I do agree that the sound deadening is a plus. I have replaced the Hogue's on my 2ea 375Rugers with fiberglass and the one on my son's. But, do have one in factory issue Hogue. My son began using this one as his hiking/4-wheeler rifle this year. His previous walk-about bush-rifle was a 45/70 guide rifle stainless and walnut with 430 to 460 grain hard cast bullets. He really likes the Marlin, but rifles take a pretty good beating under these conditions. And I suggested the Hogue stocked "spare", due to my opinion of at least theoretically higher reliability of the bolt over the lever and do not think the Alaskan would suffer from diminished looks or function.
Anyways with all that said, his use of the over molded kindled my interest in the stock; as this thread did my interest in the 416 Ruger. Long story short, I am going to see if the Hogue LOP can be reduced a 1/4" with a Decelerator added. If so, add a low powered scope and call it good enough for now.
