I am looking for a piece of wood to restock a ZKK602 but in 458 Lott. I have contacted a few people in the USA and their response has been fantastic but rather overwhelming. I now have so many pictures that i do not know where to start looking. I guess it will boil down to the advice on the finer details on the questions that i ask about specific blanks.

Cali'co seem very reasonably priced, is there a reason they are quite a bit cheaper than the Dresel's etc? Luxus seem to cater for the upper end of the market (i have not contacted them as +$1000 is out of my range)but they were highly recommended by my gunsmith.

Does anyone know Cecil Fredi? He is in Vegas

Buying something like a blank over the net is a bit nerve wracking and personal reference's will go a long way to helping make my decision.

Thank you

Slow down, your moving to fast. Take your time when shopping for your rifleblank. Choose a blank for layout and density first.

Remember this is supposed to be fun.

The only thing else I have to say is call LuxusWalnut, and have a visit with Adam.

Scott,
I have got some beautiful wood from Roger Vardy in Australia.
Butch

I've bought lots of wood from Cecil Fredi...he has been absolutely honest and forthright. The wood is always better than I expected. I reccomend him without hesitation.
jmr

+1 on Cecil Fredi. Really outstanding wood, proper grain flow and layout, for Bastogne and English.
Walt

Call Luxus...their wood is great and service is second to none. They have lower priced wood too!

I've been through Cecil's wood bin. He's a great guy and very helpful, All his wood is dry maybe a bit hi $ for grade.

I also like Wright in Oregon, you'll get 1 year old wood, borderline wet but very nice blanks.


rich

Scott

I was in Cali'co last Friday looking at blanks. The subject of big bores came up and the manager, Steve, told me he had a customer in South Africa was was looking for a blank to restock his 458 Lott. I guess you must be the guy!

I have bought a bunch of blanks from Cali'co and have always been happy. I pick through the blanks myself as I live 10 minutes from their plant.

A couple of years ago I looked at wood at the custom gunmakers show in Reno. I looked at wood from several outfits and I walked away thinking that their prices were much higher than Cali'co. One of the outfits you mentioned seemed way overpriced. Cali'co has nice wood in the $100 to $400 range, the outfits at the show did not have anything that I liked that was less than $600.

I believe the reason Cali'co is cheaper is that the bulk of their business is dealing in volume to the big gunmakers. They deal in all grades of wood. Selling to private parties is a small part of their trade. Cali'co cuts the trees and processes them themselves.

For the outfits that deal in only fancy wood at low volume each sale must make a good profit. I believe that many of these outfits are only middlemen who buy from the woodcutters.

I will be stopping by Calico this week. Drop me a PM if you want me to look at anything for you.

Jason