Wood or Synthetic
 

Do you prefer wood or synthetic stocks on your rifles? Why?

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

Niether. I prefer laminate for the stability of synthetic with the look and feel of wood without any of the downfalls of either.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I like synthetic or laminated wood. I like the lightness and durablility of the synthetic, and i like the way wood stocks look and the laminate ones look nice and are better than normal wood ones.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I like a satin wood stock. Don't care for the look or feel of a plastic stock.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I have gone to syn. stocks because they are not prone to change POI if I am hunting in the rain.
It is lighter than wood most of the time.
My heart will not be broken if I scratch it
I camo most rifles and shotguns ,can't bear to do that to walnut

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I also like laminate stocks the best. I like the look and feel and you don't have to deal with the wood swelling.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I hate plastic stocks, just plain ugly IMO and they don't feel nearly as good as wood. I prefer laminated wood, but will take regular wood over plastic any day.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

agree totaly. I cant stand synthetic ther hollow and in some cases off blance.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

Wood is better . Wood looks good not like that other stuff. Synthetic makes noise when i walk through brush real wierd noise. just don't like it.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

Synthetic. Synthetic, synthetic, synthetic.

I own wood-stocked guns for the same reason you own a '57 Chevy. You're not gonna drive in snow, the mountains, on the interstate... but man, it's like sex when you have that baby on the road. :D

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

Laminate is more stable than normal wood but the most stable is a quality synthetic like a mcmillan.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I only have 2 big game rifles now. Both are SS and both have an HS Precision stock on em'. I love the look of pretty wood, but prefer to hunt with synthetic.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I love the look of wood but I prefer to hunt with the synthetic.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

WOOD plasitc is for toy guys hehe. Thats what i tell my day every hunting trip :} They all have there place I just like wood better

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

As long as a gun shoot good I really dont care what the stock is made of . I have all three actually four a couple of them even have metal stocks .

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

Laminated stocks.

Wood stocks- wood with good grain and character just isn't abundant anymore and is very expensive on guns, most of the wood stocks I see on hunting rifles these days are plain, sometimes with a little grain if you are lucky.

Synthetics- I would prefer a GOOD synthetic stock to anything else if rifle makers actually put good stocks on rifles from the factory. What I see on rifles from the factories is less than inspiring, and most likely a way for a company to tout having the advantages of a synthetic while putting a cheap stock on a gun to increase their bottom line.


I'll go with laminated stocks- they are pretty to look at, are solidly made, and the only shortcoming they really have is extra weight- but that is actually a good thing if you want to shoot your rifle accurately.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

Wood! Just something about the feel of wood in my hands and on my cheek:D.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

A nice piece of wood gives a rifle personality, but a nice piece of wood is getting harder to find on stock guns, and alot I've seen look like they were made from old 2x6s.

I have seen some pretty laminates.

I have never seen a pretty black plastic/synthetic stock but they seem to be the most common found on the racks these days.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I truly dislike synthetic stocks. They are noisy, cold to the touch and many of them are as unstable as wood stocks. I much prefer a laminated stock for all-around hunting, and of course, a nice English walnut stock and rust-blued steel for the traditional look.

I would like to try an Acra-Bond stock. These are laminated stocks made from a single blank of walnut. They are sawn lengthwise several times, with each section reversed and bonded together, with the outer sections running in the same direction as they were before the saw cuts were made. They are durable, as if one section starts to warp one way, the others want to go the other way, so in effect they do not warp. Therefore you get the stability of a laminated stock and the beauty of walnut. I would like to restock my Ruger M-77R .338 Win Mag in one.

They are now produced by Serengeti Stockworks (link provided)

[link]http://www.serengetistockworks.com/[/link]

Brian

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I have to agree with ktscontender. A nice wood stock gives a firearm it's personality but, the values of a good synthetic is hard to argue against. I remember ordering a rifle 12-14 years ago. It came in with a synthetic stock and the retailer said it was the ugliest rifle he had ever seen. Here's a dealer that stocked 200-250 rifles. I told him in 10 years ALL his rifles would look like mine and he laughed. I made a point of reminding him of that several years ago when all but of few of his rifles were 'all black'. Let's face it, nice wood is expensive and synthetics are cheaper to make, and all the companies are in business to make money.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

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.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

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

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

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

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

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

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

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

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I like wood cuz synthetic looks cheap.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

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.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

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.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

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.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

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.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I like plain old wood. I have never owned a rifle or shotgun with a synthetic stock, so I don't know how they differ in handling. Wood just has a nice feel to it and it gives the gun a distinct "personality".

Butch A.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

Wood.

Nice walnut, especially.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

i dunno, i actually think a nice black synthetic stock with a stainless barrel and a metalic sope actually looks better then woods stocks with blued barrels. it seems there really isnt any advantage for wood stocks other then the recoil factor, which i dont know how big of a factor that actually is.

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

Its nice to have a rifle in both beautiful wood finish: Browning BAR safari .270

And all weather in Stainless/systhetic Ruger 77 .30-06


Both have pros and cons.

Borty

RE: Wood or Synthetic
 

I feel my weapon is more of a tool than a work of art. I want it to last with all the elements I encounter. The blued wooden goodies sure look nice on the rack though.;)