Question on this odd/interesting stock

[Unlicensed Dremel]

I don't get this stock.

It's a right-handed action and right-handed cheek piece, but appears to me to be a left-handed grip/tang.... the "shelf" on the right side appears to be for a left-handed shooter to let his left hand thumb rest on top, after crossing over the top-center of the grip. If you shoot it right-handed, that shelf is gonna "shove into" your right thumb and base of right thumb.....Where would you put your thumb - underneath or on top? Makes no sense. What gives?

Really odd set of inlays too. But cool.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=426986166

[JohnKSa]

I tend to rest my right thumb on the right side of the stock when I shoot. I never really thought about it before--I guess it just feels comfortable to me to hold the gun that way.

[1stmar]

A lot went into that stock. It is a curious piece. Beavertail type forearm...

[JWT]

My thumb goes on the top of the stock when shooting a rifle. Bet the shelf would be great. The stock really is a beautiful piece of work. Must have taken many, many hours to craft it.

[Jim243]

If your bench rest shooting for competition the rest for the thumb on the right side would be perfect. It appears from the photos that that is exactly what the stock was designed for.

Jim

[tahunua001]

I believe that shelf on the tang is to let right handed shooters rest their firing thumb there without having to wrap around the tang. it is a really neat design completely offset by mediocre decorations and sharp edges.

[10-96]

I don't think I ever laid my thumb along the right hand side... until I started shooting 1903's with straight stocks. One will learn to do that right quick and in a hurry if he/she tries to settle the thumb beneath the right cheekbone. That thumb over a straight stock will beat the snot smooth out of you in the prone position- maybe other positions too, but after two shots I was too busy learning where else my thumb could go to try.

[goodwrench]

It reminds me of my old German single-shots as the thumb rests on the top (shelf). Very comfortable.german scheutzen.jpg

[SaxonPig]

I realize that aesthetics are totally subjective, but that is the ugliest rifle stock I have ever seen. Bar none, it takes the cake. Too square in the front, too round on top, oddly shaped with ugly decorations set in the wood...yikes!

[6.5swedeforelk]

Perhaps a stockmaker's guild learning device...

everything not to do to a gunstock.

[Paul B.]

"I realize that aesthetics are totally subjective, but that is the ugliest rifle stock I have ever seen. Bar none, it takes the cake. Too square in the front, too round on top, oddly shaped with ugly decorations set in the wood...yikes!"

I agree 100 percent. I'm not sure I could even salvage that piece of wood with spoke shave, files and sandpaper.
To quote the late great Jack O'Connor, "That stock is so ugly it would abort a lady crocodile." This must have been the stock he was talking about.
Paul B.

[Seven1]

a 22" barrel on a 264 Win Mag, that's even more useless than that stock

[Unlicensed Dremel]

Well, 3 people bid on it and somebody won it, so I guess at the range, that guy will be like the parent of an ugly baby.... after an initial involuntary suppressed snort, passersby will say something like "wow, that's..... prettyyyyyyyy."

[Tom Matiska]

My guess is the designer is a hunter and the "shelf" makes the thumb/safe connection a no brainer.... even on a cold day with a heavy glove...

[Lucas McCain]

A little information for you plastic loving newbies.
Those inlays are maple wood, and they are very delicate inlays judging by there size. You can hardly see the seam where they meet the walnut. That kind of work, with pieces like that is extremely hard to do. That stock work matches what Fischer or Beeson could turn out. Those two names were the best custom gun artists of the century 30 years ago. When they got done with a stock and inletting an action, it was tight, very tight. no bedding compound was needed or used. The end caps and pistol grip caps used maple wood for white line spacers and ebony or rhino horn or cape buffalo horn was used for end caps. That was the trade mark of master artists. Maybe that why the fore end is square, if it was rhino horn it couldn't be sold. And look at the finish, that is truly one very beautiful hand rubbed finish, where would you find a finish like that today.
Now I will have to agree that it looks a bit on the ugly side, but the ARTIST who built it, built it the way because the customer requested it to be built like that. And he paid a pretty penny for work like that.
That stock is a work of art, that you won't see the likes of today I love it. blued metal and walnut.

[hooligan1]

Dremel, the rifle didnt sell, auction ended reserve not met.

I like the stock for these reasons, it truly mirrored the stockmakers genious and its one of a kind........

[semi_problomatic]

Finish wasn't that great either. A good finish will have all those wood cells filled in. A great finish would look like glass. There was no grip cap, you can see the inlay. I doubt it had any fore arm tip, the swivel is pretty far back already. Doesn't even look like a very good wood blank was used.

Odd custom job all away around.

[Unlicensed Dremel]

Dang, tough crowd. Y'all must be some highly skilled woodworkers. Wonder what you think of factory stocks.

I actually don't think it's THAT bad.... I think with a little toning down of the size of the swells, different inlays, and a better forend like a schnabel, it would be quite nice.

Dremel, the rifle didnt sell, auction ended reserve not met

Ahhh, I see. OK.

[Husqvarna]

with the thumb on the tang or on a rest like that your triggerfinger is placed in a better position for a good trigger squeese, the finger is less strained and you can do a sirt of pinch movement

[semi_problomatic]

I've finished a couple stocks using the handrubbed-sanded in technique. You spend a couple months working on a stock and you begin to appreciate things like wood grain and a good finish. I generally strip my wood stocks and start to refinish them as I'm waiting for my new sights to come in. I hate factory finishes.

[jeager106]

...a decent piece of wood turned into a really frugly stock!
No wonder "reserve price not met, acution ended". Yeeeech!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.
I've refinished a number of wood stocks in my day using Tru Oil, Tung Oil, and it does take time and patience to get the grain filled right and that dull sheen that makes the grain come out even in fairly plain walnut.
About the stock on gunbroker. The inlays really are a masterful touch on a wierd shaped stock.
If that gun were a .308 I might have bid on it and had the stock reworked to something I could live with and leave the inlays alone.

[Guv]

Tuff crowd! Speaking for myself, I am pretty tired of matte blue and plastic, as functional as it may be. Can't hardley find a nice gloss finish scope any more.

[Nevmavrick]

It reminds me of a Picasso or an El Greco, a work of art (in the eye of the beholder) that you can't tell what it is.
It was obviously built by someone that was learning to work wood. They wanted to learn to make inlays, and make sharp lines at the edge of the cheekpiece, so they made a double cheekpiece AND a forearm "pad" and executed them well.
The wood that was used wasn't much, but was good-wood, so the practice was worthwhile. They were learning about cutting and sanding, so the finish wasn't of prime importance. They'd work on trying different finishes, later.
The inlays were well done, obviously not the first time they had done 'em, but the inletting around the bottom-metal lacks. The inlays are overdone, like the were practicing, not trying to increase the value of the rifle.
The front sight...what can I say? it seems to have been put there because something needed to be on the ramp, not to be used. (I think it would have been better just leaving it off. It's a factory barrel, and was built just before they went out of production. Winchester did the same thing when they built the FW .264s. A 22" barrel, on a .264 Magnum??? There's a reason they weren't popular, lol.
The high bid was $600, and the reserve wasn't met, and was higher, prolly a LOT higher! The rifle was prolly used a bit, but was such a bad example of a using rifle that it had to be gotten rid of.
Maybe somebody's son built it as a "labor of love" for an honored dad, but didn't know what a rifle SHOULD be.
A spokeshave wouldn't be enough, ya'd need a rasp, too.
It sure would be an expensive donor, tho' I wish I had an FN with a magnum boltface.
Have fun,
Gene

[JohnKSa]

... inletting around the bottom-metal lacks.

I noticed that. It almost as if the magazine floorplate was changed at some point. It obviously doesn't fit at the front. Which is strange, because the stockmaker was clearly skilled enough to have repaired the wood and re-inlet the stock to fit the new floorplate.

The only other really obvious screwup I saw was that whoever installed the buttpad didn't know what they were doing. It's poorly fit at the top and the toe isn't ground off to match the line of the stock.

[tobnpr]

What a gorgeous piece of woodworking- but yeah- he blew it on the recoil pad by not matching the toe line. Perhaps the pad was replaced by one of the owners at some point that didn't have the expertise (or a jig) to do it correctly.

Don't know much about the Mausers- but looks like the floorplate FN manufactured was slightly different at the front (more "streamlined" than the K98), and this stock may have started out as being inletted for a K98 rather than the FN 98 commercial action.

Too bad it sold- I would have bought it...