Lamenting.....

[Tazman1602]

Been a while since I posted a new one but hey, sometimes life takes over for a couple of years. Well, truth be known, Mom and Dad both died within 18 months of each other --- and I happen to be the executor of both estates, which, by the way, if ANYONE ever asks you to do, RUN -- don't walk, RUN the other way. Add a new grandchild on top of it and I haven't cast a bullet or loaded a shell since 2013. Feels REALLY good to be able to get back at it.

Anyhows, haven't bought a new rifle in a while and the one rifle that's always eluded me was the Remington 700 BDL or VSSF. I had a VSSF in my hands about ten years ago and thought "Gee, $750 is a LOT of money for a bare rifle -- I still think so" OK now for those of you who haven't spit your drink or coffee all over the keyboard I set about looking for a 700 BDL in certain calibers (22-250 to 300 Mag) the thought again occurred to me not to waste my time with the used junk I was seeing and I'm just going to order a custom Remingtion..............

EVERYTHING I found had either Kevlar or composite stocks on them ---- NOT bashing these, in actuality, they ARE the better choice.......BUT........If you've been shooting for over 45 years.............I still love the wood on my Remington 1100 skeet gun, fantastic. LOVE the wood on my wife's Ruger M77 RL 243 (new 1984 $350), have several old Marlin levers with nice wood and an 1895 Miroku Winchester 95 repop they did in the late 90's -- GEORGEOUS wood.............not as strong as Kevlar/Composite etc. but I just can't stop the want need and desire to save this dying species of wood stocked factory made firearms.

I am not a black rifle hater, I've got a few. So, anyone else lamenting the FACT, that in our old lifetime (if we're lucky....) that the death of the factory wood stock is going to be dead and not a dang thing we can do about it? Rant away please or just come out and tell me I'm a hopeless gun nerd and there is no cure....

Mods if this is inappropriate please move. Talking about factory guns and I didn't know exactly where this might fit.

Art

PS --- 35 years ago we were handloading, tweaking, and fire lapping to get MOA accuracy out of our hunting guns, I watched a woman last fall with a $3XX Savage .243 package rifle shoot a 1" group at 100 yards with factory ammo and I don't know how much better that can get...............

[tazman]

I also grew up during the time when a good wood stock was the only option. Wood stocks are just warmer than synthetic. I understand that wood can expand and contract more than synthetic thereby changing the impact point of a rifle. The wood stocks just feel right to me.
I find that wood stocks are still available for a price. If you don't mind the look of laminated stocks, Boyd's makes an inexpensive stock that works well and gives me the same accuracy that synthetic does.

[376Steyr]

Might as well rant about how a fellow can't get a good Damascus twist steel barrel for his shotgun anymore. These darn fluid steel barrels don't have any pattern to them and lack character.

[northmn]

The black stocks have given many an alternative to cheap wood. Fine quality wood is hard to beat for looks. I used to build muzzle loaders and appreciated curly maple. I also got tired of doing so much work that was purely ascetic. When I looked at a new 243 I ended up going for a Ruger American that had all the mechanical features I liked. I looked at a Savage with a cheap white wood stock and preferred the black one. I am retired now and have gone through a lot of rifles. I had two Remington 700's that benefited from glass bedding as they would vary a bit from year to year and had to be checked to see if the zero was where it used to be. After glass bedding they stayed put. The plastic stocks seem to retain their zero over time. I also have a black stocked 825 Mossberg 12 gauge. The stock is sturdy enough such that I could use the thing for a canoe paddle in an emergency. I also have a Benelli with very pretty wood that definitely shows use. Some used to have the fancy wood stock to show the rifle off in the off season and then buy a cheap one for hunting.
Its a matter of taste. All my old lever actions have wooden stocks and my 22 mag Henry has a very nice walnut stock. They are nice and I really have no desire to replace them. But they do see use. If my 32-20 Marlin were an animal the humane society would take it away from me as they would my 92 Rossi. But I still prefer wood on these rifles, so go figure.

DEP

[Jack Stanley]

If the days of $750 dollar pretty wood stocks aren't gone , I'd say the days for them are numbered . My last was in the early nineties when Remington started offering a left hand short action 700 . It came with very nice wood , better then what I thought a production stock would be .

I tried two of the inexpensive ( yeah right ) rifles with the black stocks . One of them had to be steel bedded before it would shoot well . The other required a aftermarket laminate stock to make it right . Both of those weren't as "inexpensive" as the initial price tag showed .

I still take the pretty rifles out to hunt and shoot and take care of them while they are out .

Jack

[country gent]

I too prefer a nice well fitted and finished wood stock on a rifle. Its just more pleasing to my eye and feels "right" in my hands. My old NRA match rifle is wearing a Tubbs stock though. My M1As are bishop walnut heavy stocks. I do have several ARs also. I do prefer the wood and when ordering a new BPCR rifle I usually upgrade to fancy or a little better wood for the added eye appeal. Watch the local gun shop the fine wood gets looked at a lot more than the plastics do. I always wanted too refit the M1As with lamenated wood stocks as its the best of both worlds. the different woods and epoxies make for a very solid stable stock and done right can have a very nice pattern or grain works to them. a thin laminate stock (.060-.125) and epoxy impregnated under tons of pressure is very solid.

[Tazman1602]

If the days of $750 dollar pretty wood stocks aren't gone , I'd say the days for them are numbered . My last was in the early nineties when Remington started offering a left hand short action 700 . It came with very nice wood , better then what I thought a production stock would be .

I tried two of the inexpensive ( yeah right ) rifles with the black stocks . One of them had to be steel bedded before it would shoot well . The other required a aftermarket laminate stock to make it right . Both of those weren't as "inexpensive" as the initial price tag showed .

I still take the pretty rifles out to hunt and shoot and take care of them while they are out .

Jack

...........as do I Jack. All my complaining and I just bought a Ruger Precision 308. Still love my old Marlins, Brownings, and Rugers better.......

[Scharfschuetze]

Good wood can be akin to art in many cases. While I do have a few AR15 rifles with plastic (which I like and use) all my other rifles enjoy walnut stocks and blued steel.

[Blackwater]

Taz, you're FAR from the only one lamenting the passing of beautiful wood. I remember Jack O'Connor once, way back when, lamented that he hadn't had the foresight to buy more stock in AT&T and more nicely figured walnut, as the prices of all of them skyrocketed. And now, it seems that it's really HARD to just FIND some really nicely figured walnut. Maple is also very pretty, but works differently. I've seen a little really nice cherry, too.

But we're not way overseas in Borneo and Pacific islands looking for wood to make our furniture out of! ANY wood! Our appetite for wood has increased faster then the world's population has. And we've just about cut all the really old walnut trees available, and haven't been growing relplacements. We CAN'T! it takes too many years to grow the big trees that get a large enough dia. and wt. to crush the grains of the main bole to make the pretty walnut. Who knows? May not be all that long before what we have now will be cut up to make thingamabobs for the ultra rich of that day! I'm not really sure I WANT to know where it's all headed.

Guys our age have truly lived in the best country of all time, at the very best time in it of all time, and we have been SOOOOOOOOO richly blessed in that! It's constantly humbling to know that. And like you, I will always have a spot in my heart for nice walnut that NO amount of "technical superiority" will EVER be able to replace. Sometimes, us old codgers like to do it "the old fashioned, less 'reasonable' way." And most will never understand why.

[Jack Stanley]

I for one am trying to help the future ........ I have six Carpathian walnut trees I planted in my yard . I hope they stand until they die of old age , then cut them for gunstock wood .

Jack

[Love Life]

I have lots of black walnut. Literally, lots. Took down over 80 walnuts this year that were 80-100 years old.

[tdoyka]

If the days of $750 dollar pretty wood stocks aren't gone , I'd say the days for them are numbered . My last was in the early nineties when Remington started offering a left hand short action 700 . It came with very nice wood , better then what I thought a production stock would be .

I tried two of the inexpensive ( yeah right ) rifles with the black stocks . One of them had to be steel bedded before it would shoot well . The other required a aftermarket laminate stock to make it right . Both of those weren't as "inexpensive" as the initial price tag showed .

I still take the pretty rifles out to hunt and shoot and take care of them while they are out .

Jack

there ain't nuthin better than a wooden stock. i don't have the money for a wooden stock but i have the next best thing. laminate stock. i have two of them on my tc encore rifles. ( HIGH PLAINS GUNSTOCKS - Encore and Contender stocks and pistol grips and Winchester model 12 stocks ) i have a saphire and a royal jacaranda laminate stock. both are factory style with a raised cheek piece. they are a little expensive(around $300) but they are nice.

[kmrra]

I too wished they would go back to making wood and metal, even the blueing is crappy also , Iguess its the new generations that like the plastic stocks

[dragon813gt]

Blame people wanting champagne on a beer budget. People aren't willing to spend the money for deep bluing and nice wood. The manufactures are giving the people what they want. What they want is sub $500 rifles. You can still get nice wood and deep bluing but you will pay for it.

[izzyjoe]

I also love nice walnut, and good bluing! Remington was running short on good walnut back in the late 60's, that's why the used mahogany on certain shotguns. But some day a bunch of old timers will be sitting around talking about there "old days", and there favorite plastic stocked rifle! Actually I've seen some synthetic stock rifles that had been used a lot, and they had a patina of there own.

[Love Life]

Synthetic, like wood, has different price points. You have the el cheapo, flexible, gross looking stuff that comes on the average sub $300 bargain rifle. Then you have McMillan and Manners, who make top end stocks that cost more than two budget rifles, lol.

[Fishman]

Yep. One thing I know is that my fiberglass and aluminum bedding block stocked Remington Sendero will always shoot where it did the last time I had it out. It's not as pretty as the Winchester Super Grade my buddy has, but that isn't what it's for.