I know little about grain flow in rifle stocks, so I thought I should ask which of these have the best layout?

128280 then 178279 would be my choice. For an Airgun? Go with what looks best. Straight grain through the grip would be strongest.

Yep, what Ram said; you want grain to run through the grip; never across it, but the most strength. Straight grain in the foreend is good but not as important. But for light kickers, I place looks over grain as it won't matter unless you drop your guns a lot. You can always install a through bolt reinforcement through the wrist.

128280 from the side shows good layout, but I would never judge a blanks layout by what I see on the side, I would judge the stock by looking at the butt end grain, the forend endgrain, the top and bottom of the blank grain flow and lastly the grain flow shown but on each side..

On a finished stock as shown you would have to look inside at the inletting grain flow and take off the recoil pad to do it right, is it practical? probably not on a factory rifle, so take the first one pictured and hopefully both side match up pretty well....

I disagree that forend layout is not important on a light recoiling rifle..a properly grained forend is not likely to warp in inclimate weather. You can fix a recoil crack if you catch it in time..

A forend that tends to warp is best used for firewood because the grain structure will continue to warp and repair just ends up lookin like crap..Of course you can install a I beam and two pounds of glass and make a permanent fix if your so inclined, I'm not.

I believe that good wood, properly cured and dried and properly laid out is as stable as aluminum or fiberglass. Nothing is fool proof and I have seen many composite stocks melt, or bend from heat of the car trunk in extreme weather and a couple because my hunters took them in their tents and they were too near the fire over night.

Here is how the front end looks like ( not the actual rifle )





Its a Air Arms Prosport by the way..