Welcome to the forums Gadge. Thanks for the reply.

Merv Naughton used to use blackwood for his Fieldman .22RF stocks. Colour does vary a bit - I've had a couple of Fieldmans that were dark [much like walnut], and one .22 mag that's very light. Reasonably hard wood though. Don't know how it'd checker - a tight grained bit would be OK.

If you have ever seen a Lithgow made 303 with Queensland maple timber you will know what I am talking about it is really nice looking timber which looks like Marble in its grain structure but it is prone to splitting it was only used for a few years on 303 production there is some other timbers that were trialed by the military but only Coachwood was considered for service