The Savage ML-II Boyds' laminated thumbhole stock". By Wes England.
I have been reading
and participating a bit over on Doug's
Muzzleloading Message Board and thought you may like to here about my
custom MLII. All the work on this gun was done by myself. I have had my Savage
MLII about 2 months now. It started life as a blued/camo MLII.
First I discarded the black synthetic stock and replaced it with a Boyds'
laminated thumbhole stock. The stock was manufactured by Boyds' for a Savage
10 short action rifle so the action fit was good but the barrel channel need
to be fitted. I took to the Bridgeport mill & opened up the barrel channel
to accept the MLII Barrel contour. Next I milled the additional slot under
the barrel channel for the ram rod. Once the inletting was done, I installed
2 aluminum pillars for the action screws and then bedded the action to the
stock with Devcon epoxy.
Right from the start I never liked the idea of having to loosen the rear action
screw to be able to remove the bolt. I wanted to be able to remove the bolt
without disturbing the action in the stock. I remedied this by adding an additional
action screw in front of the existing rear screw by doing the following.
1) In a Bridgeport mill, I drilled and tapped a new 1/4-28 hole in the bottom
of the action 3/4" in front of the rear action screw.
2) Next I set the stock in the mill and plunged a 1/2" end mill through
the stock 3/4" in front of the rear action screw hole for the new pillar.
3) I then machined a 1/2" diameter alluminum pillar with a 9/32"
hole through it and counterbored the bottom side for a 1/4-28 socket head
cap screw.
4) Next I installed the pillar into the stock with Devcon epoxy and bedded
the area around the new pillar.
Now when I loosen the rear screw to enable the bolt to be removed, I still
have 2 screws holding the action firmly in place to the stock.
I also replaced the original ram rod with a rod that I made from 6061 aluminum
3/8 Dia. bar stock. It is black anodized, knurled on the front to provide
a good grip, and tapped on the other end for the standard 10-32 threads. I
replaced the original trigger with a Timney. The scope is a Leupold Vari-XII
3-9X40 mounted on Millet turn-in rings and bases.
This is a gun that shoots as good as it looks.
Click on the photos for a bigger version
