Who hunts with a pretty wood rifle?

BLOODBROTHER

Twelve Pointer
I hunt with a synthetic stock rifle because I'm sure I would scratch the heck out of a nice checkered piece of walnut. the stock on my synthetic rifles prove it. What do you guys do that hunt with pretty wood stocks?
 

Weekender

Twelve Pointer
I've scratched the living **** out of what was a pretty Browning lever rifle (270) when I got it in 2003. Good thing I'm never selling this killing machine because the wood looks pretty sad. LOL.
 

45/70 hunter

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I put a tiny nick on the stock near the sling stud on my Browning 25-06 BAR and lost my mind. Bought a synthetic Savage 111 25-06 for going up trees. The BAR stays on the ground now....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Guybo

Eight Pointer
I have always hunted with a wood stocked rifle and still do and so does my daughter. I love the feel of the wood in my hands and on my cheek when I'm shooting. I've only owned 1 rifle in my life with a synthetic stock and it's a Rem 700 LTR. I've never worried about the scratches and dings, I just shoot and hunt. This is mine and my daughters rifle. Mine is a Rem700 CDL 25.06 (top) and my daughters is a Rem 700 SPS .260 that I put in a CDL stock.
 
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JakeH

Four Pointer
My .243 has a nice Boyd’s walnut stock on it. Need to get a scope on the ol’ girl and get her out before the season is up.
 

nchawkeye

Old Mossy Horns
I hunt with a flintlock I made in the '80s with a curly maple stock...I'm just not rough on my guns, now my brother would have reduced it to kindling by now... :)
 

C52

Eight Pointer
I only take my Woodstock out when I know it’s a nice easy hunt, and I’m careful. I usually carry my synthetic. Now, my 30-30 has been around the block a few times. I don’t worry about it.
 

QBD2

Old Mossy Horns
I can't stop laughing

I just hunt...treat all my guns the same. A gun is a tool, that's meant to be used. I have no use for safe queens. I have even less use for plastic rifles that aren't AR's.

I can't explain it. I don't mind AR's or plastic shotguns. But my rifles are gonna have wood stocks...my go to now is a weatherby '06.
This one
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pinehunter

Eight Pointer
My soon uses an old Winchester 88 in .308 that has a lot of worn finish.

I used a Weatherby Vanguard deluxe for close to 20 years and love the wood. Lately my plastic ugly model 70 300wsm has been my go to. She is like a death ray on the deer.
 

BLOODBROTHER

Twelve Pointer
Every scratch is a memory, good or bad. Synthetic stocks have no soul.

I understand this sentiment completely!! That's what made me ask the original question. I have a couple nice shotguns from when I bird hunted but have moved on from wood rifles since coming to NC. I just beat the hell out of em! I miss the feel of a wood stock.
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
I refuse to kill a deer with a ugly gun. Every rifle I own is a wood stock. I treat’em no
Different in brush or rain as I would a synthetic gun. Got a 700 classic, a m77/44 and a m77 in 6mm that weather and location will never be a deterrent from carrying. Although I will say the classic is my go to rifle and it’s rough to look at. :):):)
 

Part-time hunter

Ten Pointer
All my hunting weapons have synthetic stocks. They are simply tools of the trade, nothing more nothing less. I keep the works clean but I don't worry about the rest of it. As much beating and banging that I do to them getting them in and out of the truck, trekking through the woods, climbing trees, etc. if they were wood they'd probably be splinters by now. I see it as one less thing to worry about.
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
I have both wood and synthetic rifles and I love the feel of wood but I do tend to baby them more than the synthetic ones.

sent from...... Tapatalk
 

LanceR

Six Pointer
Contributor
For over 20 years my one and only deer rifle was a Ruger No. 1 in .25-06 Varmint rifle with a satin finished stock-no synthetic anything there.....

Then I started hunting in a shotgun only county and used Savage 12 and later 20 gauge slug rifle-no choice but synthetic....

Then I got a factory semi-custom Savage 10ML-II in SS with a laminate stock and used it in both the regular and MZ seasons-better but not really the same as good walnut....

And 6-7 years ago our county finally went to rifles so I got a CZ 550 full stocked rifle in 308...Yay!!!

But hunting in New York and especially when in the Adirondacks I also hunted in some pretty rough country and really ugly winter weather. So I also have a Savage 116 semi-custom with SS and laminate in 270 for that stuff and as a loaner.

But my first and favorite choices will always be polished blued steel and oil finished walnut. Living in NC now I doubt the Savage 220 and the 116 will get much use in the future but they are old friends and unless they are out on loan they'll be here a long while. Like others I take good care of my rifles, pretty or not, but I don't baby the walnut stocked ones. They have....character. Kind of what a dog show judge means when judging hunting and working breeds and using the standard that "honorable scars are not a defect".


Lance


Lance
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
I prefer wood stocks. My rifles and shotguns have wood stocks. Even my squirrel gun, a Ruger 10/22 has a wood stock. The only gun that I own with a synthetic stock is my muzzleloader.
 

appmtnhntr

Twelve Pointer
I think the only wood stocked guns I have anymore is my BAR 30/06 and my 17hmr...

Both are WELLLLLL used, and beat to holy heck..
I agree with most of what people have said above. They're tools, and used as such. Whether that's as a hiking stick, club, or rifle...

I also agree that each dent and scratch has a story... My BAR has a big heart shaped dent in the forearm checkering from a fall I had one day when I ended up killing a bear... The hard buttplate is cracked all up and chunks are missing but I don't replace it... Along with LOTS of other gouges, chips, and lets not forget the notches in the stock from bears over the years...
The 17 has chips missing from the butt from squirrel teeth when giving the coup-de-grace after I pick them up from a shoulder shot. That along with a crack that I got on the FIRST hunt I ever took it on...

I like that they are well used. Means they're doing their jobs!!

Edit: The only thing I dont like about synthetic is they're so loud when it's cold out and you're going through brush....
I take all my buttplates off and stuff plastic grocery bags as tight as I can get to deaden the sound from a clack to a thump...
 
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Tunanut

Ten Pointer
Probably my favorite NC deer hunting rifle in 243.
 

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bryguy

Old Mossy Horns
While I do appreciate a pretty piece of wood and a nice blue finish, they hold no allure to me to carry them afield and thoughtfully stroke the wood stock. Guns are tools for killing anytime I need them to, regardless of weather or terrain. I want my tools to be reliable as close to 100% of the time as they can be. My hunting guns therefore are stainless steel and synthetic or coated in some way shape or form. tools are for using, and guns are a tool.
 

appmtnhntr

Twelve Pointer
side note, but not completely off topic....

Been hunting with my 6.8spc AR pretty regular for the last 2 seasons...Love how it handles, and kills...

But, handling those AR's in the woods... those things are SO DANG COLD sitting in your lap or in gloved hands...the only part of the gun that isn't metal is my stock...

Even through my gloves, or sitting on bids in my lap... it freezes me... was a "welcome" change handling my synthetic Tikka last week
 

Papa_Smurf

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
side note, but not completely off topic....

Been hunting with my 6.8spc AR pretty regular for the last 2 seasons...Love how it handles, and kills...

But, handling those AR's in the woods... those things are SO DANG COLD sitting in your lap or in gloved hands...the only part of the gun that isn't metal is my stock...

Even through my gloves, or sitting on bids in my lap... it freezes me... was a "welcome" change handling my synthetic Tikka last week

Agreed on the cold if you have it resting on your lap. i lay mine across the front of my summit climber so it's not touching me and i don't touch it unless i'm going to use it....this goes for any rifle or bow i'm using.
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
A Garand can survive D-Day but a wood stock on a hunting rifle can't survive a NC hunter.

That sums up my thinking!! I’ve had my classic in the nastiest thickest hyde County cutovers on my hands and knees to the muckiest, nastiest west TN hardwood river bottom swamps and yet it keeps right on getting it done. Yep, it’s dinged and dented all to hell but it’s never failed me.
 
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woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
I do,,,,have several lever actions in wood stock, blued metal configuration that I enjoy hunting with,,,,,,,also have some synthetic to include a mcmillian stock,,,,,,all depends on what I am doing and where,,,,
 

gregor187

Six Pointer
I use a 1964 Browning FN Safari with grade 2 or three wood. When they are worn send them to Arts Gun Shop
(look at his videos on restoring guns back to original condition)
It is just awesome to hunt with nice stuff and not worry about dings and scratches.
If someone will tell me how I will try a photo post.
 

Newsome Road

Ten Pointer
My a bolt has a high gloss finish on it, but I certainly don't baby it. I use mine as a tool, as others have said. And as I do with all my tools, I give them a little TLC from time to time. I periodically clean and oil my nail gun, but I don't pamper it when I'm working with it. When my stock gets too many dents and scratches, I'll touch it back up.
 

JJWise

Twelve Pointer
All of my guns have wood stocks except the 22 Cricket I got for my wife to shoot and the Remington 700 in 270 I have. But even that 270 is a "wood tech" stock (laminate). I'll take that gun on real bad days, but I have no hesitations taking my wood stocked 30-06 or 30-30 any day. The only gun I really try to baby is the 308 Browning Lever Action which has the nicest wood of any of my guns. All 3 of my shotguns take regular abuse.
 
I have both, abolts in stainless and medallion. 700cdl SF in 257 with laminate and stainless, ruger 270 in stainless and synthetic. I just cant make myself take that medallion hunting. It has never been sighted in.
 
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