Beauty and Toughness - Rifle Indecision

[pwsINC]

sorry about of spelling errors above but I think every gets it.

*don't buy rifles with intent to sell.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[BigWoods]

Lots of good anecdotes to help me out!

Seems like we fall into two camps; 1. the people who see marks as a sign of good hunts gone by; 2. Those who would cringe at a scratch. As said, I really don't mind the ding; what I don't want is finish melting off and warping or cracking the stock. I really am fine with wood rifle being a utility piece (with some finery that can never hurt).

Come to think of it my 20ga o/u has seen some pretty rough weather itsself:
View attachment 46832

GK, do you have any specific experience running wood and blue in the Pacific NW - I hear its pretty wet around there?

The rifle cover would be a great idea if I were hunting Western mountains out of the thickets - unfortunately the shots here are made quick - usually after jumping a buck and 30 yds.

 

[GKPrice]

Lots of good anecdotes to help me out!

Seems like we fall into two camps; 1. the people who see marks as a sign of good hunts gone by; 2. Those who would cringe at a scratch. As said, I really don't mind the ding; what I don't want is finish melting off and warping or cracking the stock. I really am fine with wood rifle being a utility piece (with some finery that can never hurt).

Come to think of it my 20ga o/u has seen some pretty rough weather itsself:
View attachment 46832

GK, do you have any specific experience running wood and blue in the Pacific NW - I hear its pretty wet around there?

The rifle cover would be a great idea if I were hunting Western mountains out of the thickets - unfortunately the shots here are made quick - usually after jumping a buck and 30 yds.

Yep, I sure do ! Born and raised west of Portland OR - Hunted Roosevelts and Blacktails for many a year - used Browning "fat bolts" and Ruger 77's - I spent a bunch of time and way too much money putting an Abolt in a fiberglass stock, one of the first produced by MPI stocks when Doc was making them in his garage in St, Johns - SS wasn't too common in them days .... - The Oregon coast range gets plenty of rain AND fog, both will make a mess out of blued metal and wood stocks, even oiled or waxed ones - I can truly appreciate a nice wood stock as I work with wood of some kind most days but IMO it has no place in the elements if one can help it - I know plenty of guys will disagree with me, lots from AK and such places but I've had SS rifles showing rusty spots so fast it really alarmed me and a "wet climate" will reek havoc with wood even when you think you're A-OK - Synthetic stocks were born out of necessity with competitive shooters , either that or laminated but I'd rather not carry any more weight than I have to, whether it's 1 mile or 15, I prefer to "work smarter, not harder" - synthetic stocks and SS metal "ding" for memories just as well in my book

 

[BigWoods]

Yep, I sure do ! Born and raised west of Portland OR - Hunted Roosevelts and Blacktails for many a year - used Browning "fat bolts" and Ruger 77's - I spent a bunch of time and way too much money putting an Abolt in a fiberglass stock, one of the first produced by MPI stocks when Doc was making them in his garage in St, Johns - SS wasn't too common in them days .... - The Oregon coast range gets plenty of rain AND fog, both will make a mess out of blued metal and wood stocks, even oiled or waxed ones - I can truly appreciate a nice wood stock as I work with wood of some kind most days but IMO it has no place in the elements if one can help it - I know plenty of guys will disagree with me, lots from AK and such places but I've had SS rifles showing rusty spots so fast it really alarmed me and a "wet climate" will reek havoc with wood even when you think you're A-OK - Synthetic stocks were born out of necessity with competitive shooters , either that or laminated but I'd rather not carry any more weight than I have to, whether it's 1 mile or 15, I prefer to "work smarter, not harder" - synthetic stocks and SS metal "ding" for memories just as well in my book

mtwarden - Thanks for your experience!

GK - It sounds like your area's weather is pretty much a dead ringer for our fall here...maybe just a bit colder here. It sounds like you've got both Montana's and the Hunter. Between the two, what's your take on the 5oz lighter stock as far as carrying and shootability go? How is the in house recoil pad on the Hunter? I'm wrestling between the 6.5 and 308 - but don't want to get beat up with a so-so recoil pad. Thanks!

 

[GKPrice]

mtwarden - Thanks for your experience!

GK - It sounds like your area's weather is pretty much a dead ringer for our fall here...maybe just a bit colder here. It sounds like you've got both Montana's and the Hunter. Between the two, what's your take on the 5oz lighter stock as far as carrying and shootability go? How is the in house recoil pad on the Hunter? I'm wrestling between the 6.5 and 308 - but don't want to get beat up with a so-so recoil pad. Thanks!

all the rifles I own have Limbsaver pads on them, the Montana is easy to replace but I've been studying the Hunter stock to figure out the best way, the first 1/8" +/- is inletted so I'd have to carefully trim that part off, when I do that then I'll know if the pads I put on the Montanas will be right - Limbsaver makes grind-to-fit pads too but they don't sand very well - I might just carry the stock into SW and try all the pads to see if one fits it (I'm sure I'll be popular with the staff if I "try" that) I'll get it done one way or the other though, even light kickers deserve the best pad IMO - the Hunter factory pad ain't bad, just not an AirCell ....

 

[elkguide]

Hunting in Vermont, I know a little bit about what you are talking about for weather.

I've taken a lot of different rifles on some pretty nasty weather walks over the years and once I saw my first fiberglass stocked target rifle, I knew that I "needed" one in a hunting version. At the time Chet Brown was the go to guy and I bought a blank from him and finished it and bedded a Ruger 77 action in it. I was in love! I had reduced the weight of that .300 Win Mag and had found that it also reduced the felt recoil. After the first year hunting with it, I bought stocks for my .270 Ruger and for my Remington .308. I haven't looked back. Yes I did continue to buy rifles with wooden stocks but when it came time to head for the hills, I always seemed to grab a rifle with a fiberglass stock.

Rifles are some of the most beautiful examples of design and artwork ever created but they are ultimately to me, a tool. I use my tools. When I was hunting with a wooden stocked rifle, I always took them apart and waxed or sprayed poly-urethane in the unfinished inletted channel if I wasn't going to bed the rifle, just to take that water issue away.

So you have an awesome rifle. It's yours. You can look at it or you can hunt with it.

You make the call.

 

[BigWoods]

Hunting in Vermont, I know a little bit about what you are talking about for weather.

I've taken a lot of different rifles on some pretty nasty weather walks over the years and once I saw my first fiberglass stocked target rifle, I knew that I "needed" one in a hunting version. At the time Chet Brown was the go to guy and I bought a blank from him and finished it and bedded a Ruger 77 action in it. I was in love! I had reduced the weight of that .300 Win Mag and had found that it also reduced the felt recoil. After the first year hunting with it, I bought stocks for my .270 Ruger and for my Remington .308. I haven't looked back. Yes I did continue to buy rifles with wooden stocks but when it came time to head for the hills, I always seemed to grab a rifle with a fiberglass stock.

Rifles are some of the most beautiful examples of design and artwork ever created but they are ultimately to me, a tool. I use my tools. When I was hunting with a wooden stocked rifle, I always took them apart and waxed or sprayed poly-urethane in the unfinished inletted channel if I wasn't going to bed the rifle, just to take that water issue away.

So you have an awesome rifle. It's yours. You can look at it or you can hunt with it.

You make the call.

Well hello neighbor!

I appreciate your tips for keeping the woods nice! Having waxed the inletting, which I plan to do, did you tend to take them apart after a wet day in the field, or just leave them out with some moving air so they'd dry out?

 

[elkguide]

Well hello neighbor!

I appreciate your tips for keeping the woods nice! Having waxed the inletting, which I plan to do, did you tend to take them apart after a wet day in the field, or just leave them out with some moving air so they'd dry out?

The most that I would do after a nasty day, if I had waxed or poly'd the inletting, was to stand the rifle barrel down in a corner, to encourage/allow any trapped water to drain. In those days, optics weren't quite what they are today and if it was cold along with wet, you really didn't want a scoped rifle to come in contact with too much heat unless you didn't want to see through your scope the next morning.

Today, I do grab a fiberglass stocked rifle most mornings and especially if it's an inclement sort of a day and save my wood stocked beauties for a sunny day.

 

[BigWoods]

elkguide - Thanks again for the help. Sounds like I'll need to save up for another Kimber someday

Now for a little field report. I got the rifle back out on Friday evening (finally got a break from the wind and snow!). Since last time out, I relieved some pressure from the stock on the barrel and put on Talley Lightweights.
View attachment 47322
View attachment 47323

Being that every time I put three rounds on target, it seems to go into right around an inch, I think I've got a keeper here. These Hornady American Whitetails do pretty well. I'm hoping to start reloading for it soon which should tighten things up a bit. Thank you all for the tips and advice on this one.

The range trip itself was a bit of fun as we had about 40" of snow on the ground around here - I had to dig out the shooting bench and wound up sitting on snow for a seat. Fun times in the north country!