I have a Ruger 77 Sporter, stainless/laminated. I was wondering about checkering on laminated stocks. Is is possible? Will it hold up? Can laminated stocks be stipled, like some of the target stocks? Any suggestions on how the make it more non slip?
thanks

Checkering laminated stocks doesn't work that well. The laminate is usually birch of some sort and is very hard to work with as it is relatively soft and stringy. Even if you succeed in getting a decent sort of job the diamonds in the pattern tend to crumble. Here is a low tech alternative. Get a scrap piece of smooth plywood for a test bed. Mask off an area with tape of some sort. "Paint" the area with a light layer of epoxy glue, sprinkle with a light layer of sand. Let dry and see if you like it. The laminated stock on my CZ 416 Rigby by Jim Brockman has this type of treatment (very light amount of grit material)over the entire stock except for the cheek piece area. Works great. Hope this helps, Russ Green.

My laminate stock, a Boyds JRS, checkered pretty well but it's very coarse, about 16-18 LPI. I haven't seen anyone that wants to do really fine checkering on a laminate. My regular gunsmith won't gurantee his checkering on a laminate, even going coarse he thinks there is too much chance of a point popping off.

When this discussion came up on the African Hunting forum, Ray Atkinson recommended cutting lines rather than diamonds on a laminate. There are some pictures in this thread.

16-18LPI works reals well if cut with a powered checkering head. Hand checkering is a real pia due to the different woods and the glue(each part has a different degree of hardness)

Sherry Abraham's web site says she will checker laminate for the same price as walnut. www.checkering.com

Bobby,

I have the same gun, with the same slippery problem, and posed the very same question a while ago. Simplest and cheapest solution, is to put some camo tape on the appropriate areas of your stock when you're hunting.

Instant fix, easy removed.

Try it.

All credit to my son - it was his idea!

The Remington varmint rifles with laminated stocks used to have checkering, so did the Brownings. I haven't noticed it on the Savage or Ruger laminated stocks. In fact, my new Remington VLS in 6mm Rem. does not contain checkering so apparently Remington discontinued the practice. I figured they discontinued it because they were cheap. Do you hear me Remington, C H E A P ! I guess they put the savings to good causes like the damn J-lock and 8lb. trigger pulls. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

bobby,
When you start to checker it, if it fuzzes up or the wood is tender, get a bottle of super glue and paint it on the wood. It will toughen it up. Then you can continue to checker. If you have a Woodcraft store nearby, they sell it in larger quantities.