I have a number highish grade semi-inlet stocks I've fashioned up for some of my rifles. I have been using them without checkering for some time. Anyway, I can't decide if I want to pony up the $ to have them checkerd. The rifles are all 280 rem and smaller, so being use primarily for deer, antelope, and black bear.

Is checkering primarily for looks, or are is it primarily to improve the grip on the rifle? Most of the stocks in questions have particularly nice figure in the wrist and forend, which of course would be blurred by the checking. Hmmm...

What to do... Input?

For a few years, I hunted with a custom .300 Win. Mag. that wore an uncheckered, laminated stock. I used it from Sonora to B.C., so I had ample opportunity to test it under all weather conditions. That experience taught me two things:

1) I hate laminated stocks

2) I hate stocks without checkering

Yes, checkering is cosmetic, but it's the right kind of 'cosmetic', and to my eyes, a rifle or shotgun stock looks woefully incomplete and amaturish without it.

Beyond cosmetics, checkering serves a very, very important function: It provides a secure, no-slip grip that materially aids your ability to not only retain the rifle, but to secure it in a steady shooting position. It's really important from a practical standpoint, and adds "life" to the handling qualities of the rifle.

After handling and using that uncheckered laminate in rain, freezing rain, and snow, all I can say is, uncheckered stocks really suck.....

AD

Allen:

I sure hope someone disagrees with you, or this is going to carve a nontrvial chunk out of my not-to-impressive wallet...

I am not too worried about the amateur looking part - can't say as I am particularly talented at or patient with the shaping and finishing job on the stocks. Thus, I am not convinced that these stock "deserve" checking.

I agree with about the stock not looking "complete" without checkering...

Well, If they're avarage looking stocks that need checkering, Ahlmans has a $50 pattern.Not very impressive, but it'll do. If there isn't any checkering, it just looks incomplete to me. A stock without cherckering just doesn't feel right in my hands either.

Terry

Thanks, Terry. That may be just the ticket. The $50 pattern looks about like what you'd get on a Ruger factory rifle - nothing fancy, but good enough for me and my budget...

quote:

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Originally posted by allen day:
After handling and using that uncheckered laminate in rain, freezing rain, and snow, all I can say is, uncheckered stocks really suck.....

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As a related side note on this, I hunt a lot with synthetic stocks.

Some have mold-in checkering, some don't.

Those that don't get treated to a coat of Brownell's Spray Grit in the appropriate areas. (I mask off panels on each side of the forend & the pistol grip and spray them). Then I do my painting over that.

Same theory as checkering on a stock. It really makes a rifle feel more secure in my hands...

Also... as others have said, a wood stocked rifle really doesn't look "finished" without being checkered.

quote:

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Originally posted by 9.3x62:
Most of the stocks in questions have particularly nice figure in the wrist and forend, which of course would be blurred by the checking. Hmmm...

What to do... Input?

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Some expensive stocks I've seen show the grain
thru the checkering. It may be because it's done
fine (Many lines to the inch) and the oil? finish applied in the checkering may help.
My syn stock was getting worn and slipery up
front, so I gave it a sever home checkering
job. As one with no patience or ability that
way I wouldn't recomend doing a quality stock
yourself, but for say a Mil serp, it works OK
and looks reasonable (at a distance).
Following directions is one thing, following the
previous cut is something else. :-)

Properly done good checkering will enhance the grain of your wood. Wood stocks just don't look or feel right without checkering. Allen, the real reason laminates suck is that they are a bitch to checker... ....DJ

On my next trip out I'm gonna be sure my rifle has checkering. Somebody might notice and think I'm a woefully incomplete amateur or even worse, one those kitchen table amateurs.

Cragster, Oh my... That would be horrific

I was only speaking to my stockmaker about this a week ago.I'm not particularly fussed with checkering,feels like paying someone to deface my big dollar timber.He uses the analogy of the difference between a naked woman and one wearing a bikini;leaves a little to the imagination.Beauty thinks I,put mine in a G string.

Hey, you guys can get coy and put it any way you want to, but if you want to limit the untility of you rifle by leaving it uncheckered I guess that's your business.

AD

I want to secend Terry's suggestion that you check out Ahlmans.

Their lower cost patterns are nothing elaborate but the checkering is clean and I've never seen anyone else who will touch a checkering job for what they charge.

Ahlmans does a good job? It is hard to believe that $50 will get a good basic pattern. It's $140 everywhere else.

94 and 336 straight grip carbines look fine without checkering, everything else needs it.

DJ,

Your so right about the Laminates. Ive got a fiddleback maple stock Im doing that presents the same delima. Im not sure if I want to even attempt checkering on it because I know they dont like straight lines, but would definatly prefer to give it some diamonds.

Checkering is a good thing when its done well, it is not only astheticly pleasing but functional as well. When dont by a real pro it can be nothing short of exquisite.

I like Jack Mitchells take on checkering, "Many gunsmiths realize that checkering is not the most lucrative aspect of the trade to master. Yet, I can think of no other phase of riflesmithing that does more to improve and enhancethe overall apperance of a custom rifle."

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Hey, you guys can get coy and put it any way you want to, but if you want to limit the untility of you rifle by leaving it uncheckered I guess that's your business.

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Allen,

You can always use skate board tape on your laminated stock, and get the utility back.

No, I am not serious and like checkering myself, but the above doesn't look any worse to my eye than plastic/fiberglass stocks.

quote:

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I like Jack Mitchells take on checkering, "Many gunsmiths realize that checkering is not the most lucrative aspect of the trade to master. Yet, I can think of no other phase of riflesmithing that does more to improve and enhancethe overall apperance of a custom rifle."

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Concur..................

I'm not easily bamboozled by cosmetics. Pretty is as pretty does. Quality fiberglass stocks are much stronger and more stable than any stock made out of wood, and the fine ones look good as well -- certainly better than skateboard tape on wood!

I like fine walnut stocks that are well-finished and checkered, or else high-end fiberglass stocks such as McMillan's. Everything else, and all points in between, is second-best for my purposes.

AD

While I like Mcmillan stocks, they still share a disappointing feature with all other synthetic stocks: they look really good new, but after they wear a bit, their looks quickly go down hill. A nice walnut stock, on the other hand, turns wear into character. JMO...

I have an old .300 Win. Mag. that I had Glen Pearce build in 1993. That rifle wears a painted McMillan stock, has over 2500 rounds thru the barrel, has taken over fifty big game animals, including three of the "Big Five", and has been hunted with from Alaska to Tanzania. The stock has lost a lot of paint, and otherwise looks like hell. But it's never changed zero; it's never let me down, and everything I've shot with it has bit the dust in a hurry, I had a 'guest of a guest' over to look at some dead critter mounts and some guns one time. This numbskull hasn't done much of any hunting, but he was stupid enough to pick up this beaten, prized rifle and insult its looks even though it's been through adventures that would make the critic soil his britches in a hurry. Quite honestly, the S.O.B. was lucky I treated him like an honored guest in spite of his ignorance and didn't order him out of the house.

In contrast, I recently had a friend come over who has collected beautiful custom rifles for many years but has done almost no huunting. He looked at that same beaten .300 Win., 'glass stock, chipped paint, non-traditional looks etc., and told me, "I'd trade all the rifles I own for the hunts you've made with this rifle."

It's all a matter of perspective.

Pretty is as pretty does...........

AD

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Originally posted by allen day:

Pretty is as pretty does...........

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"Ugly is still ugly in the morning."

GV

Why was this guy a numbskull for observing that the gun looked rough - a fact you observe yourself about your own rifle? Why would you expect him to know its story? Now if he had been privy to all the grand adventures chronicled in its wear, and still been irreverent, then I can understand your ire.

I think few people would disagree about the functionality of a McMillan stock. However, I did have Mcmillan make me a stock for, actually a 9.3x62, that promptly cracked behind the recoil lug well. In fact, the lug actually set back about an 1/8" into the stock material. I called them up, and they promptly made a new one for me, and offered to bed the action and float barrel for no extra charge. They said, upon inspecting the stock, that somehow the stock had been made with overly soft material in the lug area, for whatever reason.

Not even the best are perfect I guess...

9,3, Yea even the best stuff can break. It is nice to see that they treated you properly and replaced it quickly.........DJ

Yes, they sure did treat me well, and that is why I still have nothing but praise for them. The replacement stock proved sound as could be.

Trophies on the wall count for more than cosmetics any day of the week.

Guns are easy to come by -- honest hunting experience isn't.........

AD

Allen,

My skateboard tape comment addresses function. Butt ugly and no I haven't and don't intend to ever use it as a fix on one of my rifles.

I will comment that I don't think all is being done with laminate stocks that could be. I like several charactoristics of the laminates, mainly stability and there not plastic. I don't like that they don't checker well and I agree with you that this is a drawback. But I think some creative effort could fix this and its a concept I have rolled around in my head for a while. Why couldn't checkering panels be made out of thin micarta like is used in 1911 pistol grips. Make this very thin so they would be flexible, and inlet these into the stocks and use a very strong adhesive to make them permanent. The micarta checkers well, is durable and comes in a variety of colors that would help with the cosmetics of of the completed gunstock. Micarta isn't the only material that could be used and I haven't done any fiddling or experimenting with different material types suitable to this application.

quote:

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Originally posted by allen day:
Trophies on the wall count for more than cosmetics any day of the week.

Guns are easy to come by -- honest hunting experience isn't.........

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Ah.......but then.....

"honest hunting experience" isn't necessarily defined by "trophies on the wall".



GV

quote:

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Originally posted by allen day:
Trophies on the wall count for more than cosmetics any day of the week.

Guns are easy to come by -- honest hunting experience isn't.........

AD

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Whats your diffinition of a "honest hunting experience"?

"Honest hunting experiences" are way easyer to come buy than "guns" or "trophies on the wall".

As you discovered even the strongest stocks need glass bedding. Any stock not bedded is not complete. The only exception is HS Precision and like stocks that have alluminum bedding blocks, and even they can be improved with bedding.

I usually agree with Allen on most gun related issues, although our backgrounds and experience levels as well as interests are different. But, I don't necessarily agree with this comment as many of the most experienced outdoorsmen and hunters I have known never bothered with trophies; this includes men who shot many Grizzlies as well as scores of Moose and Elk as part of their regular B.C. rural lives.

I have never been particularly interested in trophies and we used to always leave antlers, etc. for the Porkies as they are so hard to pack out. It depends, I guess, where you are and what your priorities are, but, real hunting experience, to me, is going out, usually solo, with a backpack camp and rifle and bringing home meat. Actually, I am at the point now where I honestly do not care if I ever shoot another animal, but, I sure will keep hunting until I am 95 or so! It's the skills involved and the excitement of stalking that I find fulfilling.

I'm with Allen. I much prefer checkered stocks, as plain ones are too slippery.