H-S Precision vs. McMillan

[Mumbles_45]

Nice lineup Eshell. You need to throw that picture into this thread to help dilute the pictures of SKSs and Mosins that seem to keep popping up in there.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=221955&page=6

 

[Horsemany]

Don

I disagreed with some of the reasoning. And what I asked for was basically an opinion. I question most things I'm told. Just like I questioned what my gunsmith told me by posing a question here. People who accept everything they hear without thinking for themselves are sheep. Sorry I wasn't a sheep for you. If you bother reading my last post I basically said I agreed with most of you. I had suspected as much from my reading about McMillans but what my gunsmith said made me stop and think.

Being durogatory towards my gunsmith doesn't make your opinion more relevant. It adds nothing to the discussion. He has a differing opinion than you on the quality of McMillan stocks so you say he is "soft in the head"? That isn't beneficial to anyone.

Joel

 

[USSR]

Joel,

Sorry I'm not PC enough for you. Did not realize you were fishing for answers that correspond with your preconceived notions.

Don

 

[Horsemany]

Don

Apology accepted. Thank you.

Joel

 

[hksw]

No question, McMillan

This is what I mean. Can anyone be more specific what is more desirable about the McMillan? I'm not trying to be argumentative here and I believe there must be a difference but what is it? Are they stronger? Is the fit & finish better? Do you like not having the pillars?

I had started to described the differences from memory (I didn't want to take out the rifles from the safe and disassemble them) but decided I was getting too winded and could provide the necessary detail I wanted without the samples before me so deleted the diatribe and just posted ny opinion. Other folks posting after seemed to have covered what I wanted to say. And, I wanted to post the link. Oh well.

 

[Horsemany]

hksw

No worries. I appreciate the insight. It's all squared away now. Everyone solidified what I thought about McMillan's before my gunsmith mentioned that the other day. His statement surprised me so I had to ask.

Joel

 

[ogree]

Horsemany,

Just checked this topic and saw the amount of replies.....holy crap.

Your smith may have worked one of the McMillans that had a light fill in the actions area, That is sometimes ordered from them and used only in stocks that are going on a very light recoiling rifle. That type of fill is not very dense and can be ground out very easily. Usuallay McMillian uses a medium fill on their stocks which is basically resin, heavy chopped glass and light glass beads, although you can order the stock with a heavy fill as well.
They will also do custom fills of their stocks if you ask them, some people like heavy fill in the action area and then a light fill in fore-end and buttstock, there are a number of combinations.

The pillars are to be installed by whomever installs the stock on the rifle (as said in prior posts) so they do not offer them with the stock as a standard option. There are too many hardware combinations to account for and is best left to the individual who is doing the install.
From what I have expeirienced, HS stock are kind of a pain when prepping the stock for bedding cause of the aluminum block, it takes a lot more effort to rough it up as opposed to removing some glass fill to allow for the bedding & making up some pillars and installing them. By bedding one of the various stocks that do have a V Blocks molded in, one can really see the amount of contact the receiver makes with the aluminum as the aluminum will be exposed through the bedding material, a visible aluminum strip is seen along both sides of the inside of the stock.
The amount of actual contact it very small because you have a flat surface mating against a radius along the length of the action.

As a note about the Kevlar, McMillan only makes one stock with kevlar in it.
It is the KS stock manufactured solely for Remington and is not offered to the public, They apply a strip of kevlar about 1.5" wide by about 6" long on either side of the receiver area when laying up the mat & cloth in the mold.
This is so remington can advertise their rifles as coming with a kevlar stock........it's a marketing thing.


John

 

[Horsemany]

By bedding one of the various stocks that do have a V Blocks molded in, one can really see the amount of contact the receiver makes with the aluminum as the aluminum will be exposed through the bedding material, a visible aluminum strip is seen along both sides of the inside of the stock.
The amount of actual contact it very small because you have a flat surface mating against a radius along the length of the action.

John

Are you talking about before bedding? I've noticed when you destock a 700 in a H-S stock you can see the thin lines on the receiver where it actually touched the aluminum block. Or are you saying you can see the aluminum under the bedding compound after bedding?

The light fill action area would explain how my gunsmith got that impression I suppose. There's a lot I didn't know about McMillan stocks.

The thin strip of Kevlar is dissapointing.

 

[ShunZu]

I picked up my newly bedded 700 Sendero SFII yesterday from my gunsmith.

Had to toss in a comment.. sorry. But a Sendero is the central figure in the first novel in the New Madrid trilogy... a 700 in .300WM. If you've got one, ya just gotta read it. Nothing better than a rifle as a Nation-saving hero. Oleg's cover for the 2nd novel in the series is of M-24 / Modified 700's -- you're gonna like it. Sample reads from all 3 novels are on the website @ the signature line below.
Peace.

 

[ogree]

If the ation is properly seated against the aluminum when bedding the action, there will be a minute amount of bedding material between the aluminum and the action that will be almost transparent, and that area of the v block will be visible, as you stated.....you can see where the action contacts the v block.

Like I said in my first post, kevlar is a joke. There were a couple of companies in the past that utilized a substantial amount of kevlar in their stocks, Fiberpro was one of them if I remember correctly, Kevlar is a real pain to work with when it comes to cutting bolt notches or ejection port notches or any other modification where you have to cut through the actual kevlar cloth in the shell, it frays like nobodys business and requires alot of effort to get it trimmed up to match the rest of the glass shell which cuts with greater ease.

 

[Horsemany]

Got it. Makes sense to me. I see CZ and Cooper both use H-S stocks and claim they are Kevlar as well.

While not as good as McMillan, they're still a really good stock aren't they? Have you heard of them braking or anything? I really like the new style with the palm swells. It turns the trigger finger perfect for bench shooting. I've been really happy with mine but like most things there's always something better.

 

[jlmurphy]

I have been following this thread and happen to own both brands and have cut into both. The aluminum bedding block in the HS stock is nice, but the foam core material and thin skin don't give much stiffness. The McM stock has no bedding block and the fill material can be soft, but the fiberglass outer shell is much stiffer, similar to benchrest stocks, making for better shooting. All in all I prefer the McMillan.

 

[ogree]

Horsemany,

Many people love the HS stocks, A friend of mine just bought one of the Coopers a while back with a HS on it and seems to like it allright.
I haven't paid any attention to HS in a the past few years as I never plan on buying one cause of that first incident with the one breaking into three pieces.
From some of the other posts on this thread I am gathering that they have not altered their manufacturing process from the time I went through their shop, other than the use the aluminum V Blocks.
I don't remember the specifics, but they manufacture the stocks by injecting the resin/foam into a heated aluminum mold. The foam melts/crystalizes when it contacts the hot aluminum mold and creates a sort of shell (don't remember how thick it gets) while leaving the inside of the unit softer. I'm sure they have the molds set up to insert the V Blocks in before the foam is injected thereby saving addition labor of installing them after the fact.

For myself, I'll stick with the McMillan, you can beat the crap out of them if you want to and don't have to worry about it. They are expensive and that is why most people opt for something else. I guess I am in the minority though these days......a lot of people concentrate on quantity of product, I look at quality first cause I absolutely hate buying junk.
I consider HS junk, it's just my opinion. When asked what kind of glass stock to buy....well you know my answer, then people see the price and freak and tell me they could buy another rifle for the price.
Then they ask about HS or some other brand, I tell them if they like it......they should buy it.
As a rule I don't denounce HS products publicly on the gun forums cause it doesn't matter to me one way or the other what people choose to purchase.
If it makes you happy then all is good and that's all that matters.....right ?