I posted in another thread about the pre Model 70 I am building. I used a #3 contour and between the action and the heavy contour it is a little heavy. Not quite as bad as I originally posted, but I have a total weight of 5 lbs and about 4 ounces ( give or take ). I had originally been told it was over 6 lbs but I have since weighed it and its not that heavy.

I have it with a very competent stockmaker now, and when I let him have it I cautioned that I want the total rifle weight 8 1/2 lbs finished ( scoped out the door). I am not going to get wrapped around a ounce.

So, next step was to show him what I liked in a blank, and the turkish Denali site hepled and I gave him some ideas of what I like which is a lot of figure with feathering and fiddle. He went through his stocks and has come up with some suitable blanks. He forwarded pictures and this leads to my questions.

He has a couple of nice Bastone blanks, but he is cautioning me that these are heavy, the color and contrast are there but he feels that getting the weight down with bastone is not likely. He doesn't have much high end English and admits that the english blank he sent me ( which he says is his best piece is a little on the plain side, the grain is typical english straight with contrast lines. He does have a couple of very nice American black pieces, and one has a lot of fiddle in it extending into the forearm. And he has a line on another english piece that has more color and will have it in a week or two.

So here is my question. Is bastone going to be heavy, remember he is picking up the blanks and has a much better feel for a heavy or light blank than I do through pictures.

Second what do you think about good pieces of American? I admit I really like the color on a couple of these blanks and these are exceptional for American Black, checkering worries me a little but this is a good enough stock maker I am sure he has that factored in before suggesting it to me.

Should I continue to hunt for a good english blank? Although I don't think I am going to get as much figure as I want.

My stockmaker thinks that either the American black or english will be the best fit for my weight issue.

Any stock blank guru's wish to comment. I want to get this rolling in the next couple of weeks, its not a rush and picking the "right" blank is the issue of the moment.

Thanks in advance.

The two Bastones I have are VERY heavy. One I ended up cutting a channel and hollowed out the butt some. There is nothing wrong with a good piece of american.

quote:

There is nothing wrong with a good piece of american

Thanks, I will say these are not good American but excellent, not often do you see this nice of grade in American, these are hand picked blanks. And I will note that this stockmaker knows his stuff, I have seen samples of his work and although fast isn't in the equation, his stuff is top drawer.

He had a G33/40 built up in 7x57 and a octogon barrel that was just gorgious.

I have one stock in Bastogne, and it was a heavy piece of wood. That was perfect for me, as it was used for a target rifle with a heavy barrel. The finished scoped rifle had to weigh less than 5.0 kg, and when I weighed it on an electronic postal scale, it came in at 4.98 kg (phew! ).

You'll find some people turn up their noses at American/Black walnut. Although often, both colour and figure is better in American than in English. In fact, you have to go to an extremely high grade in English to get anything comparable to lower grade American. It is possible that English will take checkering just a tad better than American. But how intricate checkering do you want? And besides, if your stockmaker is happy to turn out a stock in American, then it is really his problem how well it checkers. Maybe you just have choose a slightly higher LPI, or something?? There are tons of great gunstocks made in American walnut every year. If you like the blank, have at it.

- mike

quote:

Maybe you just have choose a slightly higher LPI, or something??

Checkering as quoted and specified is 20 LPI, in full wrap around pattern. That is not set in stone, and I could change it if there was a real reason to. I don't wan to fine as ist wears pretty quick and 18 and 16 LPI are a little course for my tastes.

Yes I have heard a lot of rumbling about American Black, but I have also seen some very nice blanks in this. Another option but it takes much longer and will add cost is Turkish, this isn't too heavy but availabilty in reasonably priced blanks become a issue.

Schromf...did you say what caliber you was making?...

I've channeled the forends and butts of stocks to relieve weight and to a degree it works.

I've seen beautiful American walnut but there seems to be a density-beauty correlation...the prettier the denser.

I also have several Bastogne blanks sitting around but consider them for big bores only as they do seem heavy.

That said I've built many very pretty stocks from claro and don't consider it inferior in any way.

Even if it's a heavy recoiling rifle, if it's well glass bedded and a couple crossbolts are installed I'd not hesitate to use Claro for even a .375 H&H...

Vapodog,

Its a 280 Rem. and with a #3 contour the weight is in the barrel and action, I am not concerned too much about heavy recoil, just a tad under a a 30-06.

Claro is an option and I don't have the e-mail in front of me there was a Claro stock, but the figure wasn't quite what I wanted.

I should clarify I am being real picky on the contrast and feather in this. If you look at Rusty's thread on his 404 project, the charactor is in that stock, but I want a little lighter base color and just a tad more contrast with a real feather effect. It might be his lighting and camera didn't really capture his stock 100% and this is common when trying to get good pictures showing charactor in gunstocks. Lighting seems to make all the differnce in gunstock pictures.

Anyway feather is not optional and I am trying to et it so it cares into the forearm, which is a rare stock, usually that ends before the grip and it I rarely see a stock that carries that all the way down the stock, without messing up the grain in the grip area.

Schromf, if you go with bastogne, you're really going to regret it. Keep looking for a dry old piece of English that is light and has tight pores. Take your time........

AD

quote:

Originally posted by allen day:
Schromf, if you go with bastogne, you're really going to regret it. Keep looking for a dry old piece of English that is light and has tight pores. Take your time........

AD

I must admit that English can be awesome stuff....If I ever (not likely) have a very high grade rifle built for me it'll be english walnut for sure. It finishes and checkers beautifully and is also exceptionally strong.

So far I've used Bastogne, American walnut and claro and all of these in fancy grades and they too are beautiful.....but they're not English.

Life's a bitch...get the wood you want...

Schromf...if you ever get to south dakota, there's a guy there in eastern part of the state with a helluva lotta blanks in all flavors.....it'd be a good plave to pick out a blank.

PM me if you want details.

I am building another rifle BTW, nothing immediate, but a 9.3 and a 404 Jeff are on my radar with parts collection going on currently. I have english figured into the 404 for sure, and am familiar with english, different charactor really and I can honestly say I have ever seen a english blank that had excellent feather, don't get me wrong I have seen some gorgous english blanks, but finding the color I want is going to be difficult at best in english. Gunstocks are a personal taste issue many times, and I think different rifles use different blanks.

Here are pics of a blank that has what I am looking for, notice the combo feather and quarter sawn effect:



Allen,

Your up in the Pacific Nothwest, I know its too heavy but have you seen any of the walnut blanks from eastern Oregon and Washington. Not really a seperate type of wood, but the old walnut trees planted as shade trees in that dry arid climate has prodcued kind of a local variety. Very beautiful stuff, definately too heavy for this application, but I like it a lot. Its called Paradox by some although I am not sure if this is corrct, hard, heavy and dense. Nice stuff for the right application, not this one though.

Vapodog,

There is a guy outside of Bonners Ferry, past the four points turnoff that is supposed to have a lot of great wood also. I didn't have time, when I was home last to go over his stuff, I might get a chance this Xmas to go dig through his stuff. I have several recommendations from good gunsmiths and stockmakers, and have called and talked with him and his prieces are reasonable. I won't post on the board though as I will piss off several gunsmiths for revealing a source. The guy is a farmer, and doesn't have a internet address, but multiple sources are highly recommending him and told me to go check out his blanks, $400-500 is his top dollar blank, and when I spoke with him he has a lot of Claro, Bastone, not a lot of english. Which is why I didn't stop in and see him last time I was home. This is a Xmas or next year project, and if I like what I see and get some blessings to release the infomation I will post it. I am not trying to be cryptic on this one, but when I get said things in confidence, it stays that way until I get a green light to say or do otherwise.

I also need to say this rifle is being built to hunt. Safe queens are not an option, my whys on weight are real deal and Kuteney hunts the ootherside of the border that I do and knows why a heavy rifle sucks in the Bitteroots, I want pretty but function has priority, actually I want both, and I know its do-able.