gorse

I prefer wood (especially laminate) for it's feel. I use synthetic, though, on all my guns - because it's cheap (relatively speaking) and I don't have to care about it.

duramaxlt

i like them both depends on what i'm using it for

bigcountry

BDHUNTR, how are they as unstable as wood? Confusing statement there.

BDHUNTR

Bigcountry, a lot of mass-produced injection molded stocks are not that stable. The plastics they use may not warp from fluctuations in humidity, but they can change due to fluctuations in temperatures. In addition, many of these stocks have forearms that provide no internal support, and can actually be squeezed into contact with the barrel. And Heaven forbid if you rest the stock on a hard object. They will bounce!

By all means, a high-quality synthetic stock (McMillan, Brown Precision) is a very stable stock. But not all synthetics are as good as these two.

Brian

oldelkhunter

Too much is made of wood stocks moving POI..I have never noticed it with a factory stock with a good finish. I really don't like the new FRP stocks they use on Remingtons and Rugers since they are like echo chambers . The rest are pretty decent in that regard. Plenty of animals were taken with Wood and Blued Guns. Some won't have any other type and I understand and appreciate that. Especially if they have good wood nothing prettier to look at IMHO

TeeJay

I like wood cuz synthetic looks cheap.

FL/GA Hunter

First and foremost, my rifle is a tool. That means that I prefer to have my stainless synthetic .270, or my stainless blued .300 Win Mag in my hands if I'm climbing mountains, banging the stock into rocks, could put it in a puddle, have it subjected to high humidity or freezing temperatures, etc - oh, and I'd much prefer to carry it across the three or four mountains it'll take to find my elk than a piece of wood. If I get out of the woods at the end of the day and my synthetic stock has a big scuff on it, I feel no guilt about it.

Now, if I were going hunting tomorrow in Georgia with my dad, where I'm going to walk 200 yards into the woods, climb a tree, and sit for a while in the sunshine, definitely give me a beautiful wood-stocked gun in my hands.

clearanceman

I like synthetic because I am a clutz and I bang the stock on something on a regular basis. I never have to feel bad because there is a new scratch in nice looking wood when I have a plain synthetic stock. Also, there is nothing to maintain. It is stable and usually the same price or even a little cheaper than a wood stock.

James B

I like synthetic as well. Same reason. I have amazing talent for scratching the hell out of pretty wood. The prettier the are the faster I can perform my magic. I don't care much what a gun looks like as long as it shoots well.

stubblejumper

I have personally witnessed a factory rifle change the point of inpact by 6" at 100 yards due to the wooden stock shifting.The rifle was a 25-06 rem 700bdl that is owned by a former hunting partner of mine.The two of us checked our rifles one day prior to leaving on our annual deer hunting trip and his rifle was 3" high at 100 yards.We then drove to the hunting area the next day and scouted for a day before the season opened.On the second day my partner missed an easy 200 yard shot on a whitetail buck.Thinking that he just messed up we continued hunting.On the last day my partner missed another buck at between 250yards and 300 yards which should have been a relativley easy shot for him.Being suspicious,we set up a target and were amazed to discover that the rifle was now 9" high at 100 yards.Instead of bothering to rezero the rifle he decided to use his back up gun as he didn't really trust the 25-06 any more.After returning home the gun went into the gunsafe and remained there for a week until we could get to the range.To our amazement the poi had returned to 3" high at 100 yards after sitting in a warm dry house for a week.