Repairing a split shotgun stock

All too often we’ll encounter wood rifle and shotgun stocks that have split due to use, misuse, or improper storage. Sometimes these stocks are victims of improper repairs, other times, they’ve lingered away, forgotten about for years.

While it may be possible to purchase a replacement stock, it will likely cost more money than simply repairing the stock you have. In this post, we’ll look at a shotgun stock that has a split traveling down its wrist.

Before we begin, let’s take a look at the disclaimer:

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For this project, I ordered the following items from Brownells:

Here is the stock and crack in question. It came into the shop on an older semiautomatic shotgun. Note that the crack passes through the centerline of the wrist and the hole that is used to secure the stock to the shotgun via a long screw.

Sometimes people try to repair these splits with a little wood glue and a finish nail. This isn’t an approach I’d recommend, while some of these repairs will hold, they could fail under use. Specialized epoxies are usually the best choice. Depending on the problem you are trying to correct, the addition of small diameter brass pins can be used to strengthen an area. In this case, we are going to repair the split with just the epoxy.

I inspect the crack carefully before deciding a final course of action. In this case, I inserted a screwdriver that was slightly larger in diameter than the hole in the stock. This allows access to the space between the split.

I’ll typically use a couple different epoxies on wood stocks; Acraglas, Acraglas gel or West Systems. In this case I am using West Systems.

To help hide the repair, the epoxy should be tinted. I use Acraglas brown tint from Brownells, it simply mixes in with the epoxy.

To force the epoxy into the crack I am using a disposable syringe. Loading it is a little tricky. I’ve found using a razor blade to scoop up the epoxy works well.

I inject the epoxy into the crack to ensure coverage of the entire split.

A small clamp is used to hold the newly glued stock together. I like to protect the stock from the clamp with the use of some sort of pad. In this case it is a few layers of built up tape. Often you won’t have parallel surfaces to clamp like this, in those cases the part can be wrapped with surgical tubing.