I just finished this and delivered to the customer in time to put under the Christmas tree. It is a 7x57 on a VZ24 action with 20 inch barrel. I used Duane's bottom metal and trap-door grip cap, a Glen Fewless butt plate, and home-made forend cap. The metalwork, rust bluing and stockwork was by me, checkering by Pam Wheeler, and engraving by Mike Gouse.
I want to give special thanks to Steven Hughes (SDH) for helping me with some of the fitting of stock metal and shaping, and lots of encouragement. We did this work during one of Steven's Stockmaking seminars a couple years ago.
On the plains of hesitation lie the bleached bones of ten thousand, who on the dawn of victory lay down their weary heads resting, and there resting, died.
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch... Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! - Rudyard Kipling
Wayne, It looks great as I told you it would. The mid-length schnable on the forend worked out quite nicely and that cap you made helps gives it a very long and lean shape. The rust bluing is lovely and matches perfectly on all parts. It is a lovely rifle, in a great cartridge and it was my pleasure to work with you in my shop!
Blanks in that length are hard to find to begin with, and finding one so nice was a huge bonus. It was one of those blanks where the more you cut into it the better it got.
I just ran across these pics of Wayne's stock being shaped in my Stockmaking Seminar. They show the intermediate schnable that adds a lot of class to the stock. Not an easy thing to accomplish, and quite elegant.
2019 Stockmaking Seminar: That's Wayne on the left and SDH on the right. Ruger #1 and Mauser shaped from the blank. Zack of Black's Forge with the Mauser
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