What about Lone Wolf Rifle stocks?

I need some ideas, experiences, opinions on the following lightweight stocks - Hightech (Bansner), MPI, and Rimrock (Borden). I am not interested in McMillan as they are too heavy.

I have made hunting rifles on all three. Rimrock hands down. It may weigh slightly more than a Banser, but the lines and finish are top notch. The rimrock stock come with a good pad installed too. There are a Cloward design...great stock.

i got an mpi yesteday.. it's uglier than a trolls sister, er first date..e r sister..... it's going back

jeffe

Terry, of these I'd select the Rimrock hands-down.

The MPI is not something I'd want to own.....

AD

What's the price range on the Rimrock stocks?

Thanks.

i have borden, brown and mcmillian..have had mpi & hi tec(bannster)..i probably like brown & rimrock about the same.. i have been hunting this year with a m7 & m700 in brown kelvar stocks but hunted all last year with 2 m70's in rimrock stocks.. try both with scopes and see which fits you best..ps i think they both cost about the same..

my gunsmith refuses to use either mpi or hi tec..

I would be very interested in WHY any gunsmith does not like High-Tech stocks. To date, I have used Clifton Arms, Brown Precision, McMillan and Rimrock-Borden, but, the very light weight Bansner stock appeals to me for standard calibers. If, anyone has the time, I would really appreciate hearing why one does/does not use a given stock or prefers another one.

I like my Pre-64 FWT .30-06 in the Rimrock, but, over-all I prefer Brown Precision for most rifles to .338 and McMillan for heavier cals. The Borden is quite noisy which is my only complaint, mine came from Pacific Research about "93.

Are Lone Wolf stocks as strong and lightweight as advertised? How do they look?

I have the same question as badboyz, how much are the Borden stocks? Looked on their website and couldn't find anything.

Do you prefer the Rimrock over the McMillin ??? And if you have the time, could you elaborate a bit..
Thanks

First off people need to realize that what you get from Hi-Tec and MPI are inletted blanks, far from drop in. Most of what I have seen from Brown and McMillan have needed nothing more than a little acra gel to have a good fit. From what I understand the Rim Rock is about the same. Mostly a finished stock. Maybe just a little acra gel to bed.

So to answer your question Terry If you don�t mind doing a little work yourself I would recommend the Hi-Tec over the MPI. Mpi makes an ok stock and it is pretty stiff. It just takes more to finish than a HI-Tec. One thing MPI has going for them is they make a huge variety of stocks.
To finish either of these stocks you will need at least a dremmel tool. It would be best to have access to a mill.
One more thing about Hi-Tec. They are light, but when finished you can add at least another10 or 12 ozs to them. You have some control over this with what recoil pad you use. Like an idiot I put a 1� decelarator on my 17oz sheep hunter stock and that thing weighs 1/2 a pound itself.

Now if you want something a little more drop in oriented I would go Rimrock.

Good Luck and God Bless
Shawn

I have used macMillans and like them except for the weight. I have also used Brown precision (first one in 1976) Lee Six (1978) and Bansner. I have not used the others but have repaired one MPI.
I very much like the Bansner stocks. The shape is nice, they are light and the inletting is not bad. In addition the surface is very good and little effort is required to finish them. They are available for a limited number of actions but I will use them as my first choice for those for which they are available. The only problem I ever had was with one in which the inletting for the action and the bottom metal were slightly misaligned. If I had checked more carefully I would have noticed this and would not have had to do the job twice! I have had the same problem with MacMillans. Also infrequently.
The Brown precision stocks are more more fun for those who own stock in Bondo! They are made light by omitting the resin!
I only wish Bansner would decide to make a classic Marksman style target stock for the varmint/target rifles I like to make. Regards, Bill.

Thankyou very much Bill, that is what I really needed to know. I am quite happy with the three Browns I now have, but, the blanks I have seen certainly have a lot of voids and pinholes. I have two of their Kevlar stocks, installed by Nobby Uno, one is on a .338 Mod. 70 and I have had two others with no problems to date.

The Rimrock I have came fully finished and Nobby put it on for me and this rifle is so accurate that it is freaky, but, the stock is too "thunky" in deer cover.

I am planning on calling you in late winter with some projects and will drive to the Kootenays with the various bits and pieces; I want good irons put on my Dakota 76 in .338 and so forth.

Lonewolf is exactly the same price as a Mac... and for the price, I would always get the mac.



lord, I hope this damn MPI can go back.... (just talked to brownells, it can and is going back)



I just laid a enfield action in the stock, still not distrubing the "original" foam... the stock is OVER .250 too wide "inletted" through the action...



come on, now... no one can defend it being wide enough to drop a quarter on either side of the action... total JUNK



BLANK my ass... it's unusable in the condition it is in... no checkering, off center barrel channel, no good indication that you can bed a HARD recoiling rifle to it... and I got it thinking that "okay, i can at least use it for a mule"... I should be so lucky. I have refused to try to clean it up, as it's junk, and I don't want anyone to say "oh, YOU did that"... crap,. i haven't even scraped the HUGE over spray off it.



in short, MPI is a no go... then again, I hate plastic stocks



jeffe

McMillan just came out with a lightweight stock for Remington M700 actions called the Hunter's Edge which might fit your needs. No cheekpiece and I think they're billing it as 20 oz. One aesthetic point I like about the new McMillan and Rimrock is the pressed checkering in the stock, which I prefer to textured paint finishes. I have no complaints about the Brown kevlar stock I own. Ditto for the Hi-Tech (only composite I could find for a Rem M660). I also have a Remington titanium M700 with the Bell & Carlson OEM stock, which I don't mind except the palm swell is a little large. My gunsmith said he was surpirsed at the quality/stiffness of the B&C stock.

Rancher, I like McMillan the best of all synthetic stocks. I have about a dozen rifles with McMillan stocks right now, and this includes all of my favorite big game rifles. McMillan's are more solid throughout, and can be precisely bedded with machined aluminum pillars (benchrest style), which is my preferred method. McMillan's a bit heavier, however, than some of the others. To me, that's not a drawback.

The Rimrock is a good stock and I like it, but I don't care for the molded-in pillars, and the pistol grip is just too small for me.

Here's an MPI story: MPI had a both at a local gunshow. I examined a few specimens (finished rifles), and you could actually twist the free-floated forend with your hand and have it touch the barrel! Talk about junk!

Try that same test with a McMillan stock, and there's no movement whatsoever...........

AD

Allen,
I've got four McMillan stocked rifles in my safe right now. I'm holding a Sako 579 stocked in a McMillan classic handle. I can twist the forend with some pressure and touch the barrel. The stock was steel/pillar bedded by Mark Penrod. When he got the blank it was off in several small ways and dimensions and required a little work on the milling machine to make things square and true.
I also have a HP match rifle that wears a McMillan 40XC stock. While the forend on that puppy aint' going anywhere it did require some pretty substantial re-inletting by Alex Stitmann at Master Class Stocks before it would sit level in the stock and the magazine well needed to be milled out to make it work.
I have owned one MPI stock that I had MPI fit and finish to a Sako .222 Varmint barreld gun. It was one of the best looking and very well done synthetic stocks I've ever owned. It had good lines and the rifle shot much better after it came back from MPI...
McMillan makes a great product but they are not generally simple drop in fits. (like I said I own four and have a fifth on order) Sure you can get most of em to work like that but for the thing to be right they mostly need a little tinkering.

Kentucky

I think you bring up a great point. None of these stocks are drop in not even the aluminum bedding block type. They can be the worst off all. Have a friends Sendero in my safe right now. From stem to stern that thing is crooked.

Jeffeoso

As far as MPI goes I would only buy one if it were for something no one else made a stock for. I have seen David Chirstman beat a few of them into submission. When he is done they are fine. Basically he gets all of the MPI out of them. A couple of weeks ago he got two in from MPI for Dakota 76�s with drop box magazines (416 Rigby). They were just plain wrong. Needless to say $100 worth of acra gel into them and they are starting to take shape. Next fill the craters. Since Dakota uses MPI you would think they could do better.

God Bless
Shawn

Rimrock stocks are great, although not as light as the High Tech ones.

I will not use MPI. The fit is usually miles off and they take gallons of epoxy to make right. I find that they are not nearly as strong as the other either. After all that epoxy, they are not as light as they should be either

McMillan makes a great stock, but they are not as light as the High Tech or Brown.

Celt

What is the web site for Borden and/or rimrock stocks?

Does anyone know the web-site for Rimrock, (Borden?).

Here ya go for the websites:

http://www.bordenrifles.com/

http://www.rimrockstocks.com/

Anybody know a price range on these babies?

I really wish the Brown Precision stocks were �better�. I have two of them on short action Model 700�s and they feel great �very lightweight and the pistol grip and forend fit me very well. The paint isn�t very durable and scratches far easier than my two McMillans. I believe I�ve heard problems with the forends wandering if exposed to high heat but I haven�t seen that personally with mine. They don�t come with checkering, either, and can be a little slippery when wet.



Then they charge $399 for a �custom pre-finish�. Damn. Still, my two have held up well (except the paint) and don't change zero and are very comfortable to hold and shoot. I sure would like to put one on my Model 700 .270 and may still do so, but the price/performance ratio just kind of eats at me.



FWIW, the Rimrock has a funny shaped comb fluting, too short and too fat for me. I tried one and it really impeded on the positioning of the thumb of my shooting hand. The rest of it, however, felt and looked great. Of course all that�s just subjective opinion. They don�t want you filing on one, but I think getting an unfinished blank and re-shaping the comb nose with a file and some bondo or epoxy might be the most cost effective way to get a top quality stock that fits well.



However, the Rimrocks aren�t super light, either. I called and asked the weight of a completely finished stock for my leftie long action M700 and was told it would run about 30 ounces. That�s only about 2 ounces lighter than a McMillan Remington Classic and 4 ounces lighter than a McMillan BDL.



Oh well, who said life was perfect?