I am looking at a 375 H&H custom m98 rifle. The rifle is a professional build with extremely well inletting and bedding but with no cross bolts. My questions.
1. Does a 375 need cross bolts if the stock is properly inletted and bedded.
2. If so how many. One or two.
3. If just one cross bolt is needed. Witch one front or back.
4. If cross bolts are needed. Epoxy or not.
What do you guys think. Just let me know.
Thanks
275
1. Does a 375 need cross bolts if the stock is properly inletted and bedded.
NO.
But they cannot hurt.
I would definitely recommend doing it on any .40+ rifle, and frankly it is so easy to do or have it done that it makes sense on a recently produced .375 (see item 4) if only for aesthetic value.
But do not be confused: proper bedding, i.e. proper relief of the rear tang area and proper full, straight & square contact on the back of the recoil lug (behind the front action screw), as well as steel pillars for the front and rear action screws -- even is as simple as the metal tubes on all military K98 -- is as important as, or more than, cross bolts.
2. If so how many. One or two.
If you do it, you might as well do two, again, if only for aesthetic reasons.
And do not waste time or money getting it done without epoxy as well.
3. If just one cross bolt is needed. Witch one front or back.
Most definitely the front,
IF the rear tang area is properly relieved.
If not, the rear will split long before the front.
Think of it this way: the rear cross bolt is a last ditch effort after everything that should have been done right behind the front recoil lug was done wrong. Military K98 did not have a rear cross bolt, but they did have a front cross bolt. Do we need to say more?
Along these lines, a proper front recoil cross bolt should be square as they were on military K98, not round as on modern rifles, because the flat rear surface of a square bolt will distribute the recoil a lot more than a round rear surface that will create a splitting stress point.
4. If cross bolts are needed. Epoxy or not.
YES !!!
In the old days when walnut was given 10 years to cure before stock were carved, and when final inletting was done by hand one thousandth at a time, epoxy was not needed.
Nowadays when wood is so fresh that it almost still grows leaves, and that inletting is done by machine to one hundredth, if not one tenth, and occasionally one fourth, epoxy is a must on any rifle with any recoil.
Sure, a lot of rifles do not have it ... but this may be why so many stocks split...