"Speed Costs Money -- How Fast Do You Want To Go?"

Besides those I've already told you about, several other stocks are available to the modern rifleman, from a number of companies all trying very hard to get your business.  They range in price from under a hundred bucks to two or three hundred dollars.  Let me just mention a few of higher-priced ones.

D&L Sports

At the 1998 Tactical Marksman Match, organized by Dave Lauck of D&L Sports, I was privileged to closely examine some of the rifles he has built.  Dave has one concept in mind when he builds a rifle, such as those immediately to the left, and that concept is "function."  Weighing in the vicinity of 25 pounds, these rifles are built not only to endure harsh field environments but to deliver precision accuracy.  One of the most interesting features of these rifles are the stocks that Dave builds.  Truly unconventional to say the least, they are more accurately described as "metal frames" than "riflestocks."  Each "stock" is built to hold a barreled action by clamping it in, rather than by the traditional method of bolting it in from the bottom.

With respect to it's competitors, the Ultra-Accurate Rifle System (UARS) is fairly new to the world of tactically-oriented riflestocks.   It is marketed by Autauga Arms, which claims the stock will "cut shot group sizes in a standard Remington Model 700 by up to 50% after being installed in the UARS stock. This was compared to how the action shot, out of the box, in a standard factory wooden stock."   Truly, any stock that can deliver on such a promise is worth consideration.   The stock is actually built by Innovation Design Engineering Associates, Inc. (IDEA) in Paulden, AZ.  The latter offers a "fact sheet" for those interested in learning more about their stock.

L.O.D.

Though the stocks are actually made by McMillan (as it reads, right on the stock), the design itself is unique.  Advertised as a "proprietary, fully adjustable, vertical  thumbhole stock with stainless steel pillars," the stock has made a name for itself in the tactical shooter arena amidst heavy competition from "the big boys."  I got to examine one of these stocks at the 1998 Tactical Marksman Match in Wyoming.  It was being evaluated by the Nebraska Army National Guard sniper team.  There were some complaints about the action screws not holding a torque setting in the L.O.D. stock.  To address this, some shooters had scratched an index mark across the pillars and screws after torquing the latter.  In so doing, it was easy to monitor the position of the screws once they had been properly tightened.  Members of this team who were using the stock planned to glass bed the action to see if this would stop the action screws from loosening.  Frankly, for a stock with an aluminum bedding block (sort of a "bolt it in and shoot it" concept), glass bedding shouldn't be necessary.  As of my writing this, I don't know if their "fix" worked or not.

  Makers of Custom Stocks -- for the Discriminating Shooter  

There are certainly enough stockmakers to keep any rifleman happy for years, but choosing one stock from among so many isn't easy.  The same old cliche' holds just as true when purchasing a new riflestock as it does when buying anything else -- you get what you pay for.  Purchasing a Ram-Line or an ATI/FiberForce stock will not buy you McMillan's or H-S Precision's quality.  Certainly, most of us wouldn't spend two hundred dollars on an aftermarket stock for an SKS, but it's still nice to know there are affordable synthetic stocks that can improve the handling of almost any rifle without having to empty a wallet.  Every shooter has specific needs and not every stock can address all of them.  So like anything else, you have to go shopping... but that's part of the fun.

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