Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats The skinny on Boyd's

Thinking of ordering a Boyd's stock for the Marlin XS7 I just bought. Hearing mixed reviews recently on the web. Most stating that quality has slipped and their delivery times and customer service sucks. Anybody order recently that can give me a true assessment would be appreciated.

I put one on an XL7 .270 for the grand daughter two years ago. Fit and finish were good. Two comments.

First, you already know that the laminate stocks are heavier due to the glue, etc. Good thing if you want to reduce recoil for a young shooter like I did. Bad thing if you are thinking light weight Mountain rifle.

Second comment, if you plan to hunt wet weather, make sure you can get a stock pattern with checkering. When I bought the compact model for the grand daughter, Boyd's did not offer checkering on the compact stocks. The smooth laminate with polyurethane is slick. Not terrible to hold onto dry. But, would not want to have to one hand it all day wet.

For less than $500 all up, the X7 plus Boyd's makes for a very accurate, shoot-able combination...

Thank you sir. Great point about the checkering. I had planned to have it done.
Was your delivery time as promised?

Quality has slipped? From my experiences with them that does not leave much room for slippage.

Some of the worst inletting I have ever seen has been on Boyds. Although in fairness, it has been a long time since I have messed with one. But, there is a reason for that. They may be better nowadays, I wouldn't know.....

The complaints I have seen refer to parts that were once metal are now plastic. Such as spacers or washers on certain stocks. Also, that those parts were once held in place on the stocks with inletting or grooves now just fall out when the action is removed from the stock. They go on to say that inletting for the action itself was near perfect.

Last winter I got a shotgun stock and forend from them.
The inletting sucked. You can see that the router bit was wore out. It had a 1/16" gap on one side of the tang. It's a mess and the grain in both are very plain.

Bought the XL7 stock two years ago. Bought a LH Mauser stock earlier this year. Delivery time must have been reasonable for both of them because I do not have any negative recollection regarding timing...

As far a quality of inlet, I think I might have had to open up the bolt cut a little on the XL7 stock. But then, I had to do the same thing for my last McM Edge fill stock that was 3x the cost of the Boyd's stock...

Recently got a R700 SA ADL laminate and it was spot on. My only experience with them though.

I just received a stock for my Tikka T3x and it fit perfectly. No issues and very happy with it.

90% of the Boyd's stocks that I get are for military Mausers - I expect a little slop and fitting required due to the differences.
I have not ordered one since they started offering checkering. My next one (ironically for an X7) will have checkering.

Mine have been for Savage long and short action and sporterized Mausers.
Spend a couple more bucks and get it checkered!
I'll buy more.

I had trouble with Boyd's Browning A5 stock 10 or 15 years ago.

Some smith posting at AR said that he uses the Boyd's laminated blanks and is very happy with the price and quality.

I have built a Mauser, a Rem 700, and a Sav 110 with the Boyds Pro Varmint stocks.

Following his lead 15 years later, I am happy with the laminated and painted blanks for custom guns.

I just installed a Boyd's stock on an old Rem M12 rifle.. It needed a bit of minor modification to it in order to fit, but the overall quality of the stock was excellent - considering the price..

Boyd's customer service was non existent in my opinion. For their type stocks I deal with: https://www.stockysstocks.com/

I have trying for 2 weeks to get an RMA out of Boyds. They state you MUST call to get an RMA. When you call you end up in a automated message loop that takes you to a voicemail box. Invariably, they call back from a Spokane WA number and when I am indisposed. Why can't you request an RMA via email? Stupid policy.

Why the return? I ordered a Marlin 336 buttstock from them and the tang attachment is at least .375" in diameter AND drilled off- center.

All that being said, in the past I have had good luck with their stocks. Maybe things are slipping a bit?

I bought three Boyds Tacticool stocks.I bedded the recoil lugs and the rifles performed accurately afterwards.They are very good stocks for the price but bedding may be required.It didn't bother me because I planned on doing it anyway.

I probably have 2 dozen Boyds laminated stocks and have only had trouble with 1, a Classic style for a Marlin XS7 that arrived with an off-center barrel channel. Boyds replaced it, but I had to pay shipping both ways and didn't think that was quite right when the problem was 100% on their end.

I ordered a Pro Varmint in Nutmeg on the 13th of October and it will be delivered tomorrow. Can't speak to the quality yet.

I have 4 two for the Marlin XS7 , one for a Ruger Hawkeye, and one for the Ruger American rim fire. All were inletted decent and delivery was decent. They were all custom orders and took about 3-4 weeks. In general I have had decent luck and only had No major complaints. Lucky I guess. Goodshot

I bought a thumbhole butt stock and a forearm for my encore to use with my 204 barrel. Fit was good ,no issue. I am doubtfull I would buy one for any of my rifles due to weight and i am not big on laminant stocks. I put them in the "get what you pay for " .