Your interest is entirely fair, but your prospective variety about as wide as to be conjured. If you could narrow a bit. First, I'm 'assuming bolt high power rifles'. If wider, please expound. Then frankly the metal far less led by aesthetics than functionality. The stocks were the strong aesthetics element. Their "classic style" to "modern" evoution, far more reactionary as driven by ergonomics. Ergonomics in turn driven by more modern rifles featuring heavier weight and recoil.
SHORT ANSWER: Check out generic Remington Model 30 and Winchester Model 54 rifles in earlier and later styles each similarily reflecting basic evolution of "genre" stocks of the Nineteen Twenties & Thrities as there 'core patterns' extending to today, excepting "Wild"! Stocks of non-standard hunting application as more "tactical" and stock materials as affecting/affected.
LONG ANSWER: Kindly fasten seat belts and "No Doze" tablets recommended!
Mainstream American and European bolt actions predominantly followed the Mauser pattern or to emulate in extent of stock styling as what folks were 'used to'. Earlier bolt action stocks in centerfire chambering rifles were driven by European commercial stock style. Narrow schnabel foreends, pistol grip, straight comb stocks with considerable drop at heel. That is, from boreline projected aft, the top of the stock but below that line as being considerable. Those stocks prevalent both in the Remington Model 30 and the Wincheser Model 54, intro'd in 1921 and 1925 respectively. In Europe the sporting mauser pattern similar pattern but also with full stock configurations with aft end about the same. English gunmaners were often making heaver chamered rifles for the monied African hunting trade. They required more stout stocks and eventually also more ergonomic stocks lest their bodies battered by repeated heavy recoil.
By the thirties, a small stock revolution as certain prominent NRA members, led by Col. Towensend Whelen, Retd, advocated successfully for both Winchester and Remington to modify their European style stocks complete with schnabels to bit heaver stocks. Principal reconfigurations as Heel raised to more proximate to boreline and fuller, more hand filling forends. Gone the schnabel. I still like the older style for aesthetics, not for ergonomics! Postwar, the rise of the telescopic sights required further accommodations yet more as 'compromised' since scopes not so prevalent at first. The early fifties saw the development of the so-called "Monte Carlo" stock design featuring an integral elevated cheekpiece. The head comfortably positiioned higher to coincide with scope tube to eye coordination. From there, such as Roy Weatherby began to design more aesthetically extreme stocks for marketing to match his then more 'extreme' chambrings. That a trend which co-existed with the more modest postwar iterations with heritage of those NRA style rifles. Since then, more custom stocks available and moving more toward dimensions of the imagination as constrained with rifle recoil not damaging the stock and human body proximate. 'Most' stocks of varying wood and "pretty" stocks springing up too. With the synthetics more freedom to scale down and lighten stocks and moving toward wider aesthetics, ergonomics, and material strength horizons.
Bolt actions evolutions more constrained. Not in terms of absolute designs, some relatively radical such as aft locking bolt systems versus more conventional action forward locking. Engineering designs! Multi-lugged bolts with lesser bolt rotation, triggers as more precise as also retained safety factors, metals such as alloy introduced such as bottom metal. Considerable cost savings, some weight savings as also the unsung greater propensity for scratches adverse to aesthetics. The mosr noticable elementary changes in bolts from the very nineteen twneties, "low scope bolt handle configurations".
Remington with their Model 1917 mililtary holdover, coincidentally as "low bolt". Winchester redesigning the Model 70 to accommodate a "low bolt" handle design. But in "accommodation"
designs.
Bolt rifle "custom designs" a combination of aesthetics, 'make 'em fit, individual frames/tastes and just details. Large "production type" custom rifle potential firms with catalogs. Stock material in wood, basic styles inclusive of half or full stock. Details as checkering and carving as desired. Much of that 'stuff' evolutaionary as 'more mature monied buyers of custom rather than the 'whippersnappers' of their twenties or thrities. Still, room for all tastes. Most of which accommodated by cost concerns balanced with what most factory production rifles to cover. "Scopes", becoming the new wild card. Much as buying any accessory stuff today where the 'accessory' may exceed the cost of the underlying asset such as the rifle itself. There was also some traditionalism too in rifles partiuclarly of the fifties. Mannlicher Schönauer Austrian rifle most traditional context of "full stock" models. So their 'wrap' until the mid fifties when they went wild with their Model 1956. Look up the model and check out the exaggerated cheekpiece!
Barrels were perhaps the most 'ho hum' in American rifles. The prewar era where sometimes a "carbine bolt choice, but pretty even those "off the shelf" inclusive of varying weights and minor 'target' model configurations including stocks. This was never a large market. Gunsmiths to make any aftermarket alterations to be agreed. Europe... The European bolt rifle makers, more liberal with styling and 'normal' off the shelf sporting barrel styles from round to half octagon to full octagon. Them also with more accessories as well as with special 'stuff' included by submodel. Quality steel trapdoor butt plates on such as their fullstock models "standard". Big military arms factories often provided sorting rifle manufactoring divisions. Until after WWII, large sporting production offered hand accomplished custom/specialty rifles. Postwar, as Europe finally reemerged from war deprivations and resumed productoin, far less 'customization' existing. What large factories such ad Belgium's Fabrique Nationale (aka FN) did was to sell both their own complete sporting rifles and such as actions or barreled action components. The were moderately successful for through most of the fifties decade. So the FN commercial mauser action action to be purchased and like a Christmas tree, 'adorned' with barrel, stock , etc by either firms that built under their own name in qualitty for sales, or by custom gunsmiths building in semi-production fashion. Paul Jäger or Hunter's Lodge, both of Pennsylvania specialized in such FN action builds or simply to sell the actons themselves at retail!
What more to say? Maybe that this isn't a "timed test". Pinging on Gun Digest, they printed a "Treasury", one or more, which may be helpful. Probably just to google! Needing to experiment some with search terms lest garbage in garbage out... Such as you've just encountered in my herewith Post!
Hope this helps! Right of top of my head and unedited! Whew!
Best!
John