The following comes from talking to my father about his experiences in finishing 4 stocks from Richard's.
Unless you have TONS of free time AND patience, Richard's Microfit is not the way to go. their difinition of 96% finished is based on 0% being an untouched wood blank. for a non wood worker "average joe" with a basic set of tools (sandpaper, some small carving tools/chisels, etc) there can be anywhere up to 20-30 hours or more of inletting, minor shaping, sanding(hand sanding, power sanding is a good FAST way to ruin the stock), and finishing. and then you've got to bed the thing.
if you are so in love with that design you're hard pressed to walk away. Look around at the various other laminate stock makers and you'll likely find a close match to the Culbertson.
Additional place to look, go over to
Lock, Stock, and Barrel and look at the "Stockade" brand stocks. the stockades are available in finished, filled and primed "ready to paint" and "moneysaver" Out of the mold, needs the works sanding, filling, priming, and painting. A can of Krylon is both faster and ALOT easier to use successfully than the tools needed to finish a richard's stock.
but as mentioned if this is a new model 12FV with the centerfeed magazine (which changes the screw spacing), you're pretty much stuck with laboring away at a custom ordered richard's, or going to Sharp Shooter's. as it will likely be close to a year or more before aftermarket synthetic stocks for the new actions are available.
