Hi guys. I've been working on a Savage model 10, I have rebarelled it to .358 Winchester and done some other light work to it. I ordered a replacement stock from Richard's (www.rifle-stocks.com) to get away from the cheesy factory synthetic. I had found one on the clearance page that already had a nice recoil pad installed on it, semi-fancy Walnut, in the style I wanted. I got it for $95.00 plus shipping.
I got the stock, wow what a beautiful piece of wood. I started to inlet it because the action obviously would not fit as it was. I had to open the barell channel quite a bit due to the greater thickness of the .358 barell. Had to inlet for the accutrigger and a little around the bolt release, the area behing the recoil lug needed quite a bit removed to let the action fit deep enough into the stock. The whole time I used the action as a guide in fitting the stock to it. It was going along swimmingly until I did the final fitting. The action fit perfectly, a few gaps here and there but I'm going to bed it so am not worried about that. I went to bolt the action to the stock and couldn't get the front action screw in. Hm... I looked into the hole and the hole in the action didn't completely line up with the hole in the stock. The hole in the stock was too far forward. Maybe I can push the action forward enough to get the screw in? No dice. It moved a fraction of an inch, the hole in the action was still only half visible to the rear of the hole in the stock. Well, damn.
I called Richard's and asked if I had done anything wrong. They said it sounded like I had done right to them. I asked what I should do then, they said "Well, you can return the stock to us if it hasn't been altered from when you received it." Again no dice. So I was pretty much screwed. I can't blame them, I didn't measure carefully enough before inletting I guess. Live and learn.
So I plugged the hole with a dowel and used wood filler to make it flush with the rest of the stock and redrilled the hole, got it to fit. So far, so good. However the dowel and wood filler does not stain the same as the Walnut and I can't get the color to match.
So my plan is to use this stock as my "beater" for hunting and knocking about the woods and buy another for show. My question is this: Does anyone know of where I can locate a stock of the same wood quality as Richard's offers that do drop in fit stocks that won't break the bank? I have even looked for the Savage factory laminate stocks with no luck. I don't have another $2-300 to put into a stock for this rifle. I have other projects to start.
I got the stock, wow what a beautiful piece of wood. I started to inlet it because the action obviously would not fit as it was. I had to open the barell channel quite a bit due to the greater thickness of the .358 barell. Had to inlet for the accutrigger and a little around the bolt release, the area behing the recoil lug needed quite a bit removed to let the action fit deep enough into the stock. The whole time I used the action as a guide in fitting the stock to it. It was going along swimmingly until I did the final fitting. The action fit perfectly, a few gaps here and there but I'm going to bed it so am not worried about that. I went to bolt the action to the stock and couldn't get the front action screw in. Hm... I looked into the hole and the hole in the action didn't completely line up with the hole in the stock. The hole in the stock was too far forward. Maybe I can push the action forward enough to get the screw in? No dice. It moved a fraction of an inch, the hole in the action was still only half visible to the rear of the hole in the stock. Well, damn.
I called Richard's and asked if I had done anything wrong. They said it sounded like I had done right to them. I asked what I should do then, they said "Well, you can return the stock to us if it hasn't been altered from when you received it." Again no dice. So I was pretty much screwed. I can't blame them, I didn't measure carefully enough before inletting I guess. Live and learn.
So I plugged the hole with a dowel and used wood filler to make it flush with the rest of the stock and redrilled the hole, got it to fit. So far, so good. However the dowel and wood filler does not stain the same as the Walnut and I can't get the color to match.
So my plan is to use this stock as my "beater" for hunting and knocking about the woods and buy another for show. My question is this: Does anyone know of where I can locate a stock of the same wood quality as Richard's offers that do drop in fit stocks that won't break the bank? I have even looked for the Savage factory laminate stocks with no luck. I don't have another $2-300 to put into a stock for this rifle. I have other projects to start.