[cslinger]

What kind of wood do M1A stocks come in? I have seen a Birch stocked one that I really like and it looked different from 90% of the other M1As I have seen. Is the Birch stock cheaper or less durable?

Chris

[Kaylee]

birch and walnut, to the best of my knowledge. birch has the advantage of being (as I recall) a tad lighter and certainly cheaper. I *think* any strength difference is negligable, especially with the steel insert. Heck.. if they broke easy, the army wouldn't have bought 'em in the first place I don't think.

More info here:

http://www.fredsm14stocks.com/faq.asp?ITEM=1

If you were restricted to wood, would you choose walnut or birch?
This is a tough one. If you ignore appearance, birch gets the nod. It is stronger, denser, and has more even grain (ie, less natural defects, cracks, etc) than walnut. It is also less subject to later cracking and splitting than walnut.

It is also a tougher wood, about 20% more resistant to bangs and 'bumps' than walnut. Because birch has better machining qualities, tolerances can be held closer, so birch stocks tend to be more uniform in fit. For an exceptional stock, consider a birch. Big Red' - a regular M14 stock cut extra thick in most dimensions for an extra stiff (for accuracy), extra strong (for durability) stock. Most of these stocks because of their red tint offer exceptional appearance.

Even on appearance, a birch stock can match - or exceed - walnut. A beautiful golden yellow, dusky orange, or 'stand-out' red will usually get anybody's attention. In tiger-stripped, birch is much more 'showy'; walnut is subdued. Our tiger stripes usually have at least 75% coverage of the stock - in other words, they are real stand-outs!

Walnut is the traditional wood for gun stocks, but it has, if you have read this far, many faults - natural defects, a tendency to crack as time goes by, and it is not the strongest wood. But a good-looking walnut stock can change your mind -looks is the strong suit of walnut. (Against this, you can stain birch to so closely to resemble it that it is hard to tell the difference.)




-K

[cslinger]

Thanks so much for the info.

Chris

[blfuller]

Don't forget laminated birch. They sure do look nice.

[Phil in Seattle]

I just need to figure out how to get a nice cammo pattern finish on a wooden stock. I love the look, but I don't like the feel of syntetic stocks.

Used stocks are available cheap enough that I can paint away to my hearts content.

[Dave Markowitz]

I just need to figure out how to get a nice cammo pattern finish on a wooden stock.

You need to find a good curly maple or curly birch stock. Natural tigerstripe camo. :D

[Skunkabilly]

Urban paintchip breakup camo :barf: :barf: :barf: :barf: :barf:

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=389157

[Sven]

Skunk's got the 'Springfield Crinkle Special" there. I opted to get a McMillan fiberglass stock in Desert Camo, and hope to have Karsten's Custom Camo (http://www.imageseek.com/karsten) apply a 'fractal' 6-color chocolate chip pattern on there, once all is bedded.

[Phil in Seattle]

Urban paintchip breakup camo

Yeap it sure does look like poo-poo. Hell what do you expect for a $17 stock with a $2 dollar paint job on it though? :: sarcasm ::

It's not like painting is rocket science, you'd think that they could get the paint to stick to those synthetics better and not chip so easily.

Synthetic is practical, wood feels much better, camo is neat. Camo paint on wood for me!