Gun Stock: Part II

Gun Stock Part II:

But all of these features can be over emphasized to the point of grotesqueness. The Winslow rifles, now mercifully defunct, were a good example. They featured bizarre stocks with exaggerated Monte Carlo combs, roll over cheek pieces and tightly hooked, flaring pistol grips. They looked like a Weatherby reflected in a fun house mirror, a clear triumph of style over function. They were decorated with a profusion of inlays, multiple line spacers, and stock carving. Fortunately, such excessive, non-functional styles tend to run their course and disappear.

European style stocks seem to favor gentle convex curves (rather than straight lines) from comb to heel and between the pistol grip and toe of the buttstock. Cheek-pieces, if present, are frequently of the "pancake" type. They occasionally favor the full length Mannlicher style forearm, which I personally like, intended to protect the barrel in mountainous terrain.

Whatever the forearm style, it tends to be slender and tapered. Modern Euro-style stocks usually incorporate a Weatherby-derived pistol grip. Buttplates are usually hard rubber, black plastic, or occasionally buffalo horn, and recoil pads are used for hard kicking calibers. They often (but not always) eschew contrasting forearm tips and pistol grip caps, and favor simple checkering patterns. The finish may be glossy or satin. European style rifles may or may not come with iron sights, and the dimensions of their stocks must reflect this.

Jack O'Connor once wrote that aesthetically pleasing stock design used straight lines and curves that are segments of circles. I am inclined to agree with him, at least to a considerable extent. I also believe that form should follow function. For instance, I do not find the bellied curves used in the European style buttstock attractive, and I can find no functional reason for such shapes.

By far the most popular style today (at least in North America) is the modern classic stock. The modern classic tends toward a straight comb with little or no drop at heel, a pistol grip with a medium curve, and a rounded or pear shaped forearm. Checkering patters are usually borderless, in diamond point or fleur-de-lis styles. Pistol grip caps and forearm tip are common and they are usually black and without contrasting spacers. The buttplate is usually metal, black plastic, or solid rubber. Stock finish is usually satin (if sprayed on) or traditional oiled walnut. The overall look is restrained. Fans of other styles may call it plain. Like anything else, the understated look can be overdone, in this case to the point of blandness.

Like a well executed California style stock, the modern classic is very functional. The straight comb line with minimum drop at heel is designed to align the eye with an optical sight and to transmit recoil in a straight line to the shoulder, minimizing muzzle rise. The medium pistol grip is designed to provide good control without cramping the hand. The rounded forearm is designed to fit the natural curve of the hand that grips it.

The oiled finish, if present, makes it easy to touch-up nicks and scratches by simply rubbing more oil into the affected area. An oil finished stock seldom needs to be completely refinished, and is the easiest kind to refinish when necessary.

Reprinted from an article by Chuck Hawks, for your information. Click Here to see more from Sportsmans Gun Room.

The Rifle Stock: Part I

The Rifle Stock

Here is a part of a great article by  Chuck Hawks for your information.

It is interesting that in the United States rifle stock design has received more attention than shotgun stock design. Many more custom rifle stocks are built every year for US shooters than custom shotgun stocks, even though shotgun stocks are far more critical to hitting the target.

Rifle stock design is a controversial subject, and the source of much disagreement among gun buffs. There are several schools of thought as to material, decoration, finish, and most of all the shape of rifle stocks.

Most of the controversy swirls around the stocks of bolt action rifles. Lever action and single shot rifles tend towards what I call the Classical (Ruger No. 1A) and Western (Browning 1885 High Wall, Winchester Model 94 Traditional) styles, which are functional and seem appropriate to their purpose.

Bolt action stocks tend toward one of three styles, which I call the European (Steyr-Mannlicher Classic, CZ 550 Lux), Modern Classic (Winchester Model 70 Featherweight, Remington Model 700 BDL, and Ruger Model 77R Mark II), and California (Weatherby Mark V Deluxe). Naturally, there are variations on and combinations of these basic styles, but the rifle models in parenthesis are reasonable examples of the three main styles.

All of these styles can be attractive if properly executed, and all can be functional. And, of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Aesthetic merit is always a difficult question to resolve.

Roy Weatherby spawned the California school of stock design (the Weatherby Company is headquartered in California), which is epitomized by his Mark V Deluxe rifle. Key features of a Weatherby stock include the signature Monte Carlo comb that slants down toward the front (to align the eye with a telescopic sight and keep the comb away from the cheek bone during recoil), a cheek-piece and a small amount of cast off (a bend of the buttstock away from the face [as seen from above] to make the rifle faster and more comfortable to mount and also to help align the eye with the scope), a forearm tapered in three dimensions with a flat bottom (to provide a good grip and a shape amenable for use over a rest), and a pistol grip with a slight flare at the bottom (to aid in good control and to prevent the hand from slipping during recoil). Mark V rifles also have a generous butt pad area and come with a top quality Pachmayr recoil pad. All of these are functional features, particularly for the powerful magnum rifles in which Weatherby specializes. Many of them have been incorporated, at least to some extent, in most other modern stock designs.

Rifles with California style stocks are seldom supplied with iron sights, so the stock is designed expressly for the higher line of sight of an optical sight. These stocks usually come with a durable high gloss finish that shows off the grain of the select walnut to beautiful advantage. (Models with dull synthetic stocks are also available.) Forearm and pistol grip caps of darker contrasting woods, sometimes set off by lighter line spacers, are common decorative touches.

Weatherby Deluxe rifles have a maplewood diamond inlay in the rosewood pistol grip cap. Checkering patterns are inclined to be both fairly extensive in coverage and fancy in execution. Some conservative shooters object to these features, and some even claim that the showy stocks scare off game, but I have never seen any evidence of this. Certainly Weatherby rifles and their owners have enjoyed great success in game fields all over the world, taking an inordinate number of record trophies. And I, for one, find the Weatherby Mark V Deluxe to be a flamboyant but handsome rifle.

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