I don't get it

[chukarmandoo]

I just need to know how bad a stock factory rifle has to shoot before everyone starts to change things up. like installing new stocks,triggers,bolts and barrels? Am I really missing something here? For example, I have four savage rifles; 1 an old 110 flat back that I rebarreled to 6.5-284 but I left everything else stock and it is a very accurate rifle. 2 a 111, all steel except for the stock, in 300wm and it shoots hand loads better than I can shoot and it is totally stock. 3 is a LWH and there is no changing anything on that gun simply by design and it is still a 1moa rifle. 4 is my pride and joy. a custom shop FCP-SR that is just sick, easy to shoot and as accurate as most high dollar customs. To be fair some of these rifles have been worked on as far as bedding or barrel change or trigger work but none have any after market stocks or parts. So does these add ons really make that big of a difference?

[03mossy]

To me it has nothing to do with how good or bad they shoot from the factory. I like my rifles/trucks/ATV's to be unique to me and look like no one else's. I have 4 Savage/Stevens rifles and only one was left untouched from the factory and thats my 9317fvss in 17 hmr. And it shoots amazing as is. The other 3 I had the barrels yanked off and torn apart before I even fired a round out of them. I bought them for the purpose of builds not to shoot in factory form. Im sure factory offerings would shoot just as good but whats the fun in that!

[barrel-nut]

If you are happy with them the way they are, then don't change a thing. With Savage rifles, it's just nice to be able to make major changes to the base rifle without paying a gunsmith, should you later decide to do so. For me, I generally wouldn't mess with any rifle that shoots 1/2 MOA or better, unless it's a competition rifle, in which case it's never good enough lol. Most people on this site are just the type of people who like to work on their own stuff, and are always looking to tweak things to try to make them a little better. Some things tend to make bigger differences than others. Barrels, for instance. It just all depends on where you're starting from. It sounds like your rifles are already pretty well sorted out, so like I said before, if you're happy with them, don't feel like you gotta change 'em.

[RP12]

It's kind of like, "why climb a mountain" because it's there. It's a, (we "want" to, not we "need" to thing).:p

[chukarmandoo]

Ya, I kind of get what everybody is saying and I myself do work on all of my rifles but as far as swapping out parts, other than barrels, I really can't see going there. I mean really are the stocks that bad? Would a new stock change the accuracy that much? If it could then I might go there but frankly the only thing I'm ever concerned with is accuracy. I've had problems with all my rifles from the factory, except two. The rest get a little trigger work, a little bedding and a little free float and thats it. Never a new stock. Not yet anyway. LOL

[RP12]

If the stock is "causing" accuracy issues, then it will help to fix or replace it, otherwise no.

[chukarmandoo]

RP12, I do understand what your saying and if it was narrowed down to that fact then I would go that route. The thing that I find and its kind of funny is we see people come on here with 2 or 3 post saying they just got a new savage rifle and they need a good stock. That is all well and good but I'm just wondering why?

[barrel-nut]

See post #4. :-)

[barrel-nut]

Some of the entry-level rifles have stocks that are rudimentary at best. I recently bought a .308, I think it was a model 11? from the big box store for around $375. All I wanted was the action, as it was a short action with the top bolt release. Very cheap plastic stock, sporter barrel. But I figured I'd shoot it first before tearing it down, just to see. Turned out to be a pretty consistent .75 MOA gun, with the occasional .4-5moa group thrown in too. I couldn't bring myself to tear it down. It became my new(est) hunting rifle. But I quickly came to the conclusion, that the stock did not do this rifle justice. So I ordered a new stick from Stocky's, and I ended up with my new favorite hunting rifle for under $600 (without glass). I later learned that I could have gotten a comparable stock from Boyd's, and kept it under $500, but oh well,...http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/13/ynyse3u6.jpg

Did it shoot just as well with the flimsy cold black plastic stock? It did. Would it have become my favorite? Absolutely not. That, to me, is worth the extra $200.

Edit: please excuse the messy bench

[chukarmandoo]

Barrel-nut, Fair enough. I just think the money spent for a stock could be added to a persons optic money. Which would give them more buying power for better glass. By the way that stock does look good.

[barrel-nut]

Thanks for the compliment. And I agree with you, that if you are deciding whether to spend money on an upgraded stock or a better scope, in most cases the scope should probably win. In this case I already had the scope that I wanted on hand, so I sprung for the stock.

[bootsmcguire]

Your shooting style also dictates whether or not the lower level factory plastic stocks will work or not.

If you are going to use a bi-pod most of the time, then a basic factory sporter synthetic stock will flex and most likely touch the barrel ruining your free float, plus just be that much more unstable reducing the improvements of using the bi-pod in the first place.

If you are going to be shooting from a machine type front rest, then the basic stock may not ride your rest's bag as you would like and benchrest or wider fore-end varmint style stock may be in order. Plus often times placing the end of the fore-end of one of the basic plastic stocks is enough to get it to flex into the barrel.

Both of the above reasons become more apparent if you open up the barrel channel to accept a varmint or even a bull contoured barrel.

Now you can stiffen up the factory stocks using aluminum rods or carbon arrow shafts and epoxy or other similar modifications, but sometimes that is not optimum. If the factory shape of the stock works for you then a wooden stock helps in the rigidity department, but sometimes doesn't suit the heavier barrels.

You could also look at it the same way that a person would put more aggressive tires (not necessarily bigger) on his 4wd pickup. Would the factory street radials get you through the snow or mud? Probably. Would the mud/snow tires make it through easier with less spinning and sliding? More likely than not. You can drive with street radials for years and probably be just happy and fine, but once you try a set of snow/muds on a unplowed snow covered road you are glad you got them and feel safer driving in such conditions. Point is the new stock not only gives you some possible accuracy benefits from rigidity and possibly shaped better to fit your needs, but it also can give you peace of mind and more confidence.

JMHO's.

[J.Baker]

It's simple really, a lot of people just have more spare money and time than they know what to do with. :p

I think most people on here would be surprised to know that after 12 years running this site I've never had a swap barrel rifle or built multiple different rifles off of one particular action over several years. I build them how I want them and then leave them the heck alone. To do anything else seems rather counter-productive and wasteful to me.

How much time is wasted removing the scope/mount, pulling the barrel, installing/headspacing the new barrel, reinstalling the scope/mounts, and then re-zeroing the scope just to have a switch barrel rifle? As Sweet Brown likes to say...

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/xDn19gaOTul1snVl6wvn_aint_nobody_got_time_for_that .jpg

[bootsmcguire]

Jim, I'm with ya on that one. I build 'em and leave 'em alone. Now that's not to say that I won't rebuild it into something else sometime down the road, but I can't say I have ever set one up as a switch barrel to go back and forth.

[big honkin jeep]

If you don't get it you just haven't been bitten by the bug. No real rhyme or reason to tinkeritis. It's just a hobby thing for me. I just put together parts that make me happy and change things up if I get bored with what I've got.

[RP12]

if you don't get it you just haven't been bitten by the bug. No real rhyme or reason to tinkeritis. It's just a hobby thing for me. I just put together parts that make me happy and change things up if i get bored with what i've got.Exactly !

[justinp61]

I bought a FVSS in 22-250, it came in a plastic stock. Depending on where you put the bag the poi would change. I even epoxied a carbon arrow in it and it still flexed in the lug area. I shoot left handed and could've bought a lh rifle but figured if I got tired of it a rh would be easier to sell. So I started looking for stocks and found a couple ambidextrous thumb hole stocks at Stockade Stocks. I wound up ordering a Elk stalker and couldn't be happier. I bedded the action and it will shoot bug holes no matter where the bag is.

[J.Baker]

No real rhyme or reason to tinkeritis. It's just a hobby thing for me. I just put together parts that make me happy and change things up if I get bored with what I've got.

Like I said... :congratulatory:


It's simple really, a lot of people just have more spare money and time than they know what to do with. :p

[Hotolds442]

You're not allowed to have disposable income or time, Jim. You run a website.

[Jetpig]

Mine shot absolutely great out of the box, but then....... I found you all and caught THE DISEASE.