GeorgeS,
Thanks for sharing that link. I have never seen an American Black Walnut stock that was yellow, white maybe, but not yellow.

Dave, you are welcome. For you information Winchester presses the checkering into their standard and super grade stocks, it is not cut and is typically very dark (flat black).

I now find this entire thread curious.

Scott

If wood is important to you (as in figure, NOT quality, that should be a given) then I would suggest that you buy off of one of the various internet sites dedicated to gun sales. You may pay more, or you may pay less than your local dealer or a private FFL, but you at least have the chance to view in advance the wood you will be getting. If the figure doesn't suit you, you just keep looking. Ruger's of all models vary a great deal in the wood figure that they come with, if you will take the time to shop you'll find a great one.

Gabe

...as others have noted, i would say that it is fairly well just the 'luck of the draw' in terms of the quality of the circassian walnut stock that you may get with a ruger rsm rifle...

...i saw a .375hh rsm rifle at a recent sci convention that had wood that exceeded the quality of the wood found on many of the other much more expensive offerings (including some of the uk offerings)...

...if you can manage it, i would place the onus on a favored/long-time retailer to make a special request to the local ruger distributor to select the best stocked rsm from amongst its inventory to fulfill the order...

te

Gentlemen,

The wood on my Ruger RSM .416 Rigby was incredible. I ordered it from Sportsman's Warehouse in Salem, OR, and when it arrived and they brought it out and took it out of the box, the crowd gathered around the gun counter ooh-ed and aah-ed for a long time.

In my opinion, it's the most beautiful factory rifle I've seen.