It never seems to amaze me anymore, at what you can find when you start taking them apart.
Looks like it worked for a while, holding the stock together.
The vertical crack was stabilized, but the "repair" started a horizontal crack. Anyone have a Buba repair they would like to share
My PH had the same repair. The head came out in six pieces. That type repair must have been common. One good thing is at least it didn't have a bolt through the flats. I wish I had taken pictures.
Regards
Ken
For what it is worth, I have seen more than a few A H Fox stocks that were not cracked with this fastener in the same location. I have always assumed it was a factory fix to prevent cracks.
Fox did this at the factory on some guns.
This was in a Ithaca Flues model, and did not look like factory work.
By any chance did Ithaca do the same thing?
I haven't seen this particular type of repair in an Ithaca Flues gun. I do see quite a few Flues that have pieces of wood missing at the top of the stock head on either side of the top tang, directly behind the action. I also see some that have been repaired in that same area, and have repaired a couple myself. One Flues I bought very cheap had boars tusks screwed into the wood in place of these missing pieces of wood. Talk about a Bubba repair! I believe it probably happens due to recoil battering on the old brittle wood when the action gets a bit loose in the stock.
I find it very interesting to hear that Fox used these corrugated reinforcements as a factory solution to a problem they obviously recognized early on. The type of repair you picture here is also pretty common in other guns. More often, a broad metal staple is made to bridge the crack in the center of the stock head, and is there as added reinforcement to any glue or epoxy repair to prevent the crack from opening back up. Properly done, it works very well to save original wood. Some guns, such as Parkers and Remingtons, are a bit worse in this regard than others due to their wedge shaped tapered tangs. They were likely OK with the vintage loads for which they were designed, but things like age, stock oiling, loose screws, and battering from heavy modern loads cause them to split.
Unfortunately, there are much worse Bubba repairs done to these guns. You often see them with dowels, nails, wood screws, and even stove bolts fastened with farmers nuts through the cheeks of the stock. Then there's the gray epoxy and baling wire repairs. The so-called "staple method" is at least hidden, and therefore more aesthetically acceptable. As with many gun repairs, there is a right way and a wrong of doing it.
The Ithaca had the missing wood on top that had to be replaced.
The stock head was stapled at the same time.
This is my favorite Buba repair, nothing but bailing wire and hopes were holding it together.
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Muzzle loading hunting in Colorado. Horse rolled over on the rifle. No backup.
Rifle broke in half through the lock. Would have shot the horse, but rifle would not work and too far from camp to walk.
Metal socket holder and duct tape made the baling wire job look good.
Killed a nice buck and head shot a couple of blue grouse with the patched rifle. Maybe shot better than before.
Chuck
the stock head repair is a better one than just gluing,and it keeps the stock from splitting completely.the other one looks like a necessity repair if you have no money and need the gun that's what you get.mabe a farmer.
PS i have seen the staple across the head, metal like the picture here, threaded stock and a cut off course bolt (at least that's what it looked like,i have also seen a piece of baltic birch plywood milled and inlet,
The recoil pad was on the other end of the Ithaca stock,
held on with about 20 nails.
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1 more great Buba the gunsmith moment.
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Those old pads were supposed to be nailed on. They came that way from the factory. Those Flues are almost always broken because of that useless wood screw under the lever.
most of the time it isn't a bad gunsmith, it's a guy who cant afford to have something fixed so gets it done the best way he can.i am not saying there isn't bad work being done by alleged professionals but some times its just necessity.
Never would have thought that nailing the recoil pad on, would have been a factory method.
Its good to learn new things.
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There were both nailed and glued on. Imagine getting them off was a nightmare. Small nails were included inside the box inside a small sleeve. Not sure how they could have said they were easy to install.
Any ideas on what glue was used to attach the pad to the base??