@Wiley64
Some think I have poor taste but ALL my rifles get field use be it my blued , walnut custom or stainless synthetic and I can assure you the don't get babied. They do all get cleaned after use tho.
Bob
I am with
@Bob Nelson 35Whelen. I clean and maintain my rifles before and after hunts. Wood stocks are part of the soul of a gun that I appreciate.
Over many years, I learned :
- Proper bedding and sealing the wood, inside and out, including under the recoil pad. Spar urethane is useful, definitely not a London oil finish, but it holds up in cold wet, and hot humid environments in the Deep South.
- Reinforce the bedding, tang, magazine area (I think Mauser 98 types.)
-Threaded drill rod through the wrist, epoxied in, for the big rifles
- After the hunt, clean and repeat.
- I've talked to old guys that would put Carnauba Paste wax on the whole gun, for moisture on corrosion resistance in cold salt marsh blinds, then clean it off properly for storage.
The rust bluing and wood survived, as my grandfather's goose gun in my safe shows.
Wood stocks are more work to maintain than wood laminates, and especially synthetics.
It's cheaper to find a wood laminate stock that is more stable than any run of the sawmill solid wood stock, certainly nowadays. I still seal the barrel channel, and under the but pad.
In this case I certainly look at wood laminates to go on a classic rifle, IF finished out that it looks somewhat like wood, no pink and green streaks in the plywood for me.
With synthetics, I have had the Winchester M70 on .270- and .338-Win Mag, did not care for them, especially the 1990's era Model 70. Too much flex in the fore end and inconsistent bedding when the screws were torqued down to specs.
A Bell and Carlson classic, on a commercial Mauser 98 in 416 Taylor was very nice in consistency, bedding, and I think a little milder in recoil.
It just had no soul like wood.
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