A tang safety 338 without a cracked stock is pretty rare IME. They were terrible about splitting stocks. They generally need the lug bedded for %100 contact and the tang relieved so it doesn’t pop a chunk out. Hopefully you can locate another stock and bed it first this time.
This. Well, maybe not the rare part as I've not seen that to excess, but the rest. Neither of my tangers- '06 and 338 have ever had that problem, but I did the bedding almost immediately after acquiring them used.
And of course making sure there is clearance around the screws and back of tang.
I think I have 3 used stocks for RU77, magnum barreled tangers in storage. May or may not be after-market bedded.... All came off rifles that owners were putting into synthetics. I'd have to look for damage (other than dings and scratches, which they have), but I think they are sound.
$100 sounds fair, especially if unmarred!
The worst rifles I ever encountered for cracked wrists/tang area were Weatherby early Jap production. Those boys made the screw holes to diameter- no clearance, which caused the rear screw to act as recoil lug, splitting the wrist. I bet I repaired 10 of those things in 2 years time. Interestingly enough, none of those owners wanted a new replacement......
