Some of you may remember a post of mine back in January about a stock from Richard's Microfit that was cut in half and then glued back together. The company had UPS pick the bad stock up and said they would replace it with the next higher grade of wood to make up for shipping out the P.O.S. stock. The replacement arrived yesterday and this time was packed much better. The stock was a whole piece of wood this time. The inletting was rough but way to tight so there will have to be some wood removed anyway. The over all shape and quality of the stock are thousands of times better than the first. The Rosewood tip and cap are finished so well that I have just some minor sanding to do before finishing the stock. As far as the grade of the wood goes, its atleast one or two steps up from what it was ordered as. My only complaint on this stock is that the butt was shaped far to small. It will take sometime to grind a pad down to fit. Over all I am very pleased with the new stock. Its not perfect, but its workable and it was inexpensive.

Joe

Thanks for the update.
I am always looking for cheap stocks for my sporterizing habit.

Your relationship with Richard's is much better than mine with Boyd's.

I think I read in this forum that someone is buying basic laminated stocks from Boyd's and making them work. That may also be a winning strategy. Avoid the poor fitting and srayed with laquer items I got.

Dick's microfit blows. I've order a dozen+ stocks from them, been pleased with about 3. Never been very impressed with the folks they have (wo)maning the phone. Never again, I gave them more than a fair shot.

Good luck with them (you'll need it).

9.3

I have ordered a dozen or so Richard's stocks through the years. Most of them being their factory seconds. Of all of them, I was dissatisfied with 1. It looked like all sapwood. If not sapwood, it was the lightest, most homogeneous looking wood I have ever seen. I got another one that was cracked through the wrist from poor grain layout. I called and told them how it arived and they just sent me another. I offered to send the cracked one back and they said don't worry about it. Of the two AAA fancy stocks that I ordered, I am 100% satisfied. The rest were totally exceptable for seconds. My .02....Roger.