This is a tough one. I've been slowly but surely modifying all my weapons with the goal of longevity. I replace aluminum and plastic with steel, my pumps and auto's are already nestled in kevlar and fiberglass, interior parts replaced with the best steel or titanium I can find. Here's the question: I have a Win M70 FWT Classic in .280 Rem. She shoots like a dream, in fact shoots tighter groups than my target .223. The stock is beautiful, full figured walnut, from the pre '93 days of Winchester. The problem is that I use this rifle for my bread and butter hunting, and am itching to put it in a top of the line synthetic stock. It is the only weapon left in the rack that wears wood. Do I mess with perfection or wait for the inevitable, the aging of the walnut? PS-it has been glass bedded, the barrel is floated.
Give up my beautiful walnut????
- Thread starter ptpalpha
- Start date
God help me but I DO LOVE a beautiful piece of walnut.
Hey, you can't save it by taking it off - it'll still age. Treat it with the honor you would give an old and valiant soldier...let it die someday on the battlefield in a fracas with some rock or a missed step while crossing a creek. THEN lay it to rest with dignity and replace it with one of the younger, tougher, longer lasting - but never as beautiful - fantastic plastics.
THATS WHAT I'D DO!
Mikey
Hey, you can't save it by taking it off - it'll still age. Treat it with the honor you would give an old and valiant soldier...let it die someday on the battlefield in a fracas with some rock or a missed step while crossing a creek. THEN lay it to rest with dignity and replace it with one of the younger, tougher, longer lasting - but never as beautiful - fantastic plastics.
THATS WHAT I'D DO!
Mikey
The Mohican Sneak
New member
I agree with Mikey 110%! Don't do that stock the injustice of living out the rest of it's life in a closet or gun cabinet. Let it die honorably, doing what it was intended to do. And when the time comes to lay it down, do so gently, wipe it off, and thank it for years served.
Then go with synthetic. I love the looks of a nice peice of wood, but synthetic is pretty in it's own way.
Then go with synthetic. I love the looks of a nice peice of wood, but synthetic is pretty in it's own way.
Gale McMillan
Member In Memoriam
You might think that I would be prejudice since I am in the synthetic stock business and you would be right! But as to the beautiful wood stock. You would be surprised how many of my customers have fiberglass stocks to use and wood stocks for the gun cabinet. They don't want to skin up a 1500 dollar piece of wood so when they hunt they install my FG stock
Ptalpha. I had a beautiful rifle on an FN Mauser action with the most gorgeous piece of fiddleback walnut you can ever imagine. There was only one problem. It was the most unstable piece of wood I have ever seen. 
It shot fantastic groups. 
Some were as small at 3/8 and 1/4 inch. BUT! Say you were sighted in 3 inches high at 100 yards, dead center. Let the gun cool before firing the next series, and you would have another beautifully tight group, maybe 3 to 5 inches from where you sighted in. Let it cool again, and it would be somewhere else. Finally I put in a McMillan stock. (Just coincidence Gale ) Glass bedded it, and now it works fine. The groups are nowhere as tight, (1 to 1.25 inch) but at least it is consistant. I don't have many rifles that are still in wood and those don't get shot much.
Paul B.
[This message has been edited by Paul B. (edited September 23, 1999).]
It shot fantastic groups. Some were as small at 3/8 and 1/4 inch. BUT! Say you were sighted in 3 inches high at 100 yards, dead center. Let the gun cool before firing the next series, and you would have another beautifully tight group, maybe 3 to 5 inches from where you sighted in. Let it cool again, and it would be somewhere else. Finally I put in a McMillan stock. (Just coincidence Gale ) Glass bedded it, and now it works fine. The groups are nowhere as tight, (1 to 1.25 inch) but at least it is consistant. I don't have many rifles that are still in wood and those don't get shot much.Paul B.
[This message has been edited by Paul B. (edited September 23, 1999).]
KEEP THE WOOD ON IT!!!
If it aint broke, dont fix it. Buy a synthetic stock now, and just keep it as a spare for that rainy day, when wood busts. You'd be suprised how much beating wood can take.
DONT TAKE THE GUN OUT OF THE BEDDING IF IT IS SHOOTING TIGHTER GROUPS THAN YOUR .223 TARGET RIFLE.!!!!
my $.02
Orso
If it aint broke, dont fix it. Buy a synthetic stock now, and just keep it as a spare for that rainy day, when wood busts. You'd be suprised how much beating wood can take.
DONT TAKE THE GUN OUT OF THE BEDDING IF IT IS SHOOTING TIGHTER GROUPS THAN YOUR .223 TARGET RIFLE.!!!!
my $.02
Orso
OK, that's pretty much unanimous for leaving it in the walnut until a problem rears it's ugly head. To those who said get fiberglass now and install it when wet weather threatens, I have to lean toward not pulling it out of the bedding if I can help it. So here's the BIG QUESTION: am I taking the risk that the "moment of warp" may be discovered by missing that 12 point? If that's the case, pretty or no, I've got to sacrifice the wood, rather than rist crippling the animal. Thoughts?
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
Ptpalpha: I've been lugging a 9-lb Wby '06 around for right at 30 years, and a little Sako .243 for the same. I've never hunted in a really wet environment, but one rainy day or maybe two has never made a bit of difference in accuracy that ever mattered...
I'm real short of stainless and plastic.
"Since nothing's ever broke, I ain't ever fixed it."
, Art
I'm real short of stainless and plastic.
"Since nothing's ever broke, I ain't ever fixed it."
, ArtGale McMillan
Member In Memoriam
Please! the word is fiberglass not plastic!! I will tell you a story that happened to a customer of mine. A few years ago I got a call from a Secret Service agent who uses my stocks in performance of his job. He said "Mac I just got back from Alaska bear hunting. It rained on us for the first week and then it cleared and the guide took us to a new area where he thought we could score. They came upon the largest bear the guide had ever seen and would score high in the Boone & Crochet and maybe break the world record, He said he pulled down on it and fired and the bullet hit 2 feet in front of it and a foot low.. They went back to camp and checked the zero and sure enough that was where it was shooting. His comment to me was Mac, I knew I should have you restock my rifle before I went but the hunt cost so much I just didn't want to spend the money at that time and I will never get an other chance to get that world record bear. The point of this story is you don't ever know what it will cost you by leaving that piece of wood on.
Keith Rogan
New member
Gale,
I live here on wet and windy Kodiak Island and all my guns wear traditional wood stocks. They don't warp because they are all properly sealed and glass bedded.
Plastic IS better in the long run - and cheaper when you consider the cost of bedding and refinishing periodically, but, if a guy loves a traditional looking rifle it CAN be kept up if you're willing to dedicate the time and effort.
One way to keep moisture from warping a stock in these parts is to coat the barrel channel with "Sno-Seal". This stuff dries to a waxy coating that will keep out all moisture for an entire season. No rust, no warpage. The inside of the stock must be properly sealed or it will absorb the oil from the product - mine are all glass bedded, not an issue.
You make a great product! If I wasn't such a Neanderthal, I'd buy some of your stuff!
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Keith
The Bears and Bear Maulings Page: members.xoom.com/keithrogan
I live here on wet and windy Kodiak Island and all my guns wear traditional wood stocks. They don't warp because they are all properly sealed and glass bedded.
Plastic IS better in the long run - and cheaper when you consider the cost of bedding and refinishing periodically, but, if a guy loves a traditional looking rifle it CAN be kept up if you're willing to dedicate the time and effort.
One way to keep moisture from warping a stock in these parts is to coat the barrel channel with "Sno-Seal". This stuff dries to a waxy coating that will keep out all moisture for an entire season. No rust, no warpage. The inside of the stock must be properly sealed or it will absorb the oil from the product - mine are all glass bedded, not an issue.
You make a great product! If I wasn't such a Neanderthal, I'd buy some of your stuff!
------------------
Keith
The Bears and Bear Maulings Page: members.xoom.com/keithrogan
Joe Portale
New member
Mind if I chime in here.
I know that this is a late reply, but let me take a crack at it anyway. My vote is for the wood. There is nothing wrong with synthetic stocks, I own sythetic stocked rifles. In many situations synthetics can be superior to wood. But wood is classic and essentially aesthetically timeless. The longevity of wood should really not in question. There have been too many old and antique rifles found in basements and attics to support this. A wood stock properly maintained will last for generations. By properly maintained I means, cleaned and oiled.
I must admit prejudice on this matter, being someone who is currently carving a wood stock and spent many years as a wood worker. I really believe that in the long run wood stocks will retain their value for future generations.
just my two cents worth.
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Joe Portale
Sonoran Sidewinder
Tucson, Arizona territory
I know that this is a late reply, but let me take a crack at it anyway. My vote is for the wood. There is nothing wrong with synthetic stocks, I own sythetic stocked rifles. In many situations synthetics can be superior to wood. But wood is classic and essentially aesthetically timeless. The longevity of wood should really not in question. There have been too many old and antique rifles found in basements and attics to support this. A wood stock properly maintained will last for generations. By properly maintained I means, cleaned and oiled.
I must admit prejudice on this matter, being someone who is currently carving a wood stock and spent many years as a wood worker. I really believe that in the long run wood stocks will retain their value for future generations.
just my two cents worth.
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Joe Portale
Sonoran Sidewinder
Tucson, Arizona territory
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
Aren't we sorta gettin' crosswise about circumstances? In a wet climate, with situations like the above-mentioned bear hunt, I'd have stainless and fiberglass.
Insurance. Just like carrying a self-defense pistol. Might not ever need it, but when you do...
As to terminology, Corvettes are fiberglass, right? And since around 1953 they've been referred to as the "Plastic Fantastic" by more than one fella I've watched hit haybales and leave fragments scattered around the track...It's no worse than thinking that Stainless Steel is stainless...
Art
Insurance. Just like carrying a self-defense pistol. Might not ever need it, but when you do...
As to terminology, Corvettes are fiberglass, right? And since around 1953 they've been referred to as the "Plastic Fantastic" by more than one fella I've watched hit haybales and leave fragments scattered around the track...It's no worse than thinking that Stainless Steel is stainless...
Art