Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hunting rifle - laminate vs walnut

IMO, walnut is nice for hunting because the fit can be made perfect. Lop, grip sizes and angles at both end, fit to scope/sight axis....all can be perfect. Last checkering for grip. Only solid wood checkers well. Checkering is critical on a DGR rifle. Important on others.

Lamínate can be great for target and lighter kicking hunting/varmint rifles. Good laminate bedded right is the stiffest. Stiffness is what causes the rifle to recoil in the straightest possible line.

Synthetic is almost laminate stiff and takes abuse the best. Even better with aluminum block. McMillan would disagree with me. They may have some strengthening/stiffening technology, but that is not clear.

Right .... Walnut is nicer for a classic rifle. Laminated is heavier but water resistant. I'd use fiberglass before laminated if weight was an issue.

While I admire good looking wood and the strength and durability of laminate, my preference these days is synthetic on my hunting rifles.

Took a Remington M700 on its maiden hunt, during which I took three separate falls coming down a boulder field on the north side of Bears Ears. When I got back to the truck the rifle, action and scope had more dings than a sow has piglets. The wood-stocked Ruger M77 I'd used exclusively for 20+ years prior to that and for 26 years total by then was still in much better shape.

Funnily enough, while synthetic should be more durable, I've been less than impressed in practice. Timber may get a ding or a scratch but (depending on the finish) it is usually easy enough to repair minor issues. Generally easier to modify a stock too, and there's no doubt that a timber stock, with a bit of care, will last for generations. Close grained walnut, and a few other hardwoods, is pretty well able to withstand even very rugged use, as millions of military rifles will attest, and as I mentioned earlier in this thread if you seal it inside and out it is stable enough.

I have used a few synthetics, and they get scratched and gouged too, and some of them have finishes which have broken down as well. They are not so easy to repair either, though I guess most people don't really care about a ding or gouge, or a bit of peeling finish, if it is on a synthetic stock. If you view the timber stock the same way, as the handle on a tool, then the timber stands up to comparison, and in some ways is actually superior to typical synthetics.

And there is no way a synthetic stock will protect your exposed metalwork and scope from damage if you are going to fall over and drop it ...

You have to glass the RARs because of the recoil lug design.

I have a few Boyds Prairie Hunter and Heritage stocks. A laminated Heritage adds a full pound to the weight of an RAR-P., but it improved the handling enough to justify the increase in weight.

I put a Boyds laminate on a 375 Chatfield-Taylor a few years ago. Cut the forend shorter and hollowed out the forend and buttstock to save a bit of weight.

I never did weight it before or after but was worth the effort.

Laminate vs walnut for a hunting rifle? I don't care for the weight of laminate for lengthy or hilly/mountain carry. BTDT. Never had a problem with walnut, but I seal them up inside and out.

My preference, though, is synthetic. Lighter weight, don't care if they get dinged up and accuracy has only been an issue once - and that may have been the rifle, not the stock. Sold that one.

Ruger MKII rifles in:
.338 WM
.300 WM
.30-06
Ruger Hawkeye rifles in
.280 Rem
.308 Win



More synthetics:
Remington 870 3-1/2" 12 Ga.
Savage 12FV 6.5CM
Remington M700ML .50
Savage 11 FXP3 .243 Win