Denis, I appreciate your efforts. But, more importantly, hundreds of other people will appreciate it even more. Now just isn't the time for me to add to the herd.
Rooster, thanks. It's Knotty Screwbean Mesquite, with the rough-shaped butt based on a generic 'Marlin Shotgun' pattern and the fore-end based on a slim 1895 blank. The source of the shaped blanks has gotten too many requests for "garbage" wood since that rifle and a couple others (not mine) were finished and posted on popular internet forums - and passed around sites like Pinterest and Facebook - and he feels it is negatively impacting business. Everyone asks for the "weird stuff", not his high grade wood. So, he has asked me to no longer publicly associate his company with that wood (but he does have more!) or the flawed Curly Maple that I am using on another project (still in work). But PMs would be fine, if interested...
I don't believe that it could make any factory 444 look pathetic. Marlin typically put pretty nice wood on the 444s (it was sort of their flagship model). The stocks generally look quite good.
I have owned a factory Model 444 (2007 vintage), and it, too, had some pretty nice wood on it for a factory rifle.
I may have a picture of it somewhere...
Found one. It looked better in person, but you can see some of the figure and color in this photo.
(I stole that rifle.. One round fired. Forgotten in a closet for 9 years after that. Given to a son that was afraid to fire it. Low price offered to me. Plus, a bonus of 179 rounds of ammunition with it.)