Stiffining a Howa mini forend

[cwlongshot]

Has any one attempted this?

Im gonna do some bedding and notice my forend isnt even along barrel. Its not so much pushing just not even. It also moves pretty easily. So nipod or tight sling will definaly have an effect

I have an idea but curious if someone else has paved this road.

CW

[Frontier Gear]

I was going to, but ended up buying a Boyd’s At-One instead. Just not worth the hassle and copious amounts of epoxy needed to do it. The next thing you will notice is how flimsy the backend of the stock is and you will be looking to fill that with silicone. I had already added a cheek riser and realized that it’s just not worth trying to fix.

[FW Conch]

I've done it with some of My Savages. Simplest method is to open the barrel channel a bit and fill the voids in the fore arm with Rockite. A step up is to glass in carbon fiber arrow shafts, to keep it light. All thread if You want to add weight.

IME, the only reason to keep these Tupperware stocks is they are light, and accurate enough for hunting purposes. Although the forearm can be adequately stiffened, we can never remove all of the flex in these stocks. From the recoil lug area to the back of the wrist/grip there will be flex remaining.

Even though I was advised of this before I tried it, I don't regret My efforts. It's been good experience in pilliaring, bedding, stiffening, and modifying. And the cost didn't break the bank. But I know the efforts will never provide bench rest accuracy results.

It is My advice with Tupperware stocks, when using a sling, sling the rifle with the barrel pointing down. Your dealing with a " wet noodle" and putting a lot of stress on the middle area.

I have Boyd's, Stockys, B&C, etc., stocks I can drop My barreled actions into when I want to up the accuracy potential.

Best of Luck, let us know what You learn :-)

[Taz575]

I stiffened my stock forend on my Howa Mini. I noticed that it seemed to flex a lot from where the ribs started on the stock. I did grind down the lip at the end of the forend since this was the main striking point as well at least 1/8" lower, probably more like 1/4" lower.

This is what I did with mine:

Trim down the plastic ribs, fill area between ribs with steel epoxy putty.

Put some aluminum channel on top of the putty/ribs (needed to drill out a hole for the bipod screw to go thru). I got some channel that goes around plywood edges. I ground down the channel walls so it was between 1/8" and 3/16" tall; I should have done it all to 1/8". It's a pain to work on it now that it's epoxied in place. I pushed the aluminum channel right up to the last solid section of the stock before the ribs started.

JB Kwik weld the whole mess in place. I also bedded the front of the recoil lug and the chamber barrel of the area with JB Kwik Weld in 2 coats after masking off and coating parts of the rifle I didn't want epoxy to get into.

It added noticeable weight to the forend, which reduced hop when shooting from a bench/bipod. The barrel does not contact the aluminum channel, even when I squeeze it with one hand very hard; I can still slip paper between the barrel and stock with a lot of pressure on the stock.

Some other thoughts:

Filling the rib spaces with steel epoxy putty may work alone. The stock seems to flex there primarily. It adds a good bit of weight though!

CWLongshot has a good idea to drill thru the ribs from the front of the forend and install some carbon fiber tubes. This way they can be anchored into the solid part of the stock before the ribs/pockets start. Just need to either remove and reinstall the bipod sling stud or do a rod on each side. You could also flip over the aluminum channel and make slots in the ribs and kinda inlay the channel into the ribs, then epoxy into place.

I am probably going to fill the butt of the stock with Great Stuff eventually. My rail/rings/scope combo doesn't seem to need a higher cheek rest, but I may do a wider one in Kydex so it's not as narrow on my face at the top of the stock.

Or just put it into the MDT BRN-1 Chassis with Luth AR MBA-3 and Hogue pistol grip