Do YOU Like Laminated Rifle Stocks?

[Timberline]

This has been an interesting debate on the merits versus the cosmetics of laminated stocks. Strong points have been made for both sides.

The Remington M7MS I showed at the beginning of this thread is the only rifle I’ve ever owned with a laminated stock. I must confess that while I thoroughly enjoyed the feel and shootability of that particular rifle, I never could quite warm up to the laminated look of its stock, and I often found myself wishing it were a single piece of walnut.

It also seems to me that a laminated stock looks better to my eyes (read more acceptable) with a stainless steel rifle as opposed to a more traditional blued rifle. Somehow the flashy stainless seems to mate better with the equally showy laminate. YMMV, but that’s what I see, although I’m certainly not rushing out to buy any laminate-stocked rifles.

Of course, there are variations on laminated rifle stocks that are maybe more acceptable, some much more acceptable.

Kilimanjaro Rifles (previously called Serengeti Rifles) offers what they call “Stealth Lamination,” in which they use Select Grade Turkish Walnut, cut and then laminated together to preserve the beauty of the wood while significantly strengthening it. It’s shockingly expensive but strikingly beautiful. You would have to look very close to see that a Kilimanjaro rifle was laminated. See below.



Here's a link to Kilimanjaro: http://www.serengetirifles.com/custo...limanjaro.html

Yet another laminated variation was utilized in the mid-1960s by Remington with its Model 600 Magnum rifle. With that rifle, Remington made use of wider-than-normal laminations of walnut and beech to create a unique laminated effect. I always personally found the resulting effect (and that rifle) attractive, although it certainly received mixed reviews at the time.



Would a laminated rifle stock be more acceptable to you today if it utilized the Remington M600 Magnum wide-lamination style?

What do you think about the Kilimanjaro-style laminated stocks?

Here's another photo of the Remington M600 Magnum stock.

[Smokepole]

Would a laminated rifle stock be more acceptable to you today if it utilized the Remington M600 Magnum wide-lamination style?

You mean, 3/4" plywood vs. 1/4" plywood? Actually, if I was forced to accept a laminated stock, I'd go thinner.

As for the Serengetti-style lamination, it does look nice.

[CCH]

Maybe it's my traditional archery background that makes laminated stocks palatable. Go look at custom bows and let me know if being laminated equates with being ugly and a poor replica of "real" wood. Of course if you carry a bow that looks like it belongs to Buck Rogers, you might not get it.

For example: http://www.greatplainsbow.com/bmodel_takedown.htm

[41magfan]

With necessity being the mother of invention, I think innovation in laminated stock designs will only increase as time goes by, since decent wood is getting harder and harder to come by - at reasonable prices, anyway.

The Serengeti example is the direction I think you'll see laminate innovation going - laminates made of quality hardwood veneers. I suspect there's a lot of quality wood out there that can't be had in solid 5-7 inch dimensions - but in a thinner dimension would work acceptably well in a laminated design.

There was a company out there once - dont' recall the name - that was making synthetics that looks liked wood - printed film technology, maybe? The example I saw still needed some work - it was neither fish or fowl.

[Koop]

Does the Czech VZ-58 stock count? It's plywood MEANT to look like plywood.

I kinda appreciate that kind of brazen honesty in a stock.

[Scoutin' Wyo]

I hope to be posting a picture this fall of my plywood stock resting on the rib cage of a stud antelope and after that a big desert mulie! Do ya think old Huntsman will like the looks of it then?

[elmbow]

How about that super impregnated stuff they use in expensive kitchen cutlery? Maccassar Ebony for example. Sawdust and glue, but hey, it would probably stanch recoil a mite and wouldn't have none of those strips.

[CCH]

I believe the Serengeti stock is not the only of its kind and the one I recall came about for the exact reason 41magfan suggested. Quality, fancy wood blanks have become increasingly rare and correspondingly expensive. The ability to take much thinner pieces of wood and combine them to make a beautiful (yeah, that's what I said) wood stock makes sense, especially when it comes to higher end rifles where such wood is expected or at least desired. Those laminated stocks are NOT cheap but if you compared them to a solid wood stock with the same figure, the price would quickly come into perspective.

"sawdust and glue" sounds a lot like factory composite stocks. Just substitute plastic grindings for the sawdust.

[KurtB]

The laminates I have used have been universally heavy and one on a Ruger 338 actually split in the pistol grip from Federal High Energy loads. I'll talk laid up fiberglass these days. Light, stiff, ugly and very functional.

And the wide lamination, really bugs me, ymmv.

[CCH]

That's two split stocks on this modest (participant wise) board itself. I find that as cause for concern. Wonder if this is an issue from a particular manufacturer or if inherent in laminated stocks? Both examples are Rugers and I don't know who makes their stocks (probably Boyds?)