Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Kimber restock.

To say this project has been a wild ride would be an understatement. I had a stock maker picked out and then he jumped his prices by a lot, and pushed his timeframe way back. Then I found a little known stock maker near me that agreed to the project. I saw some of his work which was pretty good, only to have his saw come lose while cutting on the blank I purchased from Dressels, which ruined the blank. I wasn’t comfortable with him continuing the project, so I called Donnie Gemes in Missouri who restocked a Pre-64 for me to see if he had any recommendations. Donnie is no longer making rifle stocks but he put me onto Ebbie Jones at Tsavo Custom Firearms. Donnie told me Ebbie worked for him for several years before going out on his own, and that he was very, very good. Ebbie told me he could get the stock made within my crunched timeline (leaving in June for Zambia) and he even helped out finding the blank. I loved the original Kimber dimensions, but wanted a cheek piece. That made Ebbies job easier since he could use his duplicator. Well, I don’t have the stock back yet as he just started working on it, but let’s just say I’m a little excited. It will have an ebony’s forend, wrap around checkering, red butt pad, and two screw swivel studs. I’m really happy with the layout.

Looks great. Should be a beauty.

Wow. Good hunting!

Nice stick of wood.

The right side lost a little grain from the blank, but it should still be pretty nice. If the pad gets here this week, Ebbie should start putting the finish on next week.

Can't wait to see photos of finished product.

Me too!

Ebbie isn’t messing around. He starts the finish tomorrow.

Is your pattern available for rent?

He just duplicated the factory stock, but added a check piece. The pattern is nothing special, but it fits really well in my hands, so I didn’t want it changed.

That is going to be stunning

Oh my, that is one beautiful stock. Can't wait to see it with some finish on it.

First coat. Ebbie said it should be ready for checkering next week. Stock is still wet in the picture.

That is sharp! Very fast work that looks good to my eye. Looking forward to seeing the finished rifle! What caliber is it?

Very nice. Looks great.

That's beautiful.

Outstanding !

Can’t wait to see pics of that beauty

A little hiccup with the checkering (my fault) but it turned out pretty well. I thought I told him I wanted wraparound, but looked back on my texts and I never specified. Ebbie matched the original Kimber checkering, but I think we have a fix. Overall, I’m happy.

That turned out amazing. Wow.

Congratulations, that is beautiful!

Excellent work !

The new stock makes the rifle look like a Kimber Super America that was stocked with French Walnut rather than Claro. Pretty neat.

Stunning. I can’t imagine what work like that costs. A lot of hours into that I would assume.

THat is a beauty!

That is beautiful. But I would have it wrapped in bubble wrap and it would never leave my house. I’d have a heart attack if it got scratched.

Outstanding!!

MM

Beautiful stock. What is the rifle chambered in?

300wsm

Very nice rifle. Thanks for sharing!!

That looks amazing. Thanks very much for sharing.

That's quite spectacular!

4 one shot kills in Africa with 200gr Accubonds. To me, hunting is more than just the chase. I’ve always enjoyed hunting with pretty guns that shoot well. My Kimber fits that bill for me.

WOW! That looks great.

Beautiful rifle! Nice to see and old school custom rifle and not a souless sniper rifle people build now.