My dad passed away in October and talking to my brothers, the only gun I wanted of his was his 7mm mag that he loved. Years ago his walnut stock broke and was ruled non-repairable. He put a synthetic stock on it and he was never satisfied with. I want to put the gun back to the way he always preferred it. I found Richards microfit walnut stocks and they seem to be a pretty value for the grades of wood they offer. I kind of like the fact that you need to finish them yourself so you can get the desired gloss you want.

Does anyone have any experience with these stocks? Good, bad? Any info is much appreciated!

Had one in laminate, would never do another again, rough in places like it was shaped wit dull tools, not great inletting.

First off, what action is your father's 7mm RM built on? You might be able to go back with a nice factory stock if it's a Winchester, Remington, Ruger, or other commercial rifle. That is the first option I'd exhaust.

If you're handy you can make a Richard's stock work. I've used about a half dozen or so over the years on old military sporters. Inlet is usually oversized and the barrel channels rarely run straight. However, there is enough wood on the outside of the stock to fix the barrel channel issue. Bedding fixes everything else.

Honestly if you want to go affordable, I'd look at Boyd's Stocks. IME they are more drop in ready and require less work, but you lack some of the wood options. Being more of a finished stock makes them a better value in my eyes than Richard's stocks.

Thanks for the info! The rifle is an old Weatherby vanguard. I had a bad experience with Boyd’s with the last stock I bought about 2 months ago. Not pleased with how it finished and when I talked to them they didn’t particularly care. I have a hard time giving them anymore money.

I recently restockied a cut down Krag with one of their stocks. Lots of inletting to get it inletted. Rifle turned out nice. They left wood on the LH side of the action which strengthens the week design of the original stock. Made an internal barrel band to hold down the barrel in the front of the stock. Claro walnut looks nice with a urethane finish.

Micro-fit is a figure of speech! Having said that, if you accept that you will have to do some work, they are a decent stock. Their designs are OK. I have ordered semi-shaped, uninletted stocks from them and liked them OK. GD

I’m not liking what I hear so far hah! Thank you all for the honest responses

I've ordered three from them over the years. I still have all three. The shapes are true to the pictures on the website. Most actions do require a bit of inletting to get proper fit, but that was not difficult work for any of the three I have; one military and two commercial large ring 98 Mausers.

A rough patch here or there on an unfinished stock is not a big deal. You're going to be sanding multiple times anyway. The barrel channels on my three were all fine, needed to be opened up on both commercial stocks, but that was expected and it beats getting a channel that's too open already, or all wrong for shape at shank and taper.

The wood itself has been as advertised or better in my experience. Good grain, good cut, solid stock. You do the inletting, you control the bedding, as well. No need to deal with someone else's overzealous inletting or voids hogged out larger than they need to be.

If you're decent with basic wood work and finishing, then you shouldn't have a problem. If you're looking for an out of the box drop-in, or a stock that needs little more than a few coats of oil to be done, look elsewhere.

I've ended up with a couple over the years... more work than I thought they were worth...

on the other end, I have used and finished a large number of Boyd's stocks...

There should be a lot of wood vanguard stocks for sale try ebay for a start

Richard's is the worst. Looks like it's carved with a chainsaw by a blind man with vertigo. And they don't answer the phone.

Is Boyd's not an option?

Pretty poor experience with the last one I bought about 2 months ago. Poor finish and pretty shoddy inletting. I also, like and idiot, had them install pillars to try to save some time so I only had to skim bed. The pillars are recessed into the stock about 1/16” where they won’t even touch the action. When I called them about all of it I was told the finish was to their specs or it wouldn’t have left and for the pillars they do that so over time the wood will crush and the pillars will eventually make contact with the action. I told them I’m not an expert by any means but that’s not how that works.

So in the end, I get to strip it and refinish, then drill the pillars out and redo it myself. Lesson learned. I figured if I had to refinish theirs I might as well start with an unfinished stock. May just put an HS on it and be done with it.

It's often interesting to see how different two experiences can be with one company that offers a single type of product. I'm far from being the guy that wants to put a Richard's stock on every rifle I own. But, none of the three I've received have looked or felt like anything remotely approaching that. And the two times I've called, someone has answered the phone and been helpful. If I'm just lucky, I'll take it.

I have several Richards stocks and am happy with them. Yes, they are semi-finished but that is OK with me.

I purchased one Microfit and was impressed with the quality of wood received given its price. I did, however, put about 30 hours into its final fitting and finishing. My thoughts are that if one purchases a drop in stock, way too much wood has been removed. It's a 240 Weatherby on an intermediate length Yugo action and a nail driver.

For the average rifle enthusiast, they are a PITA. Avoid them like COVID-19. Boyds is a much better fit and easier to final fit and finish. I still have my unfinished Richards from 25 years ago. I guess the beaver that did the semi-inletting has passed on now.

Accurate Innovations

Richards Microfit is a good option when it is the only option, but otherwise their stocks tend to be "semi-finished", like around 60% finished, so you have to do a lot of work on them. The laminated wood seems to be very hard on tools, as they need to be sharpened or replaced quite frequently. Unless you are a reasonably skilled woodworker, I would avoid them like I would a syphilitic whore, but many folks feel the need to go down that road and experience the aggrivation firsthand before they make up their own minds.

In addition to Weatherby, Howa, Mossberg, and S&W have all imported 1500s over the years and you may want to do your search for each of them to find a stock. Search Howa 1500, Mossberg 1500, S&W 1500, in addition to Weatherby Vanguard.

Well said Jeff!!

I've bought , inlet, and finished three from Richard's microfit. I think they were all purchased as factory seconds to get the wood upgrade. This was back when I was younger, had more time and less money. I've heard it said that they have done 90% of the easy work!

Two had some type of inletting issues that were not a deal killer if you didn't mind a small amount of bedding material being visible, but they were on Mauser actions. The one I used on a model seven was better, probably because Remington was more consistent that the dozens of companies that made Mausers.

My experience with Boyd's has been that they are drop in but will show bedding material too.

These days I would buy a synthetic because I don't get upset if I scratch them, and I tend to be tough on my rifles.

They are a stock for the enthusiast/DIY'er that wants the full hands on experience. I've done 2 of them and while they are work they came out fairly nice.

I've bought them but had my local smith final shape/fit/bed it for the rifles I had. Same with Boyds laminates.

I'd look for a factory take-off to bring it back to original if that's the way he preferred it.