Hi,

the guys at my local gunsmith were telling me the other day that one should stay away from synthetic stocks as they can or will bend with heat.

According to them synthetic stocks are more suited to cold and wet conditions and not hot African conditions. Laminated stocks are thus better?

How likely is a synthetic stock to warp under heat? My thinking is that this may be plausible but would take some extreme heat to happen.

Cheers

Same as with wood stocks, some are lousy and others are excellent. Buy quality and you should be OK. Oh BTW, don't go out shopping with the preconceived idea that a quality synthetic stock (McMillan, HS Precision, etc.) is cheaper than a wood one...

IMHO McMillian and Lammers are good to go for any conceivable weather condition a hunter can expect to "weather."

By synthetic is your smith referring to injection molded (Tupperware) stocks? Huge difference between them and McMillan, etc. Lou

Having done a bit of research into the subject I believe that he was referring to injection moulded stocks.

Thanks for the info!

Having been involved within the FRP industry for more years than I care to remember as a chemist .

The one thing I can say without hesitation ; Problems occurred from mainly two areas ,

Material selection or design fault .

I borrowed this from Wiki ; Note the date and number of materials for selection now fast forward to 2009.

Care to venture a guess at the current number of materials available for injection molding !.

Most polymers may be used, including all thermoplastics, some thermosets, and some elastomers.[7] In 1995 there were approximately 18,000 different materials available for injection molding and that number was increasing at an average rate of 750 per year. The available materials are alloys or blends of previously developed materials meaning that product designers can choose from a vast selection of materials, one that has exactly the right properties. Materials are chosen based on the strength and function required for the final part but also each material has different parameters for molding that must be taken into account.[8] Common polymers like Epoxy and phenolic are examples of thermosetting plastics while nylon, polyethylene, and polystyrene are thermoplastic.[9]


There is absolute truth in what Andre Mertens says !.

Synthetic Stock manufactures initially were some what forced to have " Lighter Stiffer " stocks than

conventional wood stocks ,other wise what was the point !. Reputable synthetic stock manufactures soon

realized that lighter isn't what it was all about . Strength stiffness and weather-ability were the key

which now is common place for quality stocks . Want a High quality synthetic stock look no further than

Savage's Accustock . Design outside the box ,performance of custom engineering at factory prices !.

http://www.savagearms.com/2009_pressrelease.htm

Some folks think their ugly ,opinions vary . One thing is certain accuracy is second to none for a factory

rifle . Personally I'll take an Ugly accurate rifle any day, over a pretty pathetic shooting rifle !.

+1 for Doc and Andre
You get what you pay for.