I decided to purchase a gray laminate Veteran stock from Talon Tunes (thanks Tony!) and try and mod it so that my shorty would fit. I've seen other posts on people who've modified stocks for their shorty, so I gave it a go. First off, this was a new stock, so if I screwed it up, it would have been a money down the drain, that's why I say "almost" a mistake. Once you start cutting and sanding, there's no turning back.
Also, I hadn't realize that the Vet shorty action is about 1" shorter than the standard/long (I thought that the trigger to scope and stock screw mounting pieces were the same distance for all actions), and, it's not like you can easily make adjustments to the action to make the distance greater to make up for the 1" loss. For some reason, I thought the difference between the shorty and the standard/long, were just the length of the barrel and air tube, not how the action is laid out - that's what I get for not doing my homework.
Using a Dremel cutting bit, sanding drum, and lots of patience, I got it done. Also, once fitted, there will be 3 areas where there will be voids that need filling if you want it look a little more factory. When moving the short action forward so that the scope and stock screw mounting pieces fit correctly in the stock, there will be about 1" where the air tube and hammer spring adjustment will be open. I had some spare G10 from knife scales, so I sanded, fitted, sanded, fitted, sanded, fitted... you get the idea, and then epoxied them in place. Doesn't look factory, but looks better than a few voids.
I read where someone else modified a standard stock to fit their shorty and it was a 30 minute job with a Dremel. Just for the record, I've got quite a few hours in mine. The end result is a 1" longer LOP and a much nicer stock overall. Not sure why Taipan never offered it this way, or at least offered shorty laminate stocks, I'm sure they'd sell.
I'll probably do some final sanding/finishing on my G10 void inserts, but for now I just want to use it. I know my Tatsu is upside down, still need to take it apart and rotate it.
Enjoy!
Blair
