I just thought I would share some pictures and good fortune I had a few years ago at the local gun store!

I went to the local gun store and was interested in getting a nice 45-70 for some cast boolet shooting and serious bear medicine.

I had just picked up and paid for the rifle, and was talking to one of the owners. All of a sudden he put his hand up and said "Wait, I just remembered something! I may have something you would like!"

He came back with a cardboard box with lots of dust on it. He told me they were preparing to move his store to a new location, and came across this package packed way back in the storage area. The package had a name and number on it, and he called the number. Apparently this was a stock for a Marlin 1885 that a fellow had purchased many years before, and he had passed away before it was picked up. The deceased mans family told the original store owner to just resell the stock, because they had no use for it. It was put away and forgotten about, till that day!

The store owner said if I was interested, he would just switch the stocks. Straight across, no money difference.

When he pulled the stock out of the box, and unwrapped it, I almost gagged! Wow! What a nice piece of wood!
Man, I was so happy I almost ran out of the store before he would reconsider! Needless to say I shop there still, and often! I thought you guys would appreciate a look at my most unexpected gift! Hope you like the pictures!













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I Hope that wasn't too many pictures!

WOW! looks great! in fact it looks so darn nice, now its almost too pretty to take out in the mountains and getting it scratched up.
you might want to think about some stock covering tape.
yeah! no mater how careful you are, if you really spend days in the mountains actually hunting hard, its inevitable you'll eventually scratch that stock .... and the sun reflecting off that stock will announce your movements on the next mountain let alone just to the local game populations....one reason I like dual, cam
o paint on stainless/synthetic rifles

340Mag:

I have never had an issue with scaring game with my weapon finish that I can tell.
Its more the movement, wind direction control, and sounds you make that are most important.

I have hunted for years with Recurve, Long bow, and black powder rifles. This stock is going to be scratched up yes, for sure! It has a few already. But, this is a hunting rifle, no more no less. And it has done quite well for me so far!

I shot that bull at about 20 feet as he was bugleing straight at me in thick timber! It was some exciting!

That looks amazing, but the direction of the grain does not strengthen it through the grip area.

Montana Marine:

You are correct about the grain structure. I have however stoked this rifle up as high as she would safely shoot some 350 & 405 grain bullets, and throuvh out all that hellish recoil, it flawlessly chugged allong, No worse for wear.

That is gorgeous - maple? What a story!

you know I am really not sure of what kind of wood it is!

Your 100% correct, theres no doubt that movement and scent are the big give away,s game used to locate predators, but youll never have any idea how much game avoided you as a hunter by spotting reflective and light catching gear simply because they vacate the area when they spot you long before you had a chance to spot them.
anything you can do to lower your chance of being recognized as a threat can,t help but increase your potential success rate.
I'm sure anyone could wear head to toes, blaze orange and chrome mylar and occasionally kill game but the odds go up in your favor if your almost impossible to visually locate.
yeah! were forced to wear blaze orange in most locations,
now personally I think even wearing orange hats and vests doesn,t help you avoid being seen by game , but obviously theres laws mandating its use. but I don,t think you can logically debate that breaking up the human shape, limiting movement, watching the wind direction, being aware of scent and use of dull, non reflective materials makes you harder for game to locate

now this IS not directed at any particular person,its just common sense,info, but it should be obvious that some clothing is far easier to see in the wooded environment at a distance even if your not moving , and staying in mixed shadow helps break up the human form, and while you might think a GHILLIE SUITS a joke they do work!
obviously most guys won,t go to that extreme but looking at the pictures should point out that a bit of prep time might be useful in making any hunter harder to see.






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Lol, you are correct in saying, the better the camoflage the less likely you will be seen. Its simply taking as much into account as possible.

But for "myself", with how I hunt and persue my sport, I dont feel I need to camoflage my rifle, and everything on me. Many hunters before us managed to get plenty of game without bieng Fully camoflaged from head to toe is all I am saying.

My buttstock would definitely fair better from abrasions and all, if I covered it up. But everytime i was sitting on stand, and took the time to admire the amazing wood grain the stock has in the natural sunlight, I would have to unwrap it. Nope, the fellow who originally ordered the stock for his rifle probably enjoyed the same natural visual appeal of wood as I do. It was in my fortune to be able to enjoy it, not his.

Out of respect of the unexpected gift of this buttstock, i will enjoy the wood finish and take the best care of it as I can.

Guillie suits are not everyones bag of tricks, but they are amazingly adaptable with the proper materials!

And I do enjoy synthetic stocks as well. Just not in this particular case.

In my hunting life, I have had the honour & privilage to harvest record book qualifying animals in each weapon category I set forth to hunt in. (Centerfire rifle, Blackpowder, Archery-"Compound and Recurve").

Never been interested in Crossbow---Yet! I am always up to learn something new.

I have always been a goal oriented hunter, and I have reached nearly all of my personal lifetime goals to date.

Now I do more shooting than hunting. I enjoy everything about the challenge in each disipline.

Incidently, for those of you who are more familiar at identifying wood types, would you think that his buttstock is Walnut or something like maple?

That is walnut.

DT, you were in the right place and the right time, well done Sir!
I like my Marlins but never had a chance for wood like that, hunt it hard and don't look back!

Looks like very nice Walnut to Me........Hb

Thankyou guys!
Been looking over a few bears the last few days, but none have been big enough yet.

That is a great-looking stock - and it's awesome you're taking that rifle afield. I have a wood-stocked Model 94 that, I'm embarrassed to say, I'm am afraid to take into the woods for fear of marring the wood. I have synthetic stocks on my rifles that leave the safe most frequently...

Good on you - enjoy!

Beautiful stock there.

You clearly do not understand what big game can see, nor do you understand why hunter orange is a good idea.

Exactly right. I was once hunting and I spotted a flash from a polished blued rifle that was at least a mile away. It's amazingly unnatural looking and any game animal who saw one during hunting season would find somewhere else to be.



The good news is that deer and similar animals have eyes that are built differently than humans, so they don't see blaze orange as the attention grabbing color we do. It's still a solid patch of one color, but it's not nearly as visible to them as it is to us.

that depends where you are at.....out where i hunt flashes are a normal part of the environment from ag equipment to lots of quartz and mica on the ground.....sitting glassing over a long while i will see flashes off and on most of the time....if a critter freaked every time they saw a flash they would die of a nervous breakdown.....

however change the location to the rainforests of the PNW or something like that and yeah its likely a beacon that grabs a critters immediate attention....

That's a beauty!

Beautiful rifle. Use it often, treat it with the care and respect it deserves and leave it to someone worthy of owning it.

Very nice stock.