Bell & Carson makes an ungainly (IMO) set. The MPI is much nicer and more expensive.
But I still don't understand how anyone could think that a synthetic stock set is an "improvement" for a No. 1
Get caught in a really heavy rain storm some time and you will wish the stock was a synthetic. Ruger does a really pizzpoor job of sealing the interior of their stocks, be they #1's or M77's. In fact, the ones I have have no sealing whatsoever.
Prime example, I was doing an elk hunt out of John Day Oregon and got nailed by one hell of a rain storm. I heard that the John Day airport recorded 120 MPH winds but I guess I was on the right side of the mountain so no problem other than being totally soaked even with good rain gear. After the hunt we spent the night on a game preserve ranch in King's River Nevada and did a short pheasant hunt. During that hunt a coyote was running off with a pheasant and my rifle was the only one close at hand as I was hoping for a shot at a coyote. I got off three shots at hat yote and never touched it. There were four of us there and no one could see where my shots went. Rife was a Ruger #1B in .300 Win. Mag. BTW and when I got home here in Tucson, and getting a day off from work I took the gun to the range. THe bullets were hitting over the target frame and about six feet high from point of aim. To this day I wonder where in hell those bullets landed. On close inspection I found the wood had swelled up so much that I had difficuly removing it. I made sure everything was well oiled and put the wood out in my reloading shed. It gets quite hot in there especially in the summer and after several trys decided to put the wood on the rifle once a year until it shot as it should, that is if it ever got back to that level. It took that wood a bit over six years to thoroughly dry out to where it would shoot even close to where it had originally been sighted. I have a few Ruger M77s, all in synthetic stocks. I haven't found a synthetic that I like for the #1's and to replace the stocks would cost a young fortune as I collect them. I have 20 Ruger #1 rifles in various models and weather permitting I hunt them. If it looks like rain though, they stay home.
Paul B.
