Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles New Walnut Fieldcraft in 6.5

It’s the off season with not much to talk about, but I thought I’d show off my new rifle. For quite awhile I’ve had the itch for a walnut stocked hunting rifle. At the same time, I’ve become spoiled with a lightweight Kimber 84M and have no interest in heavier rifles for hunting. Walnut and lightweight are somewhat exclusive so it’s not an easy task to find a suitable rifle. I looked at another Kimber, a M70 Featherweight and a few others. I also recalled a large piece of black walnut my dad had in his garage. It was cut in SE Kansas by my grandfather for the purpose of building a stock. Best guess is it was from the 1950s or 60s. After talking my dad out of it, I started looking into custom stock makers. I spoke to a few. I saw Jim’s (K22) stock on his Kimber and thought that was very close to what I was looking for. After trading some PMs he pointed me to Wes at Accurate Innovations. They build some beautiful stocks but they also incorporate a CNC aluminum bedding block from the front sling lug through the rear tang. Seemed like the best of both worlds to me, hand checkered walnut with the stability of a metal bedding block. To get towards a weight I prefer, I narrowed it down to a Kimber 84M or a Barrett Fieldcraft. At the time they did not have the CNC template for the 84M but did for the FC so it was much more cost effective to go with the FC. I picked up a FC in 6.5 Creedmoor and promptly made a trip to NC to drop off the wood and the rifle. It was beneficial to go and meet them and speak directly to the guy (Johnny) who would shape the stock. I wanted a shorter LOP, a relatively closed grip, and a relatively svelte overall feel. Holding and comparing many stocks they had allowed me to nail down exactly the feel I wanted.

They did a great job with this stock. It was not without some challenges. There were some cracks in the wood that ultimately forced them to cut a second stock out of the original piece and do some stabilizing. Beyond that, the feel is what I was hoping for, the inletting is perfect (thanks Jim), the checkering looks amazing, and the final finish of hand rubbed oil looks great. The fit is perfect. The grip, LOP and overall fit enables it to point effortlessly.

As for a scope, I went through quite a few to narrow it down. My Kimber has eaten 3 scopes in about a year so I’m a little skittish about them right now. I ended up getting a Nightforce SHV 3-10x42 with a Forceplex reticle. I like the scope, but at 21-22oz it goes against my preference for lightweight. While continuing to look around I wrote out what I was looking for in a hunting scope and was given a recommendation to look at the Vortex Razor HD LH 1.5-8x32 with the G4 BDC reticle. Being 13oz vs. the NF SHV at 22oz was a good start. After significant side-by-side comparisons I really like the Vortex. Of course I haven’t evaluated the most important trait, that being it’s ability to reliably point the rifle. I’ll bump it around some, dial it, shoot a lot and see if it instills confidence. I’ve recently had a few scopes that I really liked the glass and reticle and had them not live up to shooting so I appreciate that dependability is the most important trait. It will need to do well and stand some reasonable test of time before I can fully recommend, but the glass, reticle and weight are fantastic so far. I thought a 32mm objective would impact last light performance, but that just has not been what I’ve seen. I can say without a doubt I could shoot as late or later into the evening with the Vortex glass/reticle combo than with the NF glass/reticle. Not much later, but the reticle is fantastic for my purposes. I’ll take it out and shoot it to 500 to see how it works out, but it seems promising so far.

As for ammo, I’ll be loading 140 Bergers, 127 LRXs, 139 Scenars, 147 ELD-Ms, 143 ELD-Xs, and 140 Partitions. I have RL16, 26, 17 and H4350 to use. My money is on RL16 being what I use. It worked fantastic on my other 6.5 that I sold. Great accuracy, velocity and temp stability.

I’m not one to have much of a variety of hunting rifles. I’ll be keeping my 84M in 338 FED, but this will be my go-to rifle for Elk, Mulies, Whitetails, Plains game, whatever. If the forecast is for really, really wet conditions I may opt for the Kimber Montana, otherwise the FC is going hunting. It will be a hunting rifle, not a safe queen. Holding a nice walnut stock that traces back to my dad and grandfather makes it a unique and very special rifle. Wes, Jim and Johnny could make a stock using their own wood with perhaps more figure and spectacular visual appeal, but this stock just can’t be beat for special appeal, and while biased, I think it looks pretty amazing too!

How is it different than the 84m ... I mean how does it feel and handle compared to the 84m in wood?

That is really cool. I will be checking out that stock maker.

Let's see some groups.

Weight?

It weighs 7lb 4oz with this scope. It feels better than my Kimber. Same LOP but a more closed grip. Hope to get it to the range in the next day or so.

Here’s a look at the bedding block. Aluminum pillars as well.

That looks great!

Wow, that's really nice. Unique for sure.

Very nice! I love the way the checkering wraps all the way around the underside, like a Sako Classic.

Beautiful gun!!!

Looks great!!!

Man, that came out great!

Schit fire and save matches....that's nice.

Thats a nice looking rifle.

Good looking rifle, prm.

Thanks! How about that scope!

Paul,

We are really happy you liked it. You are correct, your Grandfathers wood was a challenge, but as you can see, Wes can really work wonders. Thank you for the call out. Good hunting and lets see some groups.

Great-looking little rifle!

Suspect you'll like with it a lot....

Nice.....

Super nice! The back story makes the package. I’ve been waiting to see it since I heard your plan.

Wow! What a beautiful rifle! I hope she shoots as good as she looks....Good luck....Hb

tag

What kind of $ we talking about for them to do the stock for you?