I am looking to be a new or gently used Remington 700 in a .270, .300, or .308 caliber. There are obviously hundreds of thousands of choices out there and I am hoping to narrow them down by deciding my stock. I am down in Texas so the whether generally stays warm but during the winter can drop. I will be at the range maybe once a month, hog and cayote hunting a few times during the year, whitetail during the season, and planning one trip a year up north in higher elevations. I want this rifle to last long after I do and pass it down. I plan on taking the best care of my rifle but wanted to get some input on which stock my best suit my needs. Thanks for input
Synthetic, Wood, or Laminate
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I don't know much about your country, but isn't Texas hot and dry? If you take good care of your guns how would a wood stock not last longer than you? and if you like the look of wood over synthetic, why would you get synthetic?
How many milsurp rifles out there have wooden stocks that have lasted longer than a generation? I have a Swede that's almost 100 yrs old and still looks better than some wooden stocks you can get now!
Get what you like, and if you regret it later (although I doubt you would) just chalk it up to experience!
How many milsurp rifles out there have wooden stocks that have lasted longer than a generation? I have a Swede that's almost 100 yrs old and still looks better than some wooden stocks you can get now!
Get what you like, and if you regret it later (although I doubt you would) just chalk it up to experience!
I am definitely keeping synthetic wood as an option but seems I'd have to buy a seperate stock from the gun I buy. And yes Texas is hot and dry. I am very new to hunting and didn't know all the factors out there. But I really want to love my gun everytime I pick it up and I think wood would have that affect. But still on here to see if somebody sells me otherwise.
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OK, the most accurate rifles I've ever owned were stocked with .... Walnut.
The heaviest rifles I've ever owned were stocked with laminates.
The worst shooting rifles I've ever owned were stocked with synthetics.
A good synthetic, glassed or pillar bedded, will absolutely top anything Mother Earth grew from the dirt. Well, at least from year to year. But it will cost way more, it's ugly, and in time the walnut will settle down in a couple seasons, and shoot just as good.
What is important to you.
The heaviest rifles I've ever owned were stocked with laminates.
The worst shooting rifles I've ever owned were stocked with synthetics.
A good synthetic, glassed or pillar bedded, will absolutely top anything Mother Earth grew from the dirt. Well, at least from year to year. But it will cost way more, it's ugly, and in time the walnut will settle down in a couple seasons, and shoot just as good.
What is important to you.
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If you're already a fan of wood (walnut) stocks, then I'd see no need to change now. The weather you talk about hunting in does not seem severe enough to me to warrant a change in the good old wooden handle we all grew up with. I own dozens of rifles and exactly one wears a synthetic stock now, a high $$ ultralight rifle in .270. I am simply not a fan of synthetic stocks. I own about 8 or 10 with laminate stocks and the rest are walnut. If you take some care with a walnut stock then weather should not be a significant problem.
Things I'd recommend doing include removing the stock from the action (perhaps after checking for a "floated barrel"?) and then sealing any unfinished areas of inletting. It's pretty common to find these areas without any finish on most factory rifles. By the way, remember to remove the pad or butt plate and finish the stock butt end as well. By using a good wax or wood polish on the stock's outside you can also help seal the outside from water as well. I simply believe that the feel and look of a nice wooden stock is nice enough to make it #1 for most of my hunting needs. If the weather is looking to be severe or the hunting conditions harsh, I still prefer laminate to synthetic and have found the laminates I have to stand up very well to abuse.
An alternative might also be to buy a wood stocked rifle and at some later time add a quality synthetic or laminate stock to re-fit to the rifle prior to a hunting trip where a gun might see some rough conditions. Just a thought....
Things I'd recommend doing include removing the stock from the action (perhaps after checking for a "floated barrel"?) and then sealing any unfinished areas of inletting. It's pretty common to find these areas without any finish on most factory rifles. By the way, remember to remove the pad or butt plate and finish the stock butt end as well. By using a good wax or wood polish on the stock's outside you can also help seal the outside from water as well. I simply believe that the feel and look of a nice wooden stock is nice enough to make it #1 for most of my hunting needs. If the weather is looking to be severe or the hunting conditions harsh, I still prefer laminate to synthetic and have found the laminates I have to stand up very well to abuse.
An alternative might also be to buy a wood stocked rifle and at some later time add a quality synthetic or laminate stock to re-fit to the rifle prior to a hunting trip where a gun might see some rough conditions. Just a thought....
I didn't vote because I still haven't figured out my favorite. I love nice wood and deep blued metal. My guns are hunting tools and get nicks and dings no matter how careful I try to be. Guess I haven't winced yet from seeing a new scratch in the composite stock. My best shooting and worst shooting rifles are wearing lamanates.
Well, I.m in Texas also and can tell you from first hand experience that a synthetic stock with some bedding, whether glass, pillar, or full length bedding blocks will be much better and hold their zero 10 times better than wood. Wood is pretty and it feels great but wood is wood and it cannot with stand the temperature swings we experience here. The humidity and rain then excessive heat and dry then 9 degree's with 13 inches of snow, and that can be in a 6 week period. The OP knows what i'm talking about. My synthetic guns will hold their zero and stand up to the crazy weather here, but the wood stocked guns always have to be re-zeroed every time i turn around.
I think it takes nice wood and a quality blued barreled action to make a truely nice looking rifle. Properly inleted, bedded and sealed, wood will shoot extremely well, under most any conditions. However, you can usually buy two or three McMillan's for what one nice wood stock, fitted to your action will cost.
It takes man made materials to make a bug hole tack driver that's going to put 10 bullets in the same hole and do that consistantly.
It takes man made materials to make a bug hole tack driver that's going to put 10 bullets in the same hole and do that consistantly.
I like wood stocks never had a problem with them but,I don't live in wet climes and if I did I would lean towards synthetic stock and a stainless rig.I like looks of a walnut stock and blued barrel.If you take care of it ,it should last several lifetimes.
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wood wood and more wood
I don't own anything that doesn't have wood on it. It has to look nice before I buy it no matter what kind of price tag it has. Don't misunderstand me accuracy is a plus but with that said you can stack up all the synthetic stock guns you want on the wall and when you put one gun in the mix with a really nice curly walnut or fiddleback maple or birdseye maple stock, everyone is going to be throwing there comments at it. If and when I am handing down any of my guns to my kids or grandkids it won't matter to them what it looks like, there main thoughts will be that it was yours and the tails you told about it will linger on in there thoughts well after you are gone. What hunting trips you were on and what you bagged. But wouldn't it be icing on the cake for it to look sharp as well. I have some old winchester 22's that were my grandpa's that are beat up like crazy but they are priceless. I remember seeing those hogs drop at hog killing time with a shell throwed in the right place everytime.
I don't own anything that doesn't have wood on it. It has to look nice before I buy it no matter what kind of price tag it has. Don't misunderstand me accuracy is a plus but with that said you can stack up all the synthetic stock guns you want on the wall and when you put one gun in the mix with a really nice curly walnut or fiddleback maple or birdseye maple stock, everyone is going to be throwing there comments at it. If and when I am handing down any of my guns to my kids or grandkids it won't matter to them what it looks like, there main thoughts will be that it was yours and the tails you told about it will linger on in there thoughts well after you are gone. What hunting trips you were on and what you bagged. But wouldn't it be icing on the cake for it to look sharp as well. I have some old winchester 22's that were my grandpa's that are beat up like crazy but they are priceless. I remember seeing those hogs drop at hog killing time with a shell throwed in the right place everytime.
It's going to come down to personal preference. I have 2 30-06s. One is a very pretty remington 7400 with engravings and a walnut stock that I inherited from my grandfather. The other is a remington 710, which of course comes with the very ugly grey synthetic stock.
When I have hunted with the 7400, I cringed every time the rifle bumped a tree or a rock, or I had to drag it through some brush. But, at the end of the day when all of our rifles are lined up in the cabin to dry, it's a great looking gun.
When I have hunted with the 710, the trees, rocks, brush, or whatever, doesn't bother the gun. And, if it does leave a mark on the gun, it doesn't really bother me. But, when lined up with other rifles, it is flat out ugly.
So, do you want a gun that's going to last a long time without showing wear and tear, or do want a wood stock that may require a lttle more TLC but will look 10 times better? Only you can answer this, and I don't think there is a wrong answer.
Good luck with whatever you choose. Also, if you are really having trouble deciding, you could always get one of each...
When I have hunted with the 7400, I cringed every time the rifle bumped a tree or a rock, or I had to drag it through some brush. But, at the end of the day when all of our rifles are lined up in the cabin to dry, it's a great looking gun.
When I have hunted with the 710, the trees, rocks, brush, or whatever, doesn't bother the gun. And, if it does leave a mark on the gun, it doesn't really bother me. But, when lined up with other rifles, it is flat out ugly.
So, do you want a gun that's going to last a long time without showing wear and tear, or do want a wood stock that may require a lttle more TLC but will look 10 times better? Only you can answer this, and I don't think there is a wrong answer.
Good luck with whatever you choose. Also, if you are really having trouble deciding, you could always get one of each...
Great advice !!!!It's going to come down to personal preference. I have 2 30-06s. One is a very pretty remington 7400 with engravings and a walnut stock that I inherited from my grandfather. The other is a remington 710, which of course comes with the very ugly grey synthetic stock.
When I have hunted with the 7400, I cringed every time the rifle bumped a tree or a rock, or I had to drag it through some brush. But, at the end of the day when all of our rifles are lined up in the cabin to dry, it's a great looking gun.
When I have hunted with the 710, the trees, rocks, brush, or whatever, doesn't bother the gun. And, if it does leave a mark on the gun, it doesn't really bother me. But, when lined up with other rifles, it is flat out ugly.
So, do you want a gun that's going to last a long time without showing wear and tear, or do want a wood stock that may require a lttle more TLC but will look 10 times better? Only you can answer this, and I don't think there is a wrong answer.
Good luck with whatever you choose. Also, if you are really having trouble deciding, you could always get one of each...
Like some other guys, I've got at least a few of each. I won't deny that walnut, or any real wooden stock, makes for a more beautiful rifle, but what really catches my eye is clover leafs at 100 yards.
If you're anything like most people these days, the amount of time you get to hunt is fairly limited, so when you go, you don't want to be sitting in camp because it's a little damp out. You can take two rifles on your hunt, carrying one with a pretty stock and one impervious to the elements. The great thing is, you can approach this any way you like.
I made the switch to mostly using a synthetic stock on my hunting rifles some 10 years ago, when I missed an excellent Wisconsin buck and wounded another that had to be tracked for quite a distance before it could be finished off. The gun stock had contracted when going from where I lived in California to a hunt in the cold snowy north country. The point of impact changed nearly 8" from where I had sighted in! It was partly my fault for not checking it after I got there, but in subsequent years I found that the synthetic stock was a cheap way to ensure the radical temperature and climate change didn't have a significant effect on the POI.
Synthetic stocks aren't pretty, but they can still bring that same twinkle to your eye, when you think back on all the brush you busted through, all the snow that dropped off branches, and all the consistently well-placed shots, from the bench or in the field. Either will work, wood is prettier and you can count on synthetic stocks to hold POI. Let us know what you decide.
If you're anything like most people these days, the amount of time you get to hunt is fairly limited, so when you go, you don't want to be sitting in camp because it's a little damp out. You can take two rifles on your hunt, carrying one with a pretty stock and one impervious to the elements. The great thing is, you can approach this any way you like.
I made the switch to mostly using a synthetic stock on my hunting rifles some 10 years ago, when I missed an excellent Wisconsin buck and wounded another that had to be tracked for quite a distance before it could be finished off. The gun stock had contracted when going from where I lived in California to a hunt in the cold snowy north country. The point of impact changed nearly 8" from where I had sighted in! It was partly my fault for not checking it after I got there, but in subsequent years I found that the synthetic stock was a cheap way to ensure the radical temperature and climate change didn't have a significant effect on the POI.
Synthetic stocks aren't pretty, but they can still bring that same twinkle to your eye, when you think back on all the brush you busted through, all the snow that dropped off branches, and all the consistently well-placed shots, from the bench or in the field. Either will work, wood is prettier and you can count on synthetic stocks to hold POI. Let us know what you decide.
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