Bipods have gone mainstream in the shooting sports. While high-end rail mounted bipods like the MDT Ckye-Pod are common on precision rifles, the Harris bipod and its clones, are still found on many guns. These typically mount on the front QD stud of a rifle stock.
I had a police officer bring in his 700 Police sniper rifle for a repair. The front QD stud (sometimes called a dome stud) was loose and came out of the stock. After a series of attempted repairs using epoxy he brought it to me for a more permanent solution.
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Any modifications made to a firearm should be made by a licensed gunsmith. Failure to do so may void warranties and result in an unsafe firearm and may cause injury or death.
Modifications to a firearm may result in personal injury or death, cause the firearm to not function properly, or malfunction, and cause the firearm to become unsafe.
For this project, I ordered the following from Brownells:
In the image above you can see the condition of the stock when it arrived. The hole that the QD stud mounted to was stripped out.
You’ll notice on the factory stud, the threads are designed for wood. These aren’t machine threads made to attach to metal. Instead, the wood threads would bite into the Fiberglass stock. Past repair attempts used the same hardware. For our repair, we’ll switch the type of attachment.
These are the QD dome studs I ordered to replace it. Note the machine threads on the shank.
These two pieces of hardware are what’s known as “t-nuts”. The center has a tenon that is threaded for a machine screw. The nut on the left has small teeth to grab material, while the one on the right has holes for additional attachment hardware. I ordered the QD dome studs shown above from Brownells to work with these t-nuts. I plan on installing one on the inside of the stock and threading the dome stud into it. This will prevent the dome stud from coming loose since the t-nut and it will be sandwiched on opposite sides of the stock.
As far as repairs go, this one is fairly simple. Tool wise, I only need a cordless drill, a drill bit and a counterbore (above, bottom). The counterbore, sometimes referred to as an aircraft counterbore, has a solid pilot on its nose. This allows the tool to follow an existing hole.
I begin by using a drill bit to make a clearance hole for the threaded part of the t-nut and the QD dome stud.
From the inside of the stock, I use the counterbore to cut a recess to accept the t-nut.
I test fit the t-nut to make sure it fits inside the recess.
I mix some Marine-Tex epoxy to hold the t-nut in place.
I thread the new QD dome stud up from the bottom and it tightens down against the t-nut which in turn displaces the Marine-Tex. I cleaned this up with a rag and some alcohol.
I use a small Allen key to turn the QD dome stud until it is in position.
This is the finished repair and this rifle is ready for decades of service!
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