Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles McMillans business before and after being sold

I spoke with a nice guy there and he explained production is now done using CNC. I don’t know if that makes any diff or not. Had issues with last couple. They have always been willing to fix. Agree with whomever posted that the McM’s did good to set up for sell, good on them. Will always have a place in my heart for the molded in camo HTG’s. But I am curious to try some other stock makers. I hope they continue to be great.

I'm not buying [bleep] that Bob Beck has anything to do with.

I ordered a McMillan hunter edge for a Winchester model 70 classic short action painted with pillars and recoil pad just a month ago. It was $741 shipped, not sure what you were buying unless it went up just in the last few weeks???

Hope it shows up the way it’s supposed to. Their customer service is horrible.

I have quite a few McMillan stocks, But thinking they are not my top choice any more. Not a big fan of the current owner, or the choices they offer now.

Going to order a Manners EH6 on Tuesday. Have had great email communication with them. Just need to decide on color...

I had some money and saw my stockist had an Edge Game Hunter and an Edge Game Warden at old prices. I decided price was only going one way and they are now hoarded waiting for a 6.5CM and 308 in the next decade.
I’m of a generation where McMillan is something special - seems like that is diminishing

Update:
So after talking to a gentleman at Mcmillian who handles the quality control, he wanted pictures of the stock that had work done for the second time because he didn't believe me that the action didn't fit. He told me that he himself that he put a action in the stock before it left there shop. No way in ( &$?! )did he do that because I tried 4 of my classic none fit. Then told me something was wrong with my actions. I finally got him to admit the didn't try it. Now he wants the stock back because he sees the inletting issue, so he calls me after 1.5 weeks, when he said he would call with answers the following day. Well he wants the stock back to rework it for the third time. It will only take a few weeks he said. I let him know the stock is at my gunsmiths getting fixed. He hung the phone up. Conversation over. Last I knew I was the customer. For $600 almost $700 dollars I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be treating the paying customer like that. Never again. I won't even buy a used one if I saw a good deal.

Hello Everyone,

My name is Eric Stecker and I am the General Manager of McMillan Fiberglass Stocks. Some of you may know me from my time as President of Berger Bullets. I am eager to address the subject of this post. It is long so I am sure to miss something. I am ready to respond as long as those posters are as respectful as I will be to them.

Kelly McMillan is a great man, as is Walt Berger. I was working for both men as they passed the business from their hands into the hands of others. I can assure you that in both situations, I am the Steward of all things that are good and the solution provider of all challenges that need to be addressed.

At McMillan, we continue to make stocks the same way Kelly and his father made them since 1973. The only aspect of the production process we are changing is that we are writing things down. In both companies, most of the process was kept between the ears of the people who do each job. We are working hard to detail a standard process and make sure everyone sticks to that standard process. We will carry on the legacy Gale and Kelly built just as I did with Walt's legacy.

Our decision to reduce the amount of stocks and inlets we offer is so that we can deliver stocks to our customers faster. We no longer offer roughly 1/3 of the stocks previously available and roughly 40% of the action inlets previously available. This sounds like a lot but all these stocks and action inlets account for less than 7% of McMillan total sales since 2017.

Having so many "one off" products means more set ups. It means more change overs. It also means more chances for mistakes when so many rarely done products go through the production operation. It just doesn't make sense to put this burden on our operation and ultimately our customers for 7% of our sales.

I did the same thing in Berger except we would eliminate slow moving product a few at a time every year. The only difference here is that no McMillan stock or inlet was ever discontinued. The first time we do it to make the operation more effective, the list is long. You can expect that over time, more slow moving products will be discontinued as is the case in any successful business.

Regarding our product quality and customer service, the same people who were here with Kelly are the same people who are here now (with very few exceptions). They are just as motivated to make the best products and provide the best customers service as always. I stand behind every McMillan employee and every McMillan stock. If we make a mistake, let us know about it and we will correct it to your complete satisfaction.

Our warrantee is still the same lifetime warranty as it always has been. Kelly told me stories about how we've even replaced stocks that have been in a fire. I never thought it would happen but last month we had a request to replace a damaged stock. When we asked what happened, the person admitted that, "it was in a fire." We told him we absolutely will replace that stock and it is being made right now at no cost to the customer. You can't show me another stock maker that demonstrates as strong a product guarantee.

Regarding the new owner, I've known Bob for a long time. Kelly has known Bob for a long time. If you think Kelly would allow someone who is not of good character to carry on the McMillan name/brand you don't know Kelly at all. Kelly told me several times that he is glad it is Bob who was buying McMillan because he trusts Bob and he know that Bob understands the market and McMillan customers. I completely agree with Kelly. If Bob wasn't good for McMillan, Kelly would never have considered him as the new owner. I am thrilled that Bob is the new owner because I know he will honor Kelly's legacy and do everything he can to build up McMillan even further.

Before you judge us too harshly based on a few short posts, consider that the people throwing shade around aren't stock makers. It is very easy to Monday morning quarterback something about which you know nothing. It is my preference that instead, if you have any issues with McMillan, please, just call us. We are good people who want to do the right thing by our customers. If you think you can find better in another brand, that is your choice. If you can trust us to make you happy in your next stock, I will be grateful to prove to you our worth.

Regards,
Eric Stecker
General Manager
McMillan Fiberglass Stocks

Eric, I’ve always respected your work and dedication but this one goes too far from the truth for me.

Bob Beck was convicted of illegally killing an animal without a valid tag and failed to do the right thing and contact the warden in if it was an “accident” as he claims. Wait the problem as shown in the court record is that he didn’t actually tag the first buck and instead shot a second bigger buck and used his one valid tag on that buck,

To compound the issue he transported both now illegally harvested animals across state lines violating the Lacey Act and never once contacted authorities until they came calling over a year later. Surely he knew he didn’t have 2 tags when he went to tag the first deer and surely by the second deer. He could have done the right thing and admitted it then and there and maybe even filmed the outcome for all to see if he was truly a sportsman.

Bob Beck since that time has made no attempt to publicly admit his wrong doing except for a half assed rebuttal in a small town radio interview that ran contradictory to his own court statements. If Bob Beck was good for our sport he would man up, admit his wrongs and take his lumps which he refused to do.

No way to spin that one except he is a poacher and a liar!

Eric,
Although I appreciate you making an attempt to sell your side of things here, I'd suggest stepping away from your GM role and look at this from the customer perspective. Especially the customer service aspect. If a customer purchases a stock from McMillan, they expect to receive a high-end, custom, fiberglass stock, made to order. that stock shouldn't need to go back to McMillan once to correct anything much less twice. This directly speaks to quality control. And when that same customer calls McMillan to explain what is going on, is lied to about who did the QC check on the stock and how the QC was done, only later proven wrong with photos of the stock and then have that "customer service" person admit they didn't do what they said they did, it speaks poorly of both QC and customer service.

Now, consider the same customer had experience with custom stocks before, some from McMillan. And this customer had issues with previously purchased stocks from McMillan (corrected by his gunsmith). He's also worked in a machine shop for years and understands QC, manufacturing and machining processes and is then told by McMillan he couldn't possibly be right about his stock being made incorrectly. It doesn't leave much of a good customer service feel for that customer does it?. Would it for you?

I'm familiar with more than one story not including my own where someone spent hundreds of dollars on a McMillan stock only to be disappointed with the product received. Personally, I've bought two stocks from McMillan and had issues with both. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or stock maker to know when something isn't made right. So before you go telling all of us that have experienced issues with your product we couldn't possibly understand how things work, consider some of us have may have in fact walked in similar shoes to yours, have brains and both can and will decide to take our hard-earned money elsewhere.

I know there are a bunch of people on this forum and elsewhere that have many good things to say about McMillan stocks, good for them. But given both stocks I bought had issues, and after having laid down a fair amount of cash for them both, waiting months to receive them only to have to send them back to be "fixed"...? It's a hard pass for me for any more. And honestly, I didn't even mind the wait. But danged if I'm gonna wait 3, 4, 5 or more months for a stock only to send it back in and then wait another 3-4 weeks or more to have what should have been done right the first time done the second time (or in the case of the original poster, the third time). No thanks.

Respectfully,
Rob

Eric Stecker:

How do you justify charging and additional $80-100 for a recoil pad? You guys sell a lot of stocks without recoil pads?

How do you justify $18 for two sling studs? Even plastic Walmart guns come with sling studs. I'm actually not sure if I've ever seen a center fire bolt gun that didn't come with sling studs straight from the factory...?

For me to order your stock with a recoil pad, two sling studs and pillars, is a $130 up charge?

I understand you're in the business to make money, but you charge extra for standard features.

And I can give you a million reasons $$$ Kelly thought Bob Beck was the right person to sell to. Enough of the drama 🙄

I sure don't understand buying a premium product on quality and price and having an issue and not getting immediate service

I read this in these forums about an aging rifle maker and I really don't understand the thinking

I have a problem with an item doesn't it make sense to get it corrected and shipped asap?

Hank

I have ordered three over the last 8 or so years, 2 of them last two years. All came exactly as I ordered them. I am not anyway diminishing or saying anyone else’s experiences didn’t happen only relaying my personal experience.

I have never had any interaction with customer service because it wasn’t needed.

All that being said I was very disappointed in the reduction in products and services offered. That is the whole point of a custom stock and to me the appeal of the McMillan being able to get something exactly the way you want it and I am willing to wait for it. I don’t think I can get any of the previous ones I bought again because they aren’t offered. It may only be 7% of your sales but it was almost 100% of my purchases.

I placed an order for another one in February because they happen to still offer the edge in a model 70 configuration that I wanted. I guess I will reserve judgement on until I receive it and report back.

TAG

Hello Everyone,

My name is Eric Stecker and I am the General Manager of McMillan Fiberglass Stocks. Some of you may know me from my time as President of Berger Bullets. I am eager to address the subject of this post. It is long so I am sure to miss something. I am ready to respond as long as those posters are as respectful as I will be to them


Kinda hope to hear more from you Eric.

This, +P

Sir, short version. These are players, not fans. Be on the up and up with us. You and the company will be much better off if you do.

g

I've got some McMillans, but you can bet it will be the last as long as Bob Beck owns it.

I own several McMillan stocks, nearly all of them have now been discontinued! Honestly, I’ll likely never own another one anyway as the price for them has reached a point where I’m not willing to spend that much on a stock!

For less than $500 it “may” be a consideration. For the ridiculous prices the stocks are “selling” for today, I’ll pass. What makes this decision even easier is the accuracy of factory rifles with their factory synthetic stocks.

Adding a ridiculously priced McMillan, no matter how nice, will often not make them shoot any better. Tikka, Ruger, TC, Savage and many others have proven this.

Sadly, McMillan has priced themselves out of my consideration.

I've bedded in 2 McM stocks for other people about 30 years ago. IMO, they sucked then. Even then they were overhyped and overpriced, with much easier stocks to work on around, for less money, working just as well..

Just a flipping handle, anyway. PTBarnum rules!