Got tired of not being able to rest my cheek on the OEM stock and look through the scope. Thought Monte Carlo style cheek pads would work, but the more I learned about stocks, the more I realized I needed a custom stock.

Being left handed, I added 1/4" Cast on and 1/4" Toe In to my design. The cheek pad is sorta high until you consider the original stock was designed for iron sights and my scope has a 50mm Objective.

For Checkering, I taught a local laser engraver how to create 3D fishscales. The wood is called Quilted Maple.

Hannah is my old dog, her breed is a Hoonose. As an 80 lb dog, she is 12 years old with an expected lifespan of 8, so I thought I'd do something to remember her while I could.

DJ,
Beautiful work on the stock! The dog's picture is great and having her name on the fore-stock is a very respectful touch.
If it shoots just half as good as it looks you have a keeper in the gun and I hope Hannah lives a full, rich life with you.

Wow, reeeealy sexy stock!

Very nice piece of wood and it's a fine way to honnour your dog. The only thing I find pity (when it's not due to my eyes or the picture itself) is the rather poor fit between wood and iron. Such stockwork deserves better.

By the way: where do you use that rifle for? I've never seen a 30-30 Win with optics having such a high multiplication factor.

Very nice pictures. Thanks for sharing. All the best...
Gil

Very pretty!! I wanna touch it. Reminds me of a guitar I have, you just want to feel it so bad.

hands-on
Suz

Beautiful piece of wood DJ, and I really like what you have done with the fish scale checkering and the monument to Hannah. Be nice to see a pic of her as well mate.

I tend to agree with Aloys comment...the fit of butt stock wood to metal is a little loose, which is a shame because you have done a magnificent job otherwise.

Cheers, Vince

Aloysius wrote:

'...rather poor fit between wood and iron. Such stockwork deserves better. By the way: where do you use that rifle for? I've never seen a 30-30 Win with optics having such a high multiplication factor.

Some of the less than perfect fit up is because this was my first attempt to fashion a gun stock. Some was due to the nature of the wood which was very prone to chipping and pullout while working. The quilting comes from the way the board was cut and the relative strength of the differnce between the rings and hardwood.

The gap at the front end of the foreend was a victim of such a chip.

The ripple near the lever was due to the difference in hardness and actually fits well in my hand so I decided to leave it there.

The butt end fitment was actually much better until I did the final bedding. I really need to get back in there to adjust the clearance on the bottom tang. This will rotate the butt clockwise allowing it to close any gap on the receiver. This will be a project for later.

As far as the scope power goes, my eyes are suffering the ravages of age and quite frankly I can use the additional help. Most shooting is done at the lowest power setting. The rifle itself is quite accurate and with modern ammo a 5 MOA drop doesn't occur til 350 meters.

Very nice.

You have some nice wood there. Very nicely done! Take care...
Joe

Very Nice, djwarner! I had the same question Aloys did.

Oh you guys are bein awfully picky for a guys first masterpiece. I'm amazed at the finish you got. That stuff is only smoothed out with a scraper and it's very tough work to get a shine on. I turned a bowl out of similar maple, very hard stuff and it took hours and hours of work to hollow out the bowl. I never really have finished it, the bottom is about an inch thick cause I got worn out by it. What an accomplishment to get it to shape like you wanted it. I think you did a great job!

Beers on me
Suz

I am not familiar with the Quilted Maple, so maybe I was a bit quick off the mark. I trust Suz'z judgement implicitely (if didn't she might take to me withe a stout switch), so if she says that it is a bitch to work, then I believe her.

I have worked a few different timbers, and some of them don't take a nice clean edge easily, so I can now appreciate the problem you obviously had getting it as square as you have mate.

Regardless of anything else...you have done a good job, and the timber looks magnificent.

Cheers, Vince

Actually Vince, it did fit up better before I did the bedding on the tangs.

Like a kid at Christmas, after 3 months, I couldn't wait to shoot the darn thing.

Thanks for all the educated comments, much better than the oohs and aahs I get from family and friends. Gives me the usge to go back and do the final trimming.

Never meant to offend you because you already did something that I've never tried.
I was hoping to add some positif advice, which doesn't mean that I can do it better...

Most of the time I just laugh with things... so I could have mentioned that I once met a girl in Czech Republic who was named Hannah and who had rather big 'lungs'... but such a remark wouldn't help your job, would it?