IMO the wood stocks on the X-Bolts are better. I found the synthetic stock on the X-Bolt to be less rigid in the forearm and it also had that "hollow" sound in the butt.

I like both, but probably prefer wood. My main hunting rifle has the original 25yo wood stock it came with. Yeah, its banged up...but it sure has done me well. My next gun will likely have a laminated wood stock, and stainless barrel. I love that combo.

Same here. I have a blued blackpowder rifle that I have to worry about the powder corroding. I bought a TC Encore in stainless and I don't worry about the powder or water.

I have a Browning BAR .30-06 with a wood stock and blued barrel. It is the pretties gun I have but it is a working gun. It doesn't get to hang above the fireplace and look pretty. It has to go out in the field and earn it's keep. So it has some nicks and dings but I don't worry about it.

Now I did do something stupid with the Browning a couple years ago. I shot a deer right at dark, leaned the gun up against a tree, attached a drag rope, threw on my pack and headed out of the woods. I hung the deer and skinned and deboned it. Then I went to bed (I hunt at my house).

The next morning I get up and wonder where my gun is. In a fit of fear, I threw on my boots and ran out to the woods and there it was, leaned up against the tree. The worst part is we had an ice storm that night. So tore the gun down and cleaned and oiled it thoroughly. If it had been stainless steel, I would not have been stainless steel with a synthetic stock I would not have been as worried about it.

Thanks for the imput, Sheridan.

I'm opposite...wood seems to be colder to me. Not as cold as aluminum but colder then my synthetic stocks...maybe us guys on the west coast are just a little tougher...

Good comments.

[quote=bigbulls;3889491]I much prefer wood stocks if given the choice. If sealed with the proper finish they are just as weather proof as a synthetic stock. Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun.[/quote]

+1000

I hunted for about 40 years with my walnut stocked .30-06/.30 Gibbs. I hunted elk with it almost every one of those years in all kinds of weather, and it rode many miles in a leather scabbard on the side of my horse. I hunted with it in Colorado, Montana, and Alaska. The checkering shows some wear, but overall, the stock is still in excellent shape.

I also have over 30 years of hunting with my fancy walnut stocked .257 Ackley. It's been on probably 4 or 5 dozen deer and antelope hunts and a number of bighorn sheep hunts. It's also still in very good shape.

About 10 years ago I broke down and bought a Rem 700 in 7mm Rem mag. It has a stainless barrel and action, and is in a plastic Remington stock. I did take it on one hunt in South Africa, and I have used it on several deer, pronghorn and elk hunts, but I mainly keep it as a backup rifle for wet, and foul weather hunts.

My main rifle now for elk and probably any hunts outside of Montana is a .300 Weatherby that I stocked in AA Fancy walnut. I finished it with over a dozen hand rubbed coats of Tru-oil and I rub it with stock wax before every hunt.

I've also heard that Thompsons Water Seal can be applied over the finish of a wood stock and it will repel water and not damage the finish.

By the way, bigbulls, GREAT AVATAR!!!!

Wood to look at, synthetic to hunt with. All of my rifles and shotguns are now synthetic.

I prefer a Wood Stock Gun/Rifle...if I'm going to keep it for many years and take care of it there's nothing nicer looking than a Firearm with great looking Wood on it!My Browning A-Bolt Hunter .243 Bolt-action Rifle has the low luster shine on the wood and a blued barrel,then I put a matte-black Leupold scope on it also,to me a Shiny Rifle isn''t the best thing to take out Hunting if You don't want to show up like a shiny new diamond ring or have glare coming off Your Gun where the Game Your Hunting could very well see it?

If I'm going to get a Rifle/Gun out in the harsh Weather and use it a lot I would highly reccomend a Synthetic Stock.......my Savage Axis XP Camo Rifle is a great shooting Rifle and it see's a lot of rain,snow and cold weather when Hunting for Coyotes,Bobcats and Foxes.

I've been told a Synthetic Stock Bolt-Action Rifle will shoot much better/more Accurate then a Wood Stock Rifle and I tend to believe that...my Friend sighted in His newer Remington Bolt-action 30-06 with the Synthetic Black Stock and I was amazed at how accurate and well grouped the Rifle Shot!

To each their own. But...

And that is why I am a wood stock kind of guy.