RE: wood vs. synthetic
These guys have hit the nail on the headd. Basically, there are three choices. Wood, Synthetic and Laminate.
Wood gives great feel balance and looks the best, but if humidy or temperatureshift much between range day and the hunt, you may be off some. I hunted with wood in MT for a long time. Never had an issue, but MT is dry, even though the temp varies.
Synthetics always feel out of balance to me until you step up to a high dollar synthetic where they add weight to the butt for balance. Of courrse tthen you loose some of why you go synthetic. They usually are very stable, but some cheap factory stocks are warped enough to pressure the barrel out of the box!
Laminates are a good balance. Laminate wood, has better temperature and humidity stability. It still looks pretty good and it has great balance of wood. It is probably the cheapest way to get a reasonably stable,reasonably pricedstock. Even some BR guys are going this way.