From the very onset of this project, I knew I wanted to add a wood cheek riser. I really wanted to add a wood component to the rear of the pistol to help balance the whole look out. And I thought the cheek riser would also be more comfortable. I purchased a receiver extension from Brownells made by Midwest Industries and over the many months of working on this project I tossed around many different ideas as to how I would go about attaching the cheek riser to the receiver extension. I settled on the plan to drill and tap the top of the receiver extension, and use hardware to bolt down the cheek riser.
I had already finished the cheek riser, but I hadn’t finished applying enough layers of the boiled linseed oil or final wax treatment. But because the holes were already drilled I could use the cheek riser to mark where I need to drill the receiver extension.
I debated for quite some time on which direction I wanted the cheek riser to face. I consulted with my wife and sent pictures back-and-forth with my friend’s Mike and Eric and even asked my son Max. The general consensus, myself included, was to mount the cheek riser with the steeper slant facing forward.
While I certainly could have measured a million different ways on both the receiver extension and the cheek riser, I thought the simplest and most accurate way would be to use the cheek riser as my template for marking the receiver extension.
I borrowed some yellow washable craft paint from our homeschool room and it turned out to be the perfect medium for marking the receiver extension. I just used the flat end of the drillbit I would eventually use to drill out the receiver extension, I dipped the flat end in the paint, and ever so carefully used the cheek riser to mark the holes.
My plan worked wonderfully, as the markings were prominent and accurate.
I used two pieces of scrap walnut I had to sandwich the receiver extension in between the jaws of my cross vice. And after getting everything lined up perfectly I used my floorstanding drill press, dialed the speed down to about 450 RPMs and drilled out both holes. I think it’s also important to note, I first checked the depth I needed, and used the depth stop adjustment on my drill press to ensure both holes were drilled to the exact same depth.
I bought a tap and die set from Amazon, and was happy to find it had the exact tap I needed for the hardware I purchased.
I considered keeping the receiver extension in the cross vice and utilizing it to tap the threads. And looking back that probably would’ve been easier, but at the time I kept thinking I wanted to be able to really feel what was going on and would be able to do that better by hand. So I brought the receiver extension to my bench vice, and after applying some oil, I tapped the threads.
And then came the moment of truth; after cleaning out the loose shavings, I threaded in the hardware and it was a perfect fit! I opted to not really cinch them down yet because as I previously mentioned, I had not completed the final coats of oil and wax on the cheek riser.
I was so stoked with how the final luck turned out as I could really see the build coming together. And I was really happy with my choice to have the steeper slant facing forward. Stay tanned because the final build is coming soon!
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