Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Boyds laminated stocks

Getting ready to toss the tupperware on my M700, and was considering a Boyds laminate. Are they a decent stock? I like the looks of them, but have no personal experience with them and don't know anyone who does. Most people just seem content to leave the cheap flimsy plastic on their rifles. I prefer the looks of wood but can't afford a real nice piece of walnut, which would only get abused anyway. Perhaps there are other suppliers of good laminates I don't know about. Any advice would be appreciated.

Howdy, it's me again. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I have a Boyd's stock on my M70 Win. 30-06. I like it. I got the finished stock but have to admit the inletting wasn't 100% correct. As the gunsmith that bedded it for me said they (fully finished stocks) usually aren't for most brands. Very minor fitting was needed and the one you get may not need any. It will need bedded for best results but you aren't happy with the tupperware stock you have now are you? I wasn't. It made a big difference in accuracy for the rifle. Wish it helped me! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> I can't shoot consistantly like I did. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> I had the legnth of pull shortened to 13" and it handles like a dream. I guess you're looking at the JRS stock. It has a decent pistol grip design. It starts shallow and gets more pronounced toward the bottom of the stock. They don't have sling swivels so they will need to be added. I used it one season before I had it shortened and it handled the weather (snow and some rain) fine.

I put a JRS on a Ruger 77 stainless because the new-style factory synthetic has too much drop.



Mine (a semi-inlet) wasn't inletted correctly -- I made it work, later the Boyd's rep at the NRA show told me they'd had a bad run of those.



I took 8-10 ounces off by hollowing the buttstock, removing the cheekpiece and trimming about 1.25" off the forend tip. Came out looking good and the rifle shoots very well in it. Have only taken it on one hunt, but there will be more...



Here's a picture:

You should consider how much your rifle will weigh with the new stock. laminated stocks are quite a bit heavery than tupperware.

I put a Boyd's laminate on my Howa and it has required a little bit of inletting. Nothing significant. If you want a walnut stock, Boyds also makes a Walnut stock for the M700 and its finished price is close to $99, while the finished price for the laminate is closer to $117. True the Boyds doesn't offer sling studs but you can add them for $22 and it comes with a 1" nylon sling.

If you would like the "durability" of a laminate and the looks of a walnut you could go with an Accrabond laminate. They are some pretty nice looking stocks, but the grade A (lowest) is about $455 finished.

Richard's Microfit Gunstocks also offers an inexpensive route, but most who have purchased them here have stated that the wait can be long and there usually is some inletting required. But most have been happy with the finished product.

Good Luck,

John F., that's a very nice photo. The gun looks good, too!

Concerning mass of both stocks. I measured a M700 LA ADL tupperware stock vs. a Boyds Laminate LA BDL. ... the Boyds was almost a pound heavier.



Forgot this on my previous post.



As you can tell from looking at John's pic, they do make a nice addition to most rifles if you like the laminate look ... which I do (only after walnut though!) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I recently put a Boyd's JRS laminate on my Savage 110 to replace the notriously poor Savage tupperware. It was not perfect in terms of inletting. Needed quite a bit of sanding in some parts, particularly the front and sides of the magazine well, and in the barrel channel. To be fair, part of the problem with the sides of magzine well was that my the stock was inletted for a blind mgazine type Savage, and mine was a converted clip fed rifle, which had two small extra metal bumps on the outside of the magazine.

Still, when I finished and bedded it, it looks great and shoots well. Just sighted in yesterday for whitetail season and got my groups down from 1.25" with tupperware to .75" at 100 yards. Of course, I think the extra weight may be helping me keep my flinch down with my '06. (Feel free to pile on abuse at my wussiness).

Anyway, I like the JRS stock, but you may have to put in a few hours with a Dremel to get it just right. As long as you know that, go right ahead. I think you'll like the finished product.

Talus,

Thanks for the compliment! Should mention the gun shoots well also -- about 1" with Hornady 139-gr. Spire Points or 140-gr. Nosler Partitions. It even shot well when I had quite a bit of contact along one side of the barrel channel, but I fixed that anyway.

Conrad,

Re. weight -- I weighed the laminate at several points during its alterations, and the factory injection-molded item I took off this rifle -- after I'd remodeled the Boyd's, it was only a couple ounces heavier. There was 1/4 lb. of wood in the Boyd's cheekpiece alone!

I know I could've gone further -- Mule Deer had a picture in Rifle of one he did with a very short, slender forend, and I'd estimate a similar rework on mine would've saved another 1/4 lbs. But I have long arms and wanted a bit more out there for prone shooting.

John

I have fitted a number of Boyd's stocks to various rifles, both laminate and walnut. The JRS is a very full design, and the samples I've had weighed about the same whether laminate or walnut, around 43-44 ounces. This is at least 10 ounces more than the heaviest factory tupperware I've weighed.

I've had to do some bedding on every one, but then again I am kind of anal about such things. Most would have worked at least as well as the average factory stock without any work, which isn't saying much--but factory barreled actions vary dimensionally more than we like to imagine.

The one John Frazer mentions had the cheekpiece removed, the forend shortened and slimmed to a schnabel tip, and a couple deep holes drilled in the buttstock. It weighs 32 ounces with sling swivel studs.

Might also mention that I've had one on a Model 70 action in .358 Shooting Times Alaskan that has a -12" twist to use any bullet made. I've fired this quite a few times with bullets up to 310 grains. It is like a 375 H&H+, and the stock didn't even think of splitting. The only bedding was Acraglas behind the relatively shallow M70 recoil lug.

This is one other advantage of laminates over plain wood. The extra strength means you don't have to reinforce the stock to withstand the severe recoil of big rounds. Next up is a .416 Remington Magnum in the same stock. I have no doubts it will hold as well.

John,

How did you take the cheepiece off? Just a file and lots of sanding? How much did you take out of the buttstock? Just curious.

There was an awful lot of cheekpiece so I had plenty to experiment on -- mostly I used a Nicholson "patternmaker's rasp" from Brownell's. When I got close to the end, I used a straightedge to check for dips, and ended up using a Ryobi random orbit disc sander on that whole side of the stock. From the look of it, Boyd's uses a belt sander to shape the area behind the cheekpiece, and that creates a dip that obviously isn't apparent with the cheekpiece in place.

Don't remember how much weight reduction I got out of hollowing the buttstock. I used a spade bit (probably 3/4") and a couple chisels. If you do this, remember you'll need to douse those insides well with sealer to keep out moisture.

BTW Mule Deer mentions his weighed 2 lbs. after modification -- I think mine is about 2-1/4 lbs., so my estimate of what could come off the forend was right on.

John

I ordered an unfinished Boyd's JRS for a re-done FN Mauser. When I received the stock, it weighed 52 oz. and felt like a varmit stock. I removed about as much wood as Mr. Frazer did and hollowed out the butt stock. The stock now weighs 39 oz. with sling swivel studs, 3/4" Pachmyer decelerator, and a spar var/tung oil finish.

I will probably take some pictures of the rifle on a mule deer hunt next week. I will post them when I get back.

Now, I keep getting the temptation to put an Accrabond, McMillan or Banser on the gun.