I like that Bastogne blank on the right end of the third row, very pretty! I would put that on my rifle in a second (provided of course it was a gift from somebody with a lot more discretionary money to spend than me!!!)

Red

300H&H,

The pics in that link look good. What caliber is your CZ550? Another question, this one for the sawyer, ask them how many growth rings per inch the blank(s) have. As a general rule of thumb, in walnut, for optimum strength you will want between 3.5 and 7 growth rings per inch.

Otherwise, I agree with Ray. The thin shelled walnuts are generally far better choices than claro. Of course if you do not know what you are doing it is easy to get bad thin shelled walnut, too! BTW, most people fit the "don't know what they are doing" catagory, and the sad part is that I have found many sawyers and stockmakers that fit that catagory as well.

My advise is to learn as much as you can about the mechanical properties of wood before you go wood shopping. Then only buy what you can physically inspect. A fairly good book on the subject is 'The Mechanical Properties of Wood' . It is a Civil Engineering textbook and provides a great deal information.


Scott