Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Have the changes at McMillan caused you not to buy a rifle?

Asking 'cause I was looking at buying a stainless Ruger Hawkeye in 243 to fill a gap in my Hawkeye/77MK2 series in 223, 6.5 CM, 308, and 338 FED. The 4 rifles that I have are all bedded in McM Hunter style stocks and since I want all of the rifles to be set up the same way, I would need to source another McM Hunter stock. The catch being that McM no longer inlets for the Rugers. While I could buy a flat top and have it inletted by a third party, that would add a layer of cost to an already expensive stock. I decided to pass on buying the Ruger 243 because of McM's decision to not support Ruger owners.

Without easy access to the stock, the rifle has lost its appeal to me.

Has anyone else run into this barrier?

If so, what did you decide to do?

I’ve started looking at Kimbers and Tikkas a lot harder, their factory stocks work great for me.

Nice not to be shopping for a stock right after buying a new rifle.

Whatever McMillan is up to these days certainly doesn't determine if I buy a rifle or not.

Plenty of alternatives to McMillan if restocking is in my future.

There are only 2 after-market stock styles that I particularly like, the Hunter and Mountain Rifle, both from McM. I have bought a few rifles this year, some new and some old, but none that are going to be bedding in a new McM stock. This was a case where in order for the new 243 to be useful to me, it needed to be set up like the other short action Ruger Hawkeyes and would need to be bedded in a McM Hunter. Since McM has chosen to stop inletting for Rugers, the extra cost of having a third party do the inletting bumped the pirce out of my comfort zone. IOW, the squeeze isn't worth the juice for me in this case.

To answer the OP question, yes.
I have about 10 McMillans but doubt I’ll ever buy another. Price and lead time are unacceptable.

.... ^^^^^ out priced their product

McMillan did away with the stocks I preferred, KS model to be specific. No longer a need nor a customer.

I won't be purchasing any more McMillans for the same reasons

drover

The new owners are arrogant and condescending, and freaking idiots.

Went through this about a year ago for an HVA barreled action. They could send the stock to a gunsmith partner to inlet... but even for someone with our "problem" the cost was just beyond exorbitant. (McM seemed to be charging about the same for the stock as if *they* were doing the inletting then the smith was going to charge full price for actually *doing* the inletting.)

Has not stopped me from buying a new rifle, but it certainly has stopped me from buying additional McMillan stocks.

Spoke to McMillan a couple of times and decided against buying.

YMMV

No.

Last 2 McMillans I bought, I bought used.

I don’t disagree with you but you’re talking about something that isn’t popular. I too like some things that isn’t popular. Here is a couple of thoughts and ideas.

Those rugers work fine as is but in all honesty suck compared to the same rifle in a 700 or clone. Obviously stock options are limited. So are trigger options. The scope mounting system while strong is not very forgiving for different options. All in all you have far greater things to choose from than wanting to customize a Ruger.

So that brings us to the next point. Sometimes their is a reason why some things are not supported or popular. You would be much better off with a 700’ish 6 creedmoor than a ruger 243 anyway. If this is all because you want to collect factory ruger 243’s in McMillan stocks for the heck of it just pay it. It’s not a good investment anyway it’s a toy for you. I’ve done the same but it’s just want not a need or even a great idea.

I recently got some less than stellar CS from McMillan. I chose to buy from another company because I was told it "wasn't worth out time" to answer a few questions.

I need another stock at the moment for another project and they are really the only game in town for what I need. I may give them a call and see if they can help me. If they cannot (or will not), I will have a custom made.

McMillan has priced themselves out of the market for the common man. I've owned one, and returned it for a refund. I won't buy another, nor would I recommend them. Too many other options out there. Ymmv

I don’t personally know Bob. I won’t be buying any more mcmillans directly from them. They’re great stocks, but damn gotta draw a line in the sand.

He's a real douchenozzle.

I had a McMillan on order back in October.
Was quoted 4 months. April made 7 months and was still told it might be finished by May. Told them just to cancel the order.

So much for removing some stocks from the lineup decreasing the wait times. No more for me.

That is unacceptable.

Again I have no personal experience, but I used to watch his show. He exuded self importance and always put him ahead of his wife on any given hunt. He may be the greatest guy in the world, but I believe what you’re saying.

It certainly sucks that they really aren’t even an option anymore for restocking a factory rifle. Priced an edge-fill Classic last week for a M700 at $800. No thanks.

Have McM's prices and lead times that continually escalate while options and selection continually shrink "Caused me to not buy a rifle?", No. ... However, I have started picking up a few Left Hand McM's here on the 'Fire to salt away for future use.

Too expensive for my blood. My last 5 aftermarket stocks have been other brands.

I got a great deal on Edge Classic for my 700 years ago when RicBin had a deal on them. By far my favorite stock. Not sure if I would pursue buying another one given what I read here and other places. I cant say it has effected me buying another rifle.

About to order another one today, I have had good results with them over the last couple of years, ordered two in last 12 months, hope my luck holds. Don't really know what alternative I'd go with, Manners has terrible CS and I'm not willing to wait 9 months for a stock. AG looks good but haven't tried them yet.

I wish Wildcat Composites could import to the US.

I agree.. but will add a little. In my own experience, I only buy used Mcmillans or similar stocks. I am not going to pay their outrageous prices. It's stupid IMHO..

I don’t know what’s up with MCMillan, but lately it seems like with most things costs and wait times have gone up and options have become more limited. Welcome to Joe Biden’s America.

Pendleton Custom Stocks are great for their price. Send Wayne the barreled action and he'll build a lightweight stock around it. He even pillar and glass beds them all for the same price.

http://www.oregunsmithingllc.com/Pendleton-Composite-Stocks.html

What kind of weight for a Pre64 model 70 stock with 13-1/2” LOP?

+1

I have zero interest in buying from Bob Beck regardless of price.

McMillan had their own issues but it was somewhat tolerable to deal with them. Makes me wonder why Ryan went his own direction but that might be wild speculation on my part.

Just placed my McMillan order yesterday, Game Hunter, nothing special, fiberglass fill, paint, no special add-ons, $718 and 4-5 months. Last build for same stock (SA, not LA) was $707 all in, took about two months. Really not sure what options are left?

Thanks for posting.

I'm not 100% sure but 20-24oz seems to be what I remember. I have one on my Pre 64 and will weigh it later this afternoon. My Howa Mini has a 16oz Pendleton stock on it.

And their quality assurance sucks. The last 2 I bought both had to go back to be fixed, one made multiple trips back and still came to me missing the sling studs. Not saying I'll never buy another but I'm not in a rush.

I was off a few ounces. This one looks to be 28oz.

I called and talked to Wayne today and he told me the ultralight stocks are 16 oz but the forend is shorter and the nose of the forend is angled and it won’t accept a bipod. He said the classic stocks are about 19 oz. He said the cost is $695 and the turnaround time is currently around 3 months.

@Dinny do you know what model stock you have?

IIRC mine is a Classic B.

I weighed the classic C stock from Pendleton for the Howa Mini and it was exactly 18.5 oz with 13.5" LOP.

Thanks for posting.


I sent a rifle to Pendleton for a Classic C stock on Monday.

I have two AG stocks and like them a lot. They’re my McMillan replacement. They’re less expensive and accurate and shorter lead rimes.

Rifle First - Then Stock

The first McMillan I purchased cost $285. I purchased my second from Midway USA. They had them on close out for $250. I stopped buying them when they reached $400 +.

McMillan makes a good stock - no doubt - but they have priced themselves out of consideration for me.

I'm shooting sub moa out of my Tikka T3x with various ammo @200 yards - with the factory stock. I'm good with that.

GB

Caused me not to buy a McMillan.

Georgia Boy said it. Rifle first then stock. I have McMillan stocks. Think they are awesome, however, I look at other brands now.

GreggH

Got 14 McMillan stocks and doubt I’ll ever buy another one. Love the sticks though.

McMillan stopped inletting for the Anschutz 17XX rimfires so I just bought an MDT LSS. Might still order a Hunter compact for a Model 70 though. I love that design.

Just received this one, took five weeks, $718 all-in, haven't found anything I like better yet.

Nice one 257Bob! What’s going it it?

Nice, now we know where we can get a used one. A while back I bought a used/like new A3 edge off of ebay for $400:

Defiance / Proof 7 PRC

Nice!

No, but it certainly stopped me from ever buying from them again. I have a few Mc's that I really like too.