A wood stock - will it be suitable for my purposes?

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Doc7

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2012
Messages
1,203
Location
Southern VA
I keep reading the polls on here and elsewhere about wood vs synthetic stock rifles. I might be overthinking all this. Please let me know if I should talk myself out of a wooden stocked rifle on the following conditions :

1) I am a relatively new shooter (3 years) and do not own a centerfire rifle.
2) I find wood and blue beautiful and looked at several over the last 3 months. I have really settled in a Browning X-Bolt Hunter model which is wood and blue as the option I like the fit and look of the best.
3) I plan to get into hunting deer on the east coast. Maybe in my future I would like to hunt elk or antelope out west.
4) the nearest shooting range to me is over an hour away and all within this distance are 100 yard max so I do not think I am a week or two away from deciding i want to be a long-distance rifle expert , ie building a Macmillan stocked rifle so I can shooting 1/2 MOA at 500 yards.
5) I do however agree that "only an accurate rifle is an interesting rifle" and wonder if I will see P.O.I. Shifts of bit enough importance that I will be bother by it? Or will a wooden stocked rifle still be capable of shooting MOA or better at 100 yards in varied weather conditions and changes in POI will still leave it ethical accuracy for hunting?


I waffle so much between the XBolt Hunter vs buying one in synthetic or buying a savage 110 or building a 110 or Rem 700 from the parts. I feel like I can always get the XBolt which I like right now and if I find it has detrimental qualities I can sell and build or buy what fits my preferences the best...
 
I have a strong preference for a "quality" synthetic. But hunting is something we all do for fun. If you find the looks of blue and walnut would add to the pleasurable experience then go that way.

It is very rare for a wood stock to fail, although it can happen. The main advantages of synthetics is much more consistency as atmospheric conditions change. They can be lighter, but most factory synthetics and cheap aftermarket stocks are the same weight and often heavier.

A wood stock will be every bit as accurate. But the point of impact on the target can change, sometimes dramatically as conditions change. People who live in areas where weather conditions and humidity is fairly constant will likely never have an issue. For hunters in areas where conditions can change dramatically, or if you travel great distances (especially with altitude changes) to hunt the changes can be dramatic.

Although hunting in the rain can affect things it is the moisture trapped inside the stock that expands and contracts causing the stock to expand and contract. I've seen rifles change POI while setting in the safe as the seasons change.

I don't find SS to be nearly as much of an advantage over blue. Although my go to rifles are SS. As a beginning shooter it might be a good idea to start with walnut/blue just because that is what you like best. As you get more experience you can always add a "quality" synthetic later, and have both. The factory tupperware plastic stocks aren't anything special. One of the better aftermarket stocks from McMillan, Brown Precision, etc. is really the only way to go anyway.
 
How much if any is POI change in ambient conditions affected by a free floated barrel? Is it better or not much of a change? The rifle I am looking at comes with a floated bbl.
 
Last edited:
Most of my rifles (all but one, actually) have wood stocks. I love them.

Get some paste wax and wax the inside of your stock, especially the barrel channel. While you're at it, smear some wax on those parts of the rifle that are hidden by the stock.

When you have your rifle out in bad weather, clean it thoroughly and re-lube it.
 
Rifles with wood stocks are bedded differently now than years ago. Years ago it was a given that a wood stocked rifle could change the point of impact just from changes in the weather. I don't have that issue anymore with my wood stocked rifles. I wouldn't sit all day in a downpour with a wood stocked rifle. For that synthetic would be the way to go.
 
Synthetic has been the craze over the past decade or so. They are marketed as practical, which they certainly are, but they're also significantly cheaper to produce.

My preference is wood every time. That said, I currently have 2 rifles in my safe with synthetic stocks. Eventually, I'll find a suitable piece of wood for each and change them out.

As far as accuracy goes, the stock composition type doesn't matter (wood vs plastic). What matters are things like free-floating versus glass-bedding and pillar-bedding. Look up the Larry Potterfield video on YouTube about glass-bedding DIY.

If you're on a budget, you can likely get a rifle with a synthetic stock cheaper. Then later if you decide you don't like it, change it out to a nice quality piece of wood.
 
A wood stock - will it be suitable for my purposes?
How much if any is POI change in ambient conditions affected by a free floated barrel? Is it better or not much of a change? The rifle I am looking at comes with a floated bbl.
Click to expand...
I have a Browning A-bolt Hunter in .300 WSM that I bought back in 2006. It's POI is the same today as it was then. The barrel is free floated and the action is bedded. I live in AZ and often travel to SD and WY to hunt with family and it is not unusual to be hunting in rain/sleet/snow conditions. If the POI varies, it is not noticeable. Last time, I shot a small antlerless mule deer at 210 yards and the bullet impacted at point of aim. Said rifle is sighted 1-1/4" high at 100 yards with handloaded 165 grain bullets.

From the Browning website:
Accuracy and Barrel
A free-floating barrel is essential for utmost accuracy. The X-Bolt is free-floated by bedding the front and rear of the action for stability and to help maintain barrel to stock spacing for consistent accuracy. A recessed muzzle crown helps protect the rifling from damage. Barrels are triple checked for interior finish, straightness and air-gauged for uniformity.
http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/family.asp?webflag_=023B&catalog_=B
Click to expand...

The floated and bedded barrel should minimize the impact of temperature and humidity on your POI. Browning makes a fine rifle for the money. I cannot confirm, but I believe they are still manufactured by Miroku in Japan. I have never regretted buying any of my Brownings.

I hope this helps.
 
If comparing a wooden stock to the budget grade synthetic stocks many production rifles are equipped with these days, I'll take wood any day. Bedding and floating a wood stock is so much easier, than trying to make a weak budget synthetic shoot well.

GS
 
+ 1,000!

A properly glass bedded & sealed fancy wood stock is less likely to change POI then a Tupperware plastic stock sold on many new rifles today.

How do you suppose most of the big game records still on the books were harvested back in the day by hunters using wood stocks?

Or how did Carlos Hathcock, in the constant rain and humidity in Vietnam, become the most successful U.S. Sniper in history using a wood stocked military rifle?

Be careful what you read on the interweb.
Because 95% of it is personal opinion, not fact.

rc
 
In today's rifle world you would be hard pressed to find even an entry level centerfire rifle that won't do MOA accuracy @100 yards. The manufacturing techniques, materials and designs used today are superior to the older designed rifles that used to be plagued by the problems you're worried about.

Like I said, very inexpensive entry level rifles will do 1 MOA @100 yards so I would not worry about a high quality rifle like the Browning X-Bolt. I feel the same about the Savage 110 especially since it comes with their excellent AccuTrigger...
 
By it's very nature, synthetic materials are relatively impervious to temperature and humidity changes. However, I think you are way over thinking the whole thing. Lots of game was successfully hunted for hundreds of years with wooden stocked rifles.

Your success as a hunter is going to be much more dependent on your hunting skills than on whether you have the latest and greatest rifle.

Instead of worrying about something as minor as what the stock on your rifle is made from, start thinking about learning how to shoot what ever gun you do get from other positions besides sitting at a bench. I have hunted both deer and pigs and have yet to have a shooting bench conveniently placed where the game is.

And on that note, my main rifle is a 1956 Winchester M70 featherweight that I bought used many years ago. It has been dropped, dragged and used to push brush aside to the point that I just don't worry if it gets another ding. I should probably get another scope for it as the one that is on it is the original Kollmorgan scope that was put on it back in the 50's. The wood stock on it has worked just fine for the last 58 years.

IMG_1921-XL.jpg
IMG_1919-XL.jpg
 
Doc7;

Each have their place, but if you like the looks of wood, by all means get wood. That being said, I'll suggest taking a good long look at the Browning A-bolt rather than the X-bolt. In particular, look at the thickness of the wood surrounding the magazine area in both guns. To my mind, the X-bolt has veneer in that area and the A-bolt has wood. No flies on the A-bolt for accuracy either.

The second gun can be a stainless/synthetic for nasty weather hunting, perhaps in an alternative caliber. You needed an excuse for the second gun, right?

900F
 
A synthetic stock and stainless metal is nice to have on a hunting rifle because they resist rust better and you don't care so much if it gets dinged. However, they are by no means required. If you like wood / blue rifles, get one. Make sure the inletting in the stock has a coat of finish, some don't. Then put a couple of coats of Johnson's Paste Wax on it and go hunting.
 
What kind of pocket knife to carry is a very good analogy. Do you carry a rough old beater, or a fine pearl handled folder with shiny silver bolsters...a gun is metal and something else. If your going to treat it like a piece of art then wood is great. If your going to beat the piss out of it ganging it against the deer stand and leave it to bounce around in the truck then synthetic is the better choice. Realistically I think we all fall somewhere in between, and there isn't an in-between material.
 
I find hunting where I live to mostly be a nice walk through the woods with a rifle. Get what you want. Mostly what I carry is based on what I like to have in my hands.
 
Wood has a soul, synthetics are regurgitated plastics [but they do work well]. Protect that wood and look at it thirty or forty years from now and each nick and dent from years of hunts will be a fond memory.
 
Call me a snob, but I do not, and have never considered owning a synthetic stock rifle. There's just something about the feel of it to me, a confidence, a tradition, a warmth. With proper care, a wood stock rifle will last forever. That being said, everyone has his or her own tastes. My son, nearly 11 years old, got his first rifle this year that i promised him he could pick out without judgements from me. He chose a synthetic stocked youth Ruger because he liked the way it felt in his hands and against his shoulder. I bought it. Bottom line: Rifles are like spouses, some like them light, some like them heavy, some like smooth, others like a little checkering, but what we all think about it means nothing. You're feel is what matters most.
 
Wood or Synthetic, each has it place where it excels and each has it weak points also. But what both like and will give you consistent POI is a good pillar bedding job with Devcon.
I have been using rifles for 63 years now. My old ones are wood and blued steel,
My new ones are a mix of synthetic, wood , stainless steel and blued steel. All of them are pillar bedded. Now I'm satisfied with all of them. None of them ever failed me, but I have failed them on a few occasions.:D
 
highpower said:
By it's very nature, synthetic materials are relatively impervious to temperature and humidity changes. However, I think you are way over thinking the whole thing. Lots of game was successfully hunted for hundreds of years with wooden stocked rifles.

Your success as a hunter is going to be much more dependent on your hunting skills than on whether you have the latest and greatest rifle.

Instead of worrying about something as minor as what the stock on your rifle is made from, start thinking about learning how to shoot what ever gun you do get from other positions besides sitting at a bench. I have hunted both deer and pigs and have yet to have a shooting bench conveniently placed where the game is.

And on that note, my main rifle is a 1956 Winchester M70 featherweight that I bought used many years ago. It has been dropped, dragged and used to push brush aside to the point that I just don't worry if it gets another ding. I should probably get another scope for it as the one that is on it is the original Kollmorgan scope that was put on it back in the 50's. The wood stock on it has worked just fine for the last 58 years.

IMG_1921-XL.jpg
IMG_1919-XL.jpg
Click to expand...
a Pre 64 Winchester is on my "Must Have" list and I'm not to picky about what caliber either, although one in a common caliber I don't have to hunt around for would be nice
 
Carolina;

Around here the prices for pre-64's have come down it seems. You can now get one for under a thousand dollars for a common caliber like the ought-6. Good luck on your deployment, and perhaps when you get back the gun fairy will stick a nice model 70 under your MRE's.

900F
 
I'm gonna have to go with old Winchester wood. Got 2 safe's worth. Never have noticed any significant POI on any of them. These are users......they do spend queen time....but range and hunting also!
Dan
 
a Pre 64 Winchester is on my "Must Have" list and I'm not to picky about what caliber either, although one in a common caliber I don't have to hunt around for would be nice
Click to expand...

You should have no problems finding a early M70 in a common caliber. I have never gotten all that excited about the latest and greatest new cartridge, so for me, the tried and true '06 is just fine. Most of the pre 64's that I see are either in .30-06 or .308, two of the most versatile calibers ever invented and ammo is available everywhere. Depending on what you want to hunt, the only other caliber that I would want a rifle chambered in is .257 Roberts.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

R
  • Locked
  • Poll
Wood stock or not
2
Replies
32
Views
2K
fragout
F
W
  • Locked
wood-stock rifles
Replies
16
Views
510
Art Eatman
A
elktrout
  • Locked
Wood rifle stock fans speak up!
2 3
Replies
63
Views
5K
Deog
D
Bull72
  • Locked
Rifle stocks
2
Replies
33
Views
1K
WVRJ
W
A
  • Locked
Best wood stock rifle
2
Replies
31
Views
10K
SwampWolf
S
Back
Top