I've always liked the look of a stainless steel rifle with a wood stock, but I like the weight and reliability of a synthetic stock. Unfortunately McMillan discontinued their fibergrain stocks, and I'm not aware of anyone else offering one.

A month or so ago, a poster here (Supercrewd) posted a link to a company (HydroImaging) that prints patterns on stocks with a dip process. I decided to give it a try on the black Remington TI stock I put on my Mountain Rifle. Hope the picture shows up. I like it!

Man am I smart! That looks great, wish I had a rifle needing that treatment right now...

That turned out really nice, looks friggin great.

If I didn't know better i would have said that was a wood stock and good lookin one at that.

That looks great. I would have had them do some checkering on there too just to fake out my buddies when they checked it out. LOL

Looks outstanding. What does it cost and how durable to you think it is?

Durability? I'm not sure since I just got it back on Friday. There are 2 small blisters in the finish on the bottom side of the stock that might get knocked off in regular use, so I might have to touch them up with some paint. The guy who dipped it said there were probably pinholes in the stock that caused the paint to blister. It was just $70 to do it, plus the cost of shipping it back to me. This is the matte finish, and it does feel a little slicker in my hands compared to the black splatter texture on the original TI.
Bob

Looks real in the picture. How close do you have to get before you realize it ain't wood?

When you hold it in your hands you can start to see the "pixels", and you know it's not real wood. Kind of like getting close to your TV screen, you get a different impression of the images on the screen.

Looks great. I was not aware a wood finish dip was available. Could you do some more pics? Close up view? Thanks in advance.

I wonder if I can get some of my wood stocks dipped in Swirly patterns?

I knew you were going to join in but I thought it would be something about getting your wood dipped.

TFF!

Missed opportunity = -3.0

Looking at their website, it appears they have some choices that would be even uglier...

DN

biglmbass,
I'm not too good with the close-up shots, but here are a couple pics of the wood-grain TI stock compared to a Remington LSS laminated stock.

That looks pretty good from here.

Very nice!

Shortside

COOL!

Which pattern did you pick? Looking at their website, the number of straight grain patterns is pretty large.

CW
I picked the pattern on Row 6, Column C. It seems to have more red highlights on my monitor than the final product, but I still like it.

Bob

Did they do the prep work on the stock (sanding, etc.)?

Karnis,
Yes, I just took the barrelled action out of the stock and sent it to them.
Bob

picture didn't come thru anybody help me w/the website?

That looks very nice!

Is the stock smooth or does it have the textured finish?

I asked because I have a KS stock and a Winlite stock that I've considered painting, but they both have a textured finish.

The finishes are smooth and thin so the texture of your stock will come through fine. I have 3 dipped shotguns all with texture and they look as they did when new just camo now

I like it! I have a couple TI stocks laying around that mike need a different look.


ddj

Looks good from here.

AZBob - Do you know the reference number to the pattern you used?

Thanks,

ddj

Hydro-Dip has the most wood choices of anyone I've seen before;

http://www.hydro-dip.com/all_patterns.htm

I've used Tarjac to do camo dips and they are excellent to deal with, very good jobs done on three guns.

www.tarjac.com

Lotsa wild things wave there brightly colored willys in the air to attract the opposite sex, it just might work.

Boy, I'm surprised to see this 3-year old thread surface again. I looked at the hydroimaging website for the first time in a long while and it looks a lot different, so I can't really reference the wood grain pattern I chose.

Three years later, I've hunted with the rifle several times. I've put a few dings in the finish, and haven't bothered trying to cover them up. The gray of the undercoating shows through when it gets scratched. The finish of mine is a little slicker than the original TI stock finish. Still it's a good look, and I don't regret doing it.