Wood or plastic ?

[dagger dog]

How do you like your firearm, be it handgun or long gun? Wood and blued steel or synthetic plastic and stainless steel or a combo of either?
Do you salivate at the sight of a fullly engraved BBQ'ed N frame S&W with oil rubbed, fine checkered Cocobolo stocks ,or do you feel nauseated when you cast your eyes on up on Cooper Mdl.21 with Shilen stanless bbl and AAA Claro walnut stock with palm swell and oval forearm?

What are the advantages of your desired combo? What are the disadvantages of the others?

 

[akolleth]

Finish: not that important, although I am partial to a nice blue job.

Furniture: There is nothing I love more that a good wood stock. Wood just speaks to me of tradition, of how a rifle should look.

 

[Erik M]

It really depends on the gun.

 

[mustang_steve]

I like my guns traditional for the most part. I'll take a modern piece for carry, but when I buy something for fun....it's going to be blued and wood. I might go with wood with a rubber back for high recoil handguns...but there will be wood, oh yes, there WILL be wood!

 

[ccsniper]

I prefer wood and metal, just like my girls no plastic.

 

[frankiestoys]

Ss gp

Doe's this count?

 

[jad0110]

I don't have anything against stainless, but I greatly prefer a nice, deep blue finish with wood stocks. Just gives more character, IMO.

My blued revolvers outnumber my stainless / aluminum framed ones by a 3:1 margin. Only two of my revolvers have rubber grips, my S&W 642 and my Ruger Redhawk. I'll probably switch to wood on the Redhawk sometime.

And you won't find rubber grips on any of my blued guns.

As for wear, unless you are into abusing the mess out of your guns, bluing should hold up fine. Stainless does have the advantage of being able to polish out many blemishes.

 

[fireman 9731]

Either way... I'm kinda partial to wood and blue, but a stainless synthetic has its purposes and advantages.

 

[General Geoff]

Stainless is highly preferred, since I do a lot of shooting in the rain.

 

[TeamPrecisionIT]

It depends on the gun and it's purpose. Modern firearms have gone the way of polymer and the more classic guns are usually blued with wood stocks. How about stainless with wood stocks, for example, some of the Sig pistols. I think they pull of the modern yet classic look very well. Like this:


Damian

 

[EHL]

depends on the gun. I've seen some AR's with wooden stocks and I couldn't care less for them. On the other hand, I seldom care for my handguns to ever have any plastic on them. 1911's just don't look as good without real wood on them.

 

[JWF III]

1911's just don't look as good without real wood on them.

My Remington Rand came with real plastic on it in 1943. It'll stay that way. But generally wood and blued.

Wyman

 

[Walkalong]

I like SS Ruger revolvers and blue Smith and Wesson or Dan Wessons revolvers. I don't care for plastic grips of any kind. Wood stocks are nicer than other stocks, but a good synthetic stock is useful.

 

[Deus Machina]

For the guns that I can actually care what they look like, I much prefer a nice blue and walnut stock.

For guns under seriously heavy use, stainless and synthetic is just fine.

Would really love something like a stainless SKS for the trunk...

 

[Biker]

I went with "I can swing either way", although the choice of words made me feel kind of strange.

Biker

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Yeah, I wasn't really comfortable with that "swing either way" part either, but that's what I chose. I think wood and blue looks better, however both of my deer rifles and both muzzleloaders are synthetic blue. I like synthetic because it's a little lighter and more resistant to scratching. If I had a nice rifle with a $1K bastogne walnut stock and it got scratched in the woods, I'd probably sit down and cry. I'm hoping my next rifle will be stainless synthetic.

 

[Gunfighter123]

For most of my firearms I like wood and stainless steel !!!

 

[THE DARK KNIGHT]

I like parkerized metal and wood furniture best

 

[huntsman]

Wood/blue for long guns wood/nickel for handguns.

 

[Publius1688]

I voted for wood and blue steel----just a classic guy at heart!

 

[Cap'n Jack Burntbeard]

Wood and parkerizing on a battle rifle or shotgun.
Plastic and parkerizing on a handgun.

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I don't own a single firearm that isn't black/synthetic, except for my MilPro which is stainless/synthetic. I honestly cannot stand wood furniture.

 

[mljdeckard]

I prefer plastic and composites, but I'm not going to scrap the walnut on my Inland M-1 carbine. I have a S&W/Howa 1511 that is just fine as is, I wouldn't get any significant difference in performance by switching, so I won't. But yes, every gun I modify or build, it will be composite/plastic/rubber grips.

 

[John Wayne]

I love the look of deep rich blued steel and hand-polished wood with a good grain. It is my experience, however, that guns like this don't get shot much, they just sit under glass or in a safe somewhere as a collectable or investment.

For something to clunk around in the field, I prefer synthetic stocks and corrosion-resistant finishes. Yes, bluing will hold up fine if you don't abuse it, but I have yet to go hunting without banging something up or having it rained on. Rifles have been scraped by branches, by the head of a bolt when using a climbing stand...there's always something. Saturday I got up in my stand to find a very active wasp nest, and I can tell you the first thing on my mind at that moment wasn't preserving the finish on my rifle!

Also, wood can swell and affect accuracy. Not so much a problem on hanguns, but even then it doesn't offer the cushion of rubber grips. For CCW, wood grips don't snag as bad though.

I think polished stainless and laminated stocks are the best compromise. Good performance and looks almost as good as blued steel and wood.

 

[Country_boy_88]

I like plastic and black not some flashy stainless crap. My guns will be through the woods getting banging against deer stands and well plastic is just lighter.

I like wood and all but every scratch or knick will piss me off.