Here is a picture of my favorite gun. Its a model 870 Express Remington. I bought a piece of Fiddleback maple from a guy in Nevada (cost me about 150 bucks), and my grandpa handmade the pump and stock out of it. Then he put an ajustable butt pad on it so it fits me perfectly. Needless to say its priceless. It has my favorite piece of wood on it and my grandpa handcrafted it for me. Life dont get much more sureal than that. The pictures dont do it a lot of justice but in real life it gets a lot of OOOOS and AWWWWS. I dont know but one other person that has a gun stock made out of fiddleback maple. I sure would like to see one if someone else does though. When you move the wood back and forth the lines actually move positions. Its kind of hard to imagine, but its like the lines are 3D. Anyways let me know what you think, and if you have ever seen this kind of wood before.

Very nice looking gun.

Fiddleback Maple? Is that the same thing as Tiger Maple? My dad has a custom .22-250, 28" Bliss Titus heavy barrel with what he calls a Tiger Maple stock, it looks identical to yours. Its a very pretty gun... next time I'm up there at his house I'll see if I cant snap a pict of it to compare.


-DallanC

Yes,
A lot of people call it Tiger maple. You can look this stuff up on ebay and see some decent pictures of it.

Howdy nice lookin shot gun. I put almost everything in snythetic i do have a old 22 that my dad refinished back when i was in the army that im pretty fond of but nothing with wood like that . looks good

That's one nice looking piece of maple. I like the tiger stripe and the flame maple as well. I don't think it's in all that short of supply. The stockmakers simply aren't using much of it. A lot of nice figured woods are no longer in use. I also like the myrtlewoods quite a bit. Some of the French walnuts were to die for as well. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Knifeboy,

Not bad. He's my pride and joy.



Cheers,
Magnum

Hello magnum,

Now that's a stock to die for, very attractive. Did you have the work done or buy it like that? I have a couple of rifles with fancy walnut, and they're my pride and joy. Synthetics have their place, no doubt but not in my gun case. Maybe it's like a very pretty woman. She may be a beast, but she's your beast and oh so attractive. Wierd huh? Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Going up to my parents this weekend to let mine and my brothers kids do the "easter egg hunt" thing. I'll see if I cant get a picture of my dads rifle with this wood. It has a very unique look to it... VERY pretty wood thats for sure.


-DallanC

calsibley wrote:

Hello magnum, Now that's a stock to die for, very attractive. Did you have the work done or buy it like that?......

I had it built a number of years ago (20 plus) by who I reckon was one of the finest gunsmiths in Australia. The action is a FN M98 (ex military) with all the good work done, accuracizing and truing, charger guide milled off, etc. The choice of calibre was a bit of a speciality of this guy, .308 Norma Magnum. He used to do a lot of these for water buffalo hunting in the Northern Territory. For me it was my world rifle. I liked the calibre and still do, even thought it's more of a wildcat today.

The rifle took about 2 years to build (which was good, it gave me time to accumulate the funds). It was a no expense spared custom rifle in the classic tradition. The stock though was some thing of a master piece. As I recall a Californian walnut AAA fancy grade. Checkering pattern was chosen by me (my favourite) Dale Goens Fleur de lis with points [Checkering and Carving of Gunstocks, by Monte Kennedy, circa 1962 page 272.


Pistol grip treatment. Pattern meets with the fleur at the front of the grip.


Grip cap treatment, with blued skelton grip cap and checkered grip base.


Tang safety.


Butt stock with Pachmyr Old English Style recoil pad


Butt cartridge trap (giving total rifle capacity fo 6 rounds of .308 Norma Mag).

Because of the length of the fore arm pattern it was decided not to clutter this part of the stock with a fore end tip. It also helped to emphasize the classic English look of the barrel band sling swivel.




Barrel band fore sight


Folding leaf express sight with raised quarter rib (but adds a bit of weight)

The rifle still shoots as good too most loads better than MOA and many less than .75 MOA even down to .5 MOA. I done a bit of load development of late with the new ADI powders (repackaged in the US a Hodgson). 180gr Hornady SPBT (stock # 3072) @ 3,153fps. This load is hot, I'll probably settle around 3,100 fps (the original Norma factory load).


100 yards, 3 shot, .705", 180gr ave 3,153 fps, SD 9 fps

Cheers,
Magnum

Magnum,
Thats a really nice rifle, I like it a lot.
My grandpa does custom stocks for quite a few guns, but he won't sell them he only does them for family, or really special friends. I have seen stocks out of Mesquete, Sycamore (birds eye), Maple, Walnut and a few others that are to die for that he has done. But the best by far that he has ever done is a Remington 700 BDL that was chambered for a .30-06 he made it out of a wood similar to mine it was a quilted maple that had the tiger stripes in it. Peoples eyes pop out of there heads when they see it first hand one of the prettiest pieces of wood I have ever seen.
By the way DallenC did you get a picture of your Dad's tiger maple?

Knifeboy

How much would you part with your gun for? My Grandfather made the Bliss Titus Barrels. He passed just before I was born and I never got one. He custom made but a few guns and they are beautiful. jcanepa @ bwmail.us

calsibley wrote:

That's one nice looking piece of maple. I like the tiger stripe and the flame maple as well. I don't think it's in all that short of supply. The stockmakers simply aren't using much of it. A lot of nice figured woods are no longer in use. I also like the myrtlewoods quite a bit. Some of the French walnuts were to die for as well. Best wishes. l

One of the reasons wood of this type seems to be in short supply (at least on rifles and shotguns) is that the traditional "blonde" look has fallen from favor. Those same woods are so dense that petroleum-based stains just sit on top and don't penetrate. Water-based stains penetrate deep and can give them a beautiful golden-bronze look and really make those stripes pop out, but many stock makers don't like the extra effort. I stocked my .223 XP100 in what is considered "quilted" or "flame" maple and the stain highlights the grain effect and brings out details that might otherwise be hidden.

Either way, that is a beautiful piece of wood that you can be proud of.