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Fore end tip thoughts
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Gentlemen, how do you decide to add a fore end tip. In my opinion, some stocks just don't need them. It could be a stock that appears to be made of compressed sawdust that someone tried to dress up with a chunk of rosewood. Or sometimes incredibly perfect and beautiful flowing grain comes to an abrupt halt at a wall of ebony. Is there a rule of thumb you folks follow to decide this? It seems to me that sometimes the wood is good enough on it's on without the additional chrome and white side-walls.
 
Posts: 55 | Registered: 03 November 2013Reply With Quote
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It's definitely an acquired taste. I've never wanted one.


Frank



"I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money."
- Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953

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Posts: 12501 | Location: Kentucky, USA | Registered: 30 December 2002Reply With Quote
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Basically, I am in agreement with Duane.

The grain structure in the fore end tells me whether or not to add a fore end tip.

That said, they can add a sort-of balance to a black recoil pad.
 
Posts: 23062 | Location: SW Idaho | Registered: 19 December 2005Reply With Quote
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Thanks for the input. I always assumed it was a British vs American styling thing. Then I started researching Rigby and G&H photos and found quite a mixture.
 
Posts: 55 | Registered: 03 November 2013Reply With Quote
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As the last poster suggested, it is a mixture. I have rifles from several talented makers, some with natural forends, some with tips. A wonderful rifle can be wonderful either way. I prefer well done "tips". However, my finest custom rifles do not have tips, but finely sculptured natural forends.
 
Posts: 62 | Location: Maryland | Registered: 26 January 2011Reply With Quote
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I generally like them on bolt gun but despise them on single shots. But I despise them on bolt guns if they are not rounded; the 45 degree angle thing doesn't do it for me.


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Posts: 7570 | Location: Arizona and off grid in CO | Registered: 28 July 2004Reply With Quote
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I don't normally care for anything that's just there for looks and is non functional, that includes cheekpieces and forend tips, but I use both on my custom guns because they sell best with those additions...

Will I be using those things on my 7x57 that I am finally building for myself on a G-33-40 Mauser..I don't know, its a tough decision, Id rather not but then I want others to like what they see??? We will see, if I go severe English then it will be low comb short forend, no black tip or cheek piece..Probably a good idea then no one will want it and I'll finally get to keep it.. rotflmo


Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120

rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com
 
Posts: 41763 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000Reply With Quote
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I have ebony on most, but not all. Maybe you can say I like fender skirts. They are built for me and nobody else. Nuff said!
 
Posts: 8959 | Location: Poetry, Texas | Registered: 28 November 2004Reply With Quote
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I like them on my bolt rifles. I think it looks better than the forearm wood just tapering off to nothing.
 
Posts: 20076 | Location: Very NW NJ up in the Mountains | Registered: 14 June 2009Reply With Quote
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i have to agree with biebs - however i do realize that he has blasers, which do not qualify as bolt action or even rifles for that matter
 
Posts: 13439 | Location: faribault mn | Registered: 16 November 2004Reply With Quote
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I prefer Ebony, perpendicular or Widows Peak from side view, not at an angle. My view is that it is a classy touch.
Doug
 
Posts: 478 | Location: Central Indiana | Registered: 22 February 2005Reply With Quote
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Yes, reverse taper and bias cut forarm styles are reminiscent of Roy Weatherby and Harry Lawson...very 1960s.
 
Posts: 20076 | Location: Very NW NJ up in the Mountains | Registered: 14 June 2009Reply With Quote
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Theses are the first two custom large bore rifles I ever owned, metal work by Harry Creighton, stocks by Hal Hartley. Both were done prior to 1963. The top one is a .375-.338 Winchester Magnum (.375 Chatfield-Taylor) and the bottom one is a .458 Winchester Magnum. They were intended for Africa, but neither one ever made it.





Looking at them now, the fore ends look far too long. Now I prefer either a short fore end with a Schnabel or a slightly longer one with a contrasting fore end tip, preferably of buffalo horn, like these two.
 
Posts: 1748 | Registered: 27 March 2007Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by xausa:





Looking at them now, the fore ends look far too long. Now I prefer either a short fore end with a Schnabel or a slightly longer one with a contrasting fore end tip, preferably of buffalo horn, like these two.

Like this shorter forend with Bufflo horn

 
Posts: 5886 | Location: Sydney,Australia  | Registered: 03 July 2005Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by ozhunter:
Like this shorter forend with Bufflo horn



Or like this one, my 9.3X64 Mauser:

 
Posts: 1748 | Registered: 27 March 2007Reply With Quote
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Never cared for that 60's style much either. As for the (hard and dense) ebony tips, I always thought their purpose was to protect the relatively softer premium wood from field damage.


Life itself is a gift. Live it up if you can.
 
Posts: 5086 | Location: Near Hershey PA | Registered: 12 October 2012Reply With Quote
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XAUSA, those Springfield fore ends look like what was common back then. I like them, but then I like cars with tail fins too.
 
Posts: 55 | Registered: 03 November 2013Reply With Quote
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Some of my rifles have them, others don't. It just depends on frame of mind when I commission or start the job.


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Posts: 6315 | Location: Mississippi | Registered: 18 May 2002Reply With Quote
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I prefer buffalo horn, its a nostalgic thing with me however..Buffalo horn will shrink in time and that's problematic..Mostly today I use good quality pure black Gabon Ebony.

I also like the schnable and Alex Hendry forends on some rifles, they go well with a rifle that has no cheek piece.


Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120

rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com
 
Posts: 41763 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000Reply With Quote
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I like buffalo horn for the same reason, but I have to keep in mind that it also attracts insects. I have seen more than one vintage rifle with the horn buttplate and fore end tip eaten up.

I particularly like a Schnabel fore end on a magazine rifle with a short barrel, such as my 7X57 on a G33/40 action with a Winchester featherweight profile 22" barrel. It is reminiscent of the Commercial Mauser Type B.
 
Posts: 1748 | Registered: 27 March 2007Reply With Quote
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I have an I W Meffert double rifle-shotgun that has horn on the butt plate and trigger guard, and other places on it.
 
Posts: 8959 | Location: Poetry, Texas | Registered: 28 November 2004Reply With Quote
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I like them on a classically styled rifle. Of course forend tips are subjective, but what part of rifle styling isnt?


 
Posts: 424 | Location: Australia | Registered: 03 September 2006Reply With Quote
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DRSS
 
Posts: 1894 | Location: Australia | Registered: 25 December 2006Reply With Quote
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My gut tells me I don't prefer them but when I see a nice rifle that has one (including some posted here) I can live with them. If I found a rifle that had everything I wanted on it and it had a forend tip I sure wouldn't turn it down.

A perfect example of this would be when Ray gets tired of that 7x57 he can sell it to me and I will appreciate it all the more! lol


Roger
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Posts: 2786 | Location: Washington (wetside) | Registered: 08 February 2005Reply With Quote
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Mauser, doug barrel, brooklyn guy (Trinidad) fixed/built it.

 
Posts: 6361 | Location: NY, NY | Registered: 28 November 2005Reply With Quote
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.......any pics of Alexander Henry fore-ends?....other than on a No. one that is.

Roger
 
Posts: 1031 | Location: Was NSW, now Tas Australia | Registered: 27 June 2009Reply With Quote
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quote:
I don't normally care for anything that's just there for looks and is non functional, that includes cheekpieces and forend tips


I have always felt that a cheek piece made it more comfortable to weld my cheek to the stock.
 
Posts: 2059 | Location: Mpls., MN | Registered: 28 June 2014Reply With Quote
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Well, I've always heard cheek weld? It is foreign to me. My synthetic stocks have no cheek piece and my wood stocks, other than my Hyper Single, have cheek pieces for looks.
Not saying my way is right by any means, just what I prefer.
 
Posts: 8959 | Location: Poetry, Texas | Registered: 28 November 2004Reply With Quote
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I have rifles with and without forend tips. I do not usually like ebony, though. Since my rifles are for me, I get to do what I want. I have rosewood, cocobolo and even mesquite forend tips. I am currently looking for a piece of buffalo horn for my latest project. I have the pieces for the grip cap and butt plate, so I just keep looking.

Cheek pieces I can take or leave.


Larry

"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands around reloading" -- Thomas Jefferson
 
Posts: 3942 | Location: Kansas USA | Registered: 04 February 2002Reply With Quote
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DRSS
 
Posts: 1894 | Location: Australia | Registered: 25 December 2006Reply With Quote
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I wish there was a science to it, but it typically falls on what style of stock I am after and if I am trying to mimic a certain rifle or maker (Selby's Rigby equals no forend tip, for example).

Since we are all posting photos, a 9.3x62 without.


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Posts: 2789 | Location: Dallas, TX | Registered: 27 January 2004Reply With Quote
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I use music instrument grade African blackwood...IMHO better than ebony on checking and no shrinking like horn.

ALL IT IS, IS BLACK COLORED ROSEWOOD.
 
Posts: 3284 | Location: Mountains of Northern California | Registered: 22 November 2005Reply With Quote
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It's fore end tips for my wood-stocked guns. tu2
 
Posts: 18517 | Registered: 04 April 2005Reply With Quote
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To me, it's kind of an ADL vs BDL kind of thing.....they look too plain without it.
 
Posts: 20076 | Location: Very NW NJ up in the Mountains | Registered: 14 June 2009Reply With Quote
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Has anyone seen an Alex Henry style done in with an ebony tip?
 
Posts: 815 | Location: Missouri | Registered: 24 May 2002Reply With Quote
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This is what Jack Haugh did to the schnabel on my No. 1 .243 deer rifle. I think it's a nice touch.


Dick Wright
 
Posts: 669 | Location: Michigan | Registered: 27 March 2014Reply With Quote
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I personally like schnabels. This is the partly completed one on my recently finished CZ 17 HMR.


Dick Wright
 
Posts: 669 | Location: Michigan | Registered: 27 March 2014Reply With Quote
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Dick, it is a nice touch.
 
Posts: 8959 | Location: Poetry, Texas | Registered: 28 November 2004Reply With Quote
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Ozhunter,
The rifle in the picture with the buffalo is about a perfect rifle IMO..I wouldn't change a thing on that one other than I "might" add a QD mount and a 3X Leupold for an option, but primarily use it as is with the irons. I don't mind a low comb iron sighted rifle for use with a scope, never has bothered me, nor effected my shooting.


Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120

rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com
 
Posts: 41763 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000Reply With Quote
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Here's my 7x64 Mauser 98 by Laubscher with a horn tip:

 
Posts: 6813 | Location: United Kingdom | Registered: 18 November 2007Reply With Quote
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