perhaps the wood will make it a bit more palatable, but its sad to see a company that made its fortune designing, building, and selling guns that had classic, traditional styling and tough as nails designs in an era when white-line spacers, glossy finishes were all the rage, suddenly join the race for who can build the cheapest, most plastic guns along with the "in" models of the day. I can only imagine what people like Len Brownell, the great stockmaker who designed the original stocks for the 77 and Number 1, would be thinking about something like the RAR !
Perhaps there will arise another new company, a new ruger if you will, who will cater to traditional good looks and classic designs that work. Oh for the days of the likes of Win. 75 Sporters, Rem. 513s, not to speak of the all time great Win. 52.
There are classic steel and walnut .22s out there: CZs, Ruger 77/22s, Annies, Coopers, and Zastavas. Nice ones often come at a price that the general market won't pay; ask Remington. The CZs are very nicely made and stocked, just as nice as the models you mentioned except maybe the 52, and are great shooters and good buys. The machine work on the RAR I looked at was pretty nice and in general, looked nicer than similarly-priced Marlins and Savages. If the wood-stocked RAR sells, a walnut model won't be far behind, maybe from Lipsey's, but it won't be $300.
