Anyone out there have personal experience with these? Any information is welcome

no first hand experience, a buddy of mine has used them and is impressed.

I have looked at them first hand at the Calgary gun show and chatted with the guy that makes them.They look very good, solid and well made.

I've worked with them, and they are top notch. But they come in the white, so you'll have to be prepared to do all the finishing work.

Hookset;
Good morning sir, I trust all is well with you and yours on this finally cool, but still quite dry third Sunday of September.

With the understanding that my information is a couple years old now, I'll chime in.

I've built two rifles on Stuart's stocks - one Mauser and another long action Model 70. Both were exactly the weight Stuart advertised they'd be.


How long my photobucket account will hold up here is anyone's guess - but the photo indicates the blank is indeed an honest 18 oz. That's no sling swivel bases in yet, no recoil pad, no bedding compound and no finish. More on that after.

My initial build was a 98 that became a money pit, windmill tilting exercise if there ever was one, but the goal was to see how light a 98 could be. Link to that here and man I can't fathom that's 7 years ago now....
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt.../3660460/98-mauser-on-a-diet#Post3660460

A wee bit later I built the Model 70 for a friend. Same deal on the weight coming in where Stuart said it would.


This rifle was primer only as requested and has a Decelerator installed, again as requested. They are my standard, "go to" recoil pad for all work except where one wants to go as light as possible since they're an honest 5-6 oz installed.

A few thoughts on Stuart's stocks from a guy who has played with a few different names - McMillan, Chet Brown, B&C, Ramline, whomever made the Remington ones back in the day before they went to injection molded and a few injection molded ones too like the first Ruger Americans.

The Wildcats are very, very stiff for the weight - it might well be campfire heresy, but I will say they exhibit less flex than the McMillan's I've handled and they weighed a tad more. Yes McMillan make a stiffer fore end stock - but you could kill a bull with them too they're so heavy. Anyway very, very stiff which is to me very important.

He casts in aluminum bases for the sling swivel bases and after 7 years of sometimes less than gentle use in the BC interior they've not budged. I can't say that about a few other stocks I've fixed for people - Bell & Carlson comes to mind immediately for me, but I want to say there was another one too.

The Wildcat has cast in place resin pillars so you don't need to mess with aluminum ones. They work just fine and in my view there'd be no advantage adding aluminum ones.

As my friend Jordan indicated, they are raw when you get them, though the quality is better than a supposedly "finished" one from another maker I did. I won't name them as it was a decade back and maybe the bondo guy was having a bad day, I can't say. The Wildcat will need to be bedded and finished though so if you don't do the work yourself it gets a bit more expensive.

Lastly there's one type of stock for each action, so if you don't like a Monte Carlo type on the 98 you are out of luck. Same with the Winchester one - it's a copy of the '80's Featherweight and if you don't prefer that style again that's it.

If you contact Stuart please say hello from Dwayne in Okanagan Falls and tell him that two of his stocks are still used hard every season and they're working great!



Eldest daughter and I sliding in to size up an Okanagan black bear, notice the BC redneck camo we're both sporting. We're both packing 6.5x55's too, so we're well armed for the task...

Hope that helped and was useful sir. By all means give me a shout either here or via PM and I'll try to answer any more questions. Good luck with your build whichever way you decide and good luck on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

Ive used dozens over the years, excellent product. Much stiffer than anything in its weight class. Stuart is working on more models with some nice features... the latest version I bought was a tikka pattern with cast in aluminum pillars. He also is working on a new finish which he applies over a hydro dipped finish to add durability and gripping texture.

I recently fit my tikka 6.5 Swede into a wildcat. It's the only wildcat Iv handled, but I must say, I'm very impressed with how it feels. I did the bedding, paint and recoil pad myself, was a fun project.

https://imgur.com/a/lJr0F

I have used four of them and like them pretty well. I bought two for Ruger 77's and one was good but the filler in the action area of the second one was about the same consistency as putty. I kept this one for myself and set it aside for a couple of months to see if it would cure up a bit. It did, to a certain extent, but I could still dig the filler out with my thumb nail so I dug it out (not with my thumb nail) and replaced it with Acra-glas and glass cloth. Apart from this, I like the stock just fine and, having started out using Brown Precision, I am used to doing some remedial work from time to time. In addition, I strongly suspect this stock was an anomaly and I've not heard of any others with this issue. The other stock of this pair which, as I stated, had no issues, was installed on a lightweight 30-338 and has stood up well. The rifle is hunted hard (a lot of horseback and alpine hiking) and shoots great. Mine is either a 7x57 (the current chamber in the Benchmark barrel), a 280, or a 280AI (30 degree shoulder) and may or may not get used this fall. All in all, I would choose the Wildcat over Brown Precision by a considerable margin. Workmanship is better and the Wildcats are very rigid. GD

BC Very nice how did you paint the stock? The color and amount of texture look just right.

Tag

AKwolverine,

Can you tell me what the "Tag" does?

Allows me to follow a thread of interest easily.

They also come standard with Carbon Fiber in the forearm now.

I used the beauty tone spray paint for the texture, I think it was called, "make it stone", or something like that. The first time I sprayed, it went on real thick, so I wiped it off and tried again, but standing back further, and it seemed to work great. I then finished it with 4 light coats of krylon brown (from their camo line) as it has a dull finish, then I put 3 good coats of krylon non glare clear coat.

I should add, that I'm finding the paint wearing off on the hi spots of the texture. If I was to do it again, I would go over the texture after it drys with a light sand paper, just to wear down the sharp edges of the texture, and I would probably add a couple more coats of paint.

All in all tho, it turned out pretty good. It's the first stock Iv ever worked on, it was a learning process lol.

One thing I did not care for on the wildcat, was the tang area. It's kinda, square?, it looked off, so I used automotive bondo to round it off.

https://i.imgur.com/kd2NzYp.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rjqXXNj.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ag7EZ1a.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HOpchin.jpg

I also ended up using a flip flop for the recoil pad, pretty neat idea, and actually works quite well on a mid recoil rifle.

Is that the weight, 5lbs. 13oz?

Yeah that's what it came to on my fish scale. If I remember right, the original Tupperware stock weighed 28 oz's. This wildcat finished at 19oz.

Very cool. Thanks for taking the time to post Bc. Very helpful and informative.

That looks really good, I wonder if they can make a lefty T 3?

Tejano;
Good evening to you sir, I trust the day has been a good one for you as we head out of September.

If I'm the BC you're referring to, I put a base coat of some sort of textured Krylon I found at either Walmart or Canadian Tire that was for painting plastic deck chairs. I thought if it'd stick to a deck chair, how bad could it be?

There's just a tad of sparkle in one of the coats I used however, so more than one friend has asked me just what was up with that? I guess some metal flakes are how they did the texture.

Anyway it's all rattle can Krylon on my stock, no clear either. I've painted it again since - more out of boredom with the paint scheme than wear.

It's now a 21" barreled 6.5x55 now too and the barrel was a tad heavier so it's 7lb 3 oz I think now. Funny I like the extra weight on the barrel for shooting offhand or improvised rests. It's not huge, but I notice it a wee bit.


If it wasn't me, the sorry and howdy to BC trapper anyway!

All the best to you both in the upcoming hunts this fall.

Dwayne

If I'm not mistaken, I think he can mould the stock, without the bolt handle cut out, and a guy can file his own out. I'm not 100% sure, but I think he can.

I'm working on my fourth for me, seventh overall.

Rifle No.1 was a Model 7 in 7-08. It came in at 6lb 4oz with a 22in Mountain profile barrel and a Kahles 2-7x36 scope.


Rifle No.2 was a Sako L579 in 358 Winchester. It came in at 6lb 13oz without scope.


Rifle No.3 was a Model 7 in 260 Rem. It came in at 5lb 10oz with a 22in mountain profile barrel and a Leupold VX2c 2-7x33.


Rifle No.4 was a Pierce Titanium 6mm BR in the last Vartac CF with clear gelcoat. With a #4 Lilja and a 3-24x42 March it came in at 8lb 12oz.


Rifle No.5 was a Remington 700 in 6.5 SAUM. It came in at 7lb even with a 26in standard profile barrel (fluted) and a Swarovski Z5 3.5-18 scope.

Rifle No.6 was a Husqvana HVA1600 in 30/06. Without scope it came in at 7lb.

Rifle No.7 is a 338 Norma Magnum on a Rem700 Long Action. With rings, but no scope it comes in at 6lb 12oz. It will be about 8lb with a VX5HD on top.



They are well made, easy to finish, stiff in all the right places, and some of the lightest stocks I have ever worked with.

I wanted a synthetic stock on my Kimber 84M Varmint in 22-250. Kimber would not sell me a Montana stock, so I scouted around.

I measured the varmint stock and found that the Wildcat Model 7 stock was a close match in the dimensions.

A few months later, a gunsmith had ordered a blank Wildcat Model 7 stock and fitted it to my Kimber. I like it quite a bit.

For those with experience fitting these, how do you deal with smaller contour barrels (as it appears they have only one available contour)? Microballons and glass and fill or ... ? Thanks!

When you order, talk it over with Stuart.

My 338 Norma Magnum is using a barrel that follows the Remington Mangum contour, but is 60 thou oversize to allow for enough meat to put a muzzle brake on the end. Stuart was able to customise the channel to allow for this wider barrel.

If he can do that, he can certainly fill the channel in to allow for a thinner barrel.

Yes, I do exactly that. Microballoons and Marine Tex or Devon. Wrap the barrel with enough tape to get the gap you desire