Stock white-line spacers

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  • Last Post 16 April 2020
45ACPete posted this 01 August 2016

Hate them!  Always have, but how to get rid of them?  Easy enough when it's the pistol grip cap--just remove the screw, discard the spacer and reassemble, but how about the forend? I have two very typical 50's era sporterized military guns--a 1917 Enfield and an 03-A3 Springfield.  Each is stocked with Fajen or Bishop wood in the common Monte Carlo style we all remember so well.  The '17 was given the full treatment--to include polishing and bluing,  an after market trigger and a Williams receiver sight.  It's been done quite well and I've shot it in many reduced course high power matches with modest success.  The Springfield I've just acquired--It's the rough version of Bubba's work.  No polishing or bluing--thank God!  The two groove barrel is uncut.  It does have a scope mounted with a one piece Buehler mount and what appear to be Leopold rings.  It's just what I've been looking for to shoot in the military scope matches.  I have my eye out now for a vintage Weaver 6X scope.  The thing is I'm one of those guys who can't leave well enough alone, and white line spacers have got to go!  I've thought about sawing off the forend--I have a compound miter saw that cuts very cleanly--but what is the possibility that there might be steel dowels or some such connectors joining the forend to the stock?  If so, then maybe a machine shop band saw would be the right tool.  I can do the reassembly--either with the original plastic forend or a replacement.  Would love to hear from anyone who's done this.

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R. Dupraz posted this 01 August 2016

"but what is the possibility that there might be steel dowels or some such connectors joining the forend to the stock?''   50/50    

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onondaga posted this 01 August 2016

http://www.castbulletassoc.org/view_user.php?id=5733>45ACPete

Just color it better. Clean it,  mask it off and use paint, marker and/or colored Tru-Oil. Then touch up finish. Essentially just stain and finish over the color you don't like with one you do like. That is not destructive at all.

I have covered up a white line for field use with something as simple as automotive pin-stripe tape!

Gary

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45ACPete posted this 02 August 2016

Tried that once on the '17 with a felt tip marker. It quickly wore off--but you have a point--might be best not to fix what ain't really broke.

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Premod70 posted this 02 August 2016

Make a miter box and use a hacksaw to cut the joint.

Forrest Gump is my smarter brother.

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onondaga posted this 02 August 2016

 if if you're going to cut the stock for God's sakes don't use a hacksaw, jig it up and use a fine blade on a radial arm saw.

Gary

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45ACPete posted this 02 August 2016

And if there's a metal connector in there the saw blade be damned?

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joeb33050 posted this 03 August 2016

I love white line spacers. I want yours! How much! Send them to me, I'll put them on my plastic stocks, it'll be like the old days. Wood? Schmood!

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John Alexander posted this 04 August 2016

My nice CDL Remington is the classiest factory rifle I have ever seen.  Classic walnut stock, and machine cut checkering so good that it would have cost you the cost of a new M-70 just for the checkering fifty years ago.  Also a classic black forearm tip that I wished was ebony or buffalo horn but assumed it was plastic.  When I took the barreled action out it turned out to be black paint.  Gary is right paint the stripe. John

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Reg posted this 05 August 2016

More than likely there IS a steel lag screw binding the black plastic forend tip to the end of the stock. Bishop, Fajen, Herters, they all used them at one time or another. Seems like if the forend tip was square to the C/L of the bore then I would say there again, it is most likely to be a steel lag. They were handy, cheap and quick to install and locked things up tight. Only on angled, contrasting wood, forend tips would one often see at least one and sometimes two wooden dowels. Remember now, this is only a generalization, are you feeling lucky today !!!!!

:hunt:

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45ACPete posted this 05 August 2016

I tried painting it--masked it out carefully and sprayed it with Rustoleum satin black. It looked good, but a day later the paint on the plastic still felt tacky. Wiped a little Johnson's paste wax on and the paint came right off. Guess I'll have to look for a paint that works on plastic.

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 05 August 2016

hobby shop paint for model cars will get a death grip on plastic ....it comes in solvent proof also .

ken

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M3 Mitch posted this 16 September 2016

It might be possible to get someone with an x-ray machine to look at the forend and see if there is any metal in there. Maybe your local PD has a machine?

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405 Grain posted this 15 October 2016

This is my first post on this site.  I don't know how to get rid of a white line spacer, but I do know how to add one.  Just go to a hardware store and buy the lid for a white 5 gallon pail.  This is your white line material.  Use your recoil pad, forend grip, grip cap, or whatever you want to add the white line to as a pattern and trace a line onto the surface of the plastic.  Now cut out this piece from the pail lid.  Install, fit and finish using standard stock making practices.  You have a new white line spacer.

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mashburn posted this 15 April 2020

Hello,

I discovered a fix here recently. Mask it off and use black leather die if the spacer is next to a black forearm tip or recoil pad. I picked up a high dollar English double gun recently that someone had put a nice recoil pad on but it had the ugly white lines in it, matter of fact two white lines. If you didn't know it had been there, I don't think you could tell. I had no idea that leather die would cover the white plastic but it does a great job.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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Squid Boy posted this 15 April 2020

Check the tip with a high-strength magnet, you should be able to feel the pull if there is any metal in there. Squid

"Squid Pro Quo"

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gemihur posted this 16 April 2020

The difference between a Marlin 336 and a Marlin 30 AS is the white line spacers and some checkering.

I shoot, therefore I am

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BigMan54 posted this 16 April 2020

They were the "thing" when I was growing up in the 1950's-60's. Still got them on My REM 700BDL -.270win, circa 1974. Rifle shoot's like a house afire. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I pulled the buttplates/gripcaps off My Marlins, removed the white spacers and stuck them back on.

 

 

Long time Caster/Reloader, Getting back into it after almost 10yrs. Life Member NRA 40+yrs, Life S.A.S.S. #375. Does this mean a description of me as a fumble-fingered knuckle-draggin' baboon. I also drool in my sleep. I firmly believe that true happiness is a warm gun. Did I mention how much I HATE auto-correct on this blasted tablet.

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