is really growing on me. I may have to keep it, after all.....