i need help building a custom stock

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dubya450

dubya450

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Hey guys, first of all I want to thank everyone who has posted info and opinions on my previous threads. Here's my question, I have a new FN made Winchester model 70 supergrade that I love and its one gun I plan on keeping to pass down to my kids someday. Everything about the rifle is beautiful but for $1,100 that I paid I feel like the stock should have a little higher quality walnut. Not that its bad or ugly in any way I just feel it could be better. I recently found this website, oldtreegunblanks.com, that has all different kinds of high grade/exotic wood blanks for rifle stocks and Id like to know if anyone knows of a shop that could shape the blank into a stock that is identical in every dimension to my factory supergrade stock? I'd like to use everything from the factory gun and put it in the stock I have made. Any website references or company names that could build what I'm looking for would be awesome. Thanks again.


Cory
 
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this isnt the best picture, but this is the supergrade i want to put a new stock on.
 

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To be honest i think thats a very, very nice looking rifle id probably leave it alone. It you do decide to restock, and your stock is good and clean, id pull it before it gets any dings, that should help pay for cost of your new stock. To get much nicer wood then that tho your going to spend an arm and a leg. As for a shop to do the work, restocking that to nicer wood.......would be out of my price range so i cant offer any real advise lol.
 
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The price to have a stock shaped is what I'm concerned with. I'd keep the original stock in the safe just so it could be returned to original down the road if it had collector value. I found alot of nice blanks on the site that look quite a bit nicer than the factory one for anywhere between 300-600 and I'd be willing to pay that (not much more though) IF i could get a decent price on the actual making/shaping of the stock. Just an idea I've had for awhile. And i agree the sling isn't a top of the line leather one that would look better but its just a spare one I had off a different rifle i sold and its really comfortable.
 
Macon gun stocks, it will come at 95% inlet. but word of warning that final 5% is a bear to get right, but it should be cheaper than that other site you listed. good luck.
 
I just built a Mannlicher stocked Stutzen or carbine based on an H&R break action and using roughed out blanks from Gunstocks Inc. I really enjoyed the.project and I am thinking about doing a Shuetzen inspired 30-06 next, but, building a monostock is a whole different ball game. The impact on accuracy is much greater and the stakes are much higher. You really need to find someone who builds exactly these stocks in this configuration day in, day out. My guess is that even a pro working nothing but these monostocks is going to need 20 man hours for a custom stock, so you need to budget upwards of $1500 for this. Also, a lot of wood isn't going to work in this stock. You need a pretty straight grain to provide strength and ridgidity. With walnut at least, the more figure in the wood, generally speaking, the more brittle it will be. Maybe a fiddleback maple would work well for this stock. And it may look great, but lots of people don't like event heavily figured maple. Tiger Myrtle is a gorgeous wood but I doubt you would find anyone willing/able to do that type of monostock in Tiger Myrtle. I don't want to put you off, but that's very nice wood you have there on a $1K rifle. Are you willing to spend another grand plus for better wood? If so, I would be looking for a straight grained but highly figured Circassian Walnut with some swirl in the buttstock but not in the wrist or around the receiver. As someone above noted, getting it to 90 -95% isn't that hard, the devil is in that last 5%. Good luck and congrats on a great rifle.
 
Dprice3844444, thanks for the link, I'm going to call them tomorrow and see if i can get an estimate price. Like I said i am curious and think it'd be fun to have a basically factory gun in a piece of wood that not many people have on the same gun. Just looking for something different from everyone else. My heart isn't going to be broken if its out of my price range and my budget is 800. MAYBE 1000 but thats the very most and that also means no more new guns this year. (Girlfriends rule lol).
 
RPRNY, this may be a stupid question, what exactly do you mean by 90-95% inlet and the last 5%? Are you referring to the actual fitting of the barrel and action into the custom stock or something else? Thank you.
 
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I was also at cabelas earlier today and seen a few Cooper rifles in the gun library. They seem to be well made and all 3 I looked at had a 60° bolt lift, I think anyway, which is nice compared to the common 90° lift. Checked the website and you can "build your rifle". Might not be a bad idea for a semi-custom but I think I'd rather pick up two m70's for the same price as a Cooper. Or even a new featherweight, custom stock, and a nice piece of glass for probably less than the Cooper! Nice guns but a little spendy for my wallet.
 
Generaly 95% are supposed to have "minor" fitting needed. But honestly for what you want, Id get a pro to do the job. Honestly you might want to talk to a Lj_mosinfreak_buck, hes been working on doing a ground up custom stock, he could likely give you some ideas and tips to the actual amount of work these things take LOL.

As for Coopers, a model 52 is right at the top of my "when im rich"....or atleast when i stop wasting money list.
 
Thanks for clarifying LoonWulf. I think that I seen on the link, wenig.com, that dprice3844444 posted it said somewhere on it that I could send the whole gun to them and they'd make the stock then fit it. Ill find out for sure when i call tomorrow. If i can stay under 1000 it'll be a go. I have a feeling it'll be a bit more tho. And as far as getting a Cooper when you're rich or quit wasting money, I totally understand lol. Maybe ill just forget about the whole sako - kimber idea and either save for a Cooper or customize my m70 and just be happy with what I got :)
 
Richard's Microfit Gunstocks, Inc. (google them)
Small shop that has been around for ever.
That said, you will find people that love them and people that don't
They will cut you blank wood for you but,there will still be allot of work to do to finish it.
 
dubya450, the only reason I can think of to want to re-stock your new Model 70 is that you don't like the free floated barrel. Most high quality custom stocks come with tightly fitted wood to barrel inletting. The down side to a custom stock is that you won't know what the new stock will look like until its finished. I agree with rprny that a circassian walnut custom stock makes a fine looking rifle. When looking for a blank I would also follow up on the way the wood is sawed. There are two methods of sawing a blank which are quarter sawed and slab sawed. Although I have rifles with both types of stocks I particularly like a rifle with a slab sawed american walnut stock. BW
 
I was thinking it'd probably make more sense to replace the stock on my featherweight instead of the supergrade. The supergrade does have really nice wood, I just want something a little more attractive.
 
I am seeing several late model Model 70 stocks on eBay, GunBroker and GunsInternational and it would be a simple matter to find a used stock in excellent condition that is more to your liking. It is becoming more prevalent for a shooter to buy a new rifle and then replace the original wood stock with a compsite stock like the ones made by McMillan. They sell the original stock which is in excellent condition. BW
 
Well I just called wenig and got an estimate, about 1200 for an extra fancy American walnut stock finished and fit to my rifle plus an additional 250 for a glass bedding job and free floated. Plus whatever shipping is to send my rifle to them. Then I called Macon and they actually have a few featherweight stocks already made and finished. They're emailing me photos and price's. Looking at their web pages it seems like Macon is going to be a few hundred bucks cheaper.
 
unless you send your rifle to them to get it fitted it will be some wood work from Macon, now much im not 100% sure on but with a lever action its a good bit. good luck with your searching, i hope you get something you are happy with, thats the biggest thing.
 
Sorry, was away and not accessing thr. I would encourage anyone to do finishing work on a buttstock / forend set up, there's just not that much to screw up other than appearance. But a monostock on a bolt gun is another story. That last 5% of wood to metal fit is much more complicated, the cost of getting it wrong is higher and the impact on accuracy of a suboptimal job is greater. That's why I figured @ $1500 for having a quality custom stock done. Your supergrade is mighty nice. The incremental increase in sweetness at $1500 will be hard for the lay observer to spot. My guess is it will be $2500 before Joe Bloggs can look at your supergrade before and after and be really impressed. And Wenig are quite good...
 
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