RE: Wood or Synthetic Stock?
 

Guilty as charged.I was typing as I was doing something else and typed wood by mistake.:D

RE: Wood or Synthetic Stock?
 

I knew that.... Hence my ..:D....

I'm somewhat of a duffer as far as rifles go, but I know enough ( and have enough grey hairs) to recognize a poster who knows of what he speaks, and you qualify in that respect...

RE: Wood or Synthetic Stock?
 

I used to think plastic stocks looked cool, but in my old age (24 years old, hahahaha) i'm starting to realize that nothing is prettier then blue steel and a wood stock. I the synthetic stocks have lots of advantages but there is something special about a nice piece of walnut.

RE: Wood or Synthetic Stock?
 

If you buy rifles to look at ,pretty may be better for you,but I buy rifles to hunt with,so I will stick to a quality synthetic stock like Mcmillan,which by the way is not made of plastic.

RE: Wood or Synthetic Stock?
 

I will not argue againstthe utility of synthetic stocks and stainless steel...

However, I love walnut and blued metal, and IMHO, Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun..;)... But that's just me.. One concession I'll make is for laminate...My pet .280 wears a brown laminate stock and I find it rather attractive...It's also less prone to changes from humidiity than a walnut stock..

I've never babied my hunting rifles..On a couple of my wilderness hunts my rifle got soaked every day.. The stock DID swell, but there was no change of impact that I could detect.. That's not saying it doesn't happen, though.. A good coat of automotive paste wax, like Turtle Wax, goes a long way to protect the metal finish ...

However I have no disagreement with the old axiom " Form Follows Function"...

Also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder..A lot of people like the looks of synthetic/stainless , I'm just not one of them...

RE: Wood or Synthetic Stock?
 

One thing to consider is your location/weather.In my area it goes from one extreme to the other every year.

RE: Wood or Synthetic Stock?
 

I have been on sheep and elk hunts where it rained non stop for several days at a time.It's nice to be able to just wipe the moisture off of my stainless barreled actions and mcmillan stocks,and not have to worry about rust or a change in the point of impact.Laminate is certainly much less effected by moisture than walnut,but even it isn't as stable as a top quality synthetic stock.

RE: Wood or Synthetic Stock?
 

Go with the walnut stocked model. It's prettier and will be a rifle to cherish. The sythetic stocked versions are more stable and damage resistant but I look at them as simply tools. The finish is VERY tough on the wood stocked models and they come glass bedded factory. Congrats on your choice!

RE: Wood or Synthetic Stock?
 

Since I buy guns to shoot bullets at targets,and at game,I consider all guns to be tools.A Prettier gun certainly doesn't do the job any better,and even a glass bedded walnut stock is not going to be as strong or as stable as a quality synthetic stock.I would rather have a plainer looking gun that has a consistent point of impact,than one that looks pretty,but is not as consistent.But if your priority is how pretty a gun is,rather than a consistent point of impact,a wood stock might be a better choice for you.

RE: Wood or Synthetic Stock?
 

Well said stubblejumper but look where you live. Down here we can actually have both in same package.