Where to get a good custom stock?

[pippin53]

I have a Swedish mauser, that Kimber sporterized in the early 90's. It's a wonderful hunting rifle, with a durable synthetic stock. However, I want to make it look a little nicer.

I know people say that wood stocks aren't as stable as laminate, or as durable as synthetic. But a nice would stock has a "soul" to it that I love.

Are there any good wood gunstock makers?

I checked out Boyd's, they seem to only offer laminate in a 96 mauser action. Richards Microfit has a huge selection, however, I have heard bad things about their quality control and the time it takes.

Are there any other good wood gunstock makers, or is Richards Microfit the only game in town? And, if so, is Richards an alright company?

 

[Kerf]

You might want to check the gun auction sites for stocks. I don't remember the site I was on, but they had numerous newly made stocks for sale from an outfit in Montana. I think they were mostly around $400-600, and higher. And, they were fully inletted and finished. I was thinking in the back of my mind that they were employing some sort of stock duplication machine to have that many stocks available at such a reasonable price. I'm not critical of the use of machines, just an observation. They should have something available for you at a reasonable price. Hope you find something. Nothing helps an old rifle like a new stock. Personally, I prefer a redhead. Old Vaudeville joke; forget I said that.

kerf

 

[pippin53]

Richards Microfit has, for example, Grade AA English Walnut Monte Carlo stocks for $279. Should I be expecting to pay 500+ for a good stock?

 

[bainter1212]

The stock I got from Richards Microfit was excellent in quality, but took FOREVER to get. Like 3 months. Towards the end there, I was calling them everyday bugging them to ship it already.

The impression I got was of a true artist who is extremely disorganized. That is about on par with every other true artist I've known

 

[Kerf]

I haven't been on Richards Microfit site, so I'm not knocking them. A top quality custom stock can run $4,000 to 5,000 dollars. Which is the reason I mentioned the stocks available on one of the auction gunsites which seemed to me to be a fairly good deal. I prefer American Walnut since it's a much stronger wood than English or French.

As far as grade goes, what's a grade? Grade/Schmade! I've seen stock grades all over the place in the last twenty years to the extent that, in my mind, quoted grade doesn't mean much. USDA has downgraded meat 4 times that I can think of, not to mention the egg industry or gasoline in the last few decades. What's a jumbo egg?

kerf

Now I'm curious; I'll have to go check the Microfit site and see how it compares to the ones I noticed on the auction website...

 

[pippin53]

Thanks for the information!

 

[CB900F]

Pippin53;

You might also take a look at Boyd's in Mitchell South Dakota: triple w boydsgunstocks dot com. The phone is: (605)996-5011 8AM - 4:30PM Mon-Fri.

Now then, you could buy what's known as a stockblank. There are many places that will sell you a chunk of walnut that, somewhere in there, contains the stock for your gun. You send the blank you bought and the Kimber stock to somebody like Norm LaFlamme in Sims MT. & he will duplicate the Kimber design & inlet the blank. Then you've got a rough stock that needs to be finished. At this point you've got, depending on the wood you bought, something in the four to five hundred dollar range. Norm will charge something around a hundred to one-fifty for his work.

The finishing stockmaker will fit the inletting, which will have purposely been duplicated with a little excess wood, to your metal & bed it. Then the outside will be sanded, have the pores filled, buttplate attached, grip cap if any attached, checkered, and you pick the final finish. Which could be a traditional oil finish up through any of the plastic-fantastic stuff on the market today. And you will pay the person that does this the appropriate amount of money, which can be from several hundred dollars to several thousand of 'em.

Depending on what you want, or wish to pay for, you can get a very serviceable nice looking wood stock for possibly under a thousand dollars. OTOH you can have something that might really belong in an art museum and you'll be afraid to take it into the woods.

Figure a year for the project too. Three months is lightning fast in the custom stock arena.

900F

 

[4v50 Gary]

I don't like pre-made stocks. The fitting may be bad, especially if the forearm doesn't conform to the contour of the barrel. Better to have one made.

Chuck Grace and Clayton Nelson are both excellent stockmakers/gunsmiths and are members of the Custom Gunmakers' Guild.

 

[osteodoc08]

Macon Gun Stocks. Without a doubt. Pick out your own wood, add your own personal touches, decide on type of hand cut checkering. Before my fathers untimely passing, he had 3 lever actions done. One wasn't even finished when he died. My brother and I received it a few weeks ago. Amazing to say the least. A full hearty endorsement from me

 

[bainter1212]

Macon Gun Stocks. Without a doubt. Pick out your own wood, add your own personal touches, decide on type of hand cut checkering. Before my fathers untimely passing, he had 3 lever actions done. One wasn't even finished when he died. My brother and I received it a few weeks ago. Amazing to say the least. A full hearty endorsement from me

What's the price point like at Macon??

 

[punk427]

There are A TON of nice stocks out there for under $200. That can be absolutly beautiful and keep the gun just as accurate if not improve if your a do it yourselfer. Ebay always has some nice small and large ring sporter stocks that may or may not need to be stripped down an refinished (you'll need a small ring stock). Also, http://www.rifle-stocks.com/ is a good place to look with reality prices....I've bought several stocks from them and have been extreamly happy with everyone ive got. I refinish stocks all the time and do a beautiful job (I'm very picky). Its not very hard I can walk you threw it if you haven't done it before an deside to go that route. You'll appreciate it more if you do it yourself, and if you cant or don't want to but find a nice stock that will look nice on it, let me know an you can send it to me and I'll redo it for you.

 

[lathedog]

The stocks from Boyds are a really good value for the price, but any stock you buy and drop the rifle in will not be a true custom stock. Boyds come with uncle mike's style swivels and a thin recoil pad, and there will be gaps in places that you might see if you are discriminating.

You may also have tight spots, and should ask if the stock is inlet for a swept bolt handle. They are probably not inlet for the exact shape/sweep of your bolt handle. The Kimber sporters used military barrels, so the barrel channel on a low end aftermarket stock should fit. Probably with gaps.

Any kind of custom stock from a real stockmaker is going to push $2k minimum, not counting the cost of wood. For that you should expect a fine wood to metal fit, classy swivel bases, nice grip cap, forend tip in contrasting and/or exotic wood, hand cut checkering, bedding top & bottom, and a premium recoil pad.

check out this guy:
http://customstockmaker.com/

or these folks:
http://dressels.com/

Also Lenny Standish in MT but I don't have his URL handy.

Maybe that is not what you want, but these people make custom stocks. Not everyone can tell the difference, and I'm sure I just started an argument by saying that. Look at the pix on those websites, and maybe also look at http://www.mauserusa.net to see pictures of high end rifles with premium stocks.

An intermediate option is to go to Wenig Custom Gunstocks. They are a little more mass market.

My recommendation is to either be happy with Boyds, or go to someone who wants you to send your barreled action, so they can make a bondo impression into their pattern before duplicating. That person is much more likely to be a real custom stockmaker.

 

[greyling22]

Richards is hit or miss, Macon has a pretty good price point. There are other outfits as well. Google custom gunstocks. Exterior finishing is pretty easy. Inletting can eat your lunch.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

Even with a real custom stockmaker there are two paths. One will work with you to find a "pattern" stock that meets your desire for style. That stock & the blank that's supplied by either you or him goes to a profiler and gets turned. That produces the rough outline of the pattern stock and the inletting on your blank. The stockmaker then works with you on length of pull & other relatively minor variables to give you what you want. The other way is that the stockmaker has the blank & does it all himself. This is the guy whose elbow you don't jog with stupid questions like: "When ya gonna be done?" If he's polite he'll tell you it takes as long as it takes. If he's not in a good mood you might get a bill for his services to that point & you'll be told that after you pay it, you can have your unfinished wood back. But if you just let him do his work, you'll get a genuine work of art back. It's not the least expensive way to go, but many people do find it's worth it.

900F

 

[horsemen61]

Pipin I have that same gun what I did was I bought a stock off eBay and me and a friend fit it together it ain't finished yet but it looks good