The most stable of stocks are laid-up fiberglass and laminated wood. Excellent examples of each are McMillan's Hunters Edge (above, top) and Boyds' JRS Classic.

Of the two types of synthetic stocks--laid-up fiberglass and injection-molded polymers--the former makes a better gun stock. Laid-up stocks are stiffer, stronger, and lighter, but on the debit side they are more expensive and lack aesthetic qualities like the warmth and feel of real wood. They feel...well, hollow and toy-like, but make no mistake: From all practical and functional aspects the laid-up fiberglass stock is far superior to wood.

They are dimensionally stable far in excess of any temperatures, hot or cold, that can be experienced anywhere on earth. The first production rifles to be offered with laid-up fiberglass stocks were Weatherby and Sako.

There is one noteworthy variation to the laid-up stock, and it was pioneered by H-S Precision back in the mid-1980s when the company was developing a stock for the Army's M24 sniper rifle. Instead of the bedding surfaces being machined or impress-molded, the stock is laid up around a hardened aluminum chassis that is precision machined to match the receiver. H-S is the only company to my knowledge to guarantee half-minute accuracy with its Model 2000 rifles, so they obviously have a lot of faith in their bedding system. Other companies have since introduced their own versions of the bedding block system.

As for injection-molded stocks, they can be quite good, depending on the specific polymer used and the mold design, which has a lot to do with overall stiffness. Once companies amortize the relatively high cost of the mold--around $50,000 on average--stocks can be spit out for a couple of buck apiece. An injection-molded stock can duplicate to the last detail the most exquisite stock ever crafted; it just depends on the model from which the mold is made.

On the downside, injection-molded polymer stocks are not thermally stable. By that I mean they expand in high temperatures and shrink in cold temperatures. They get flabby in hot desert climes and stiffen in cold climates, to the point where they can become brittle at temperatures of 40 below. Because bedding dynamics are affected by temperature extremes, accuracy and stability of zero can change.

Last to appear on the scene was the wood laminate. Actually, the idea of gluing thin veneers of wood together for a stronger, more stable product is not new. The Germans began using laminates for their 98 Mausers when in the rush to re-arm suitable wood became scarce. Today laminates are used for all sorts of applications, including support beams for house construction.

The age of the wood laminate began in 1986 when Ruger, Savage, Thompson/Center and U.S. Repeating Arms and all showed examples of their guns set into stocks comprised of green, brown and black veneers. Because the individual layers were so thin and of alternating color, the visual impact was quite striking, resembling the contour map-like effect you'd get with a conventional walnut stock slab sawed so as to expose the tree's annual layers at acute angles. It was all the work of one man: Jack Barrett of the Rutland Plywood Corp., who perfected gun-quality laminates using white birch. Barrett convinced the four manufacturers to turn a few stocks using his blanks and display them at the 1986 SHOT Show. Back then the industry was a lot more conservative than it is now, and a lot of folks were taken aback at the sight of these stocks. But a lot of folks weren't, enough so that all four gun makers added a laminate to their lines that year. The rest is pretty much history. Today, laminated wood stocks can be found in the lines of almost every production rifle manufacturer both here and abroad. Wood laminates are extremely stable because each veneer's grain structure is oriented differently from its neighbor, thus negating any tendency to warp in any one direction. With each layer being separated by a micro-thin layer of epoxy, the stock is highly resistant to moisture. With any kind of protective finish at all, it is virtually inert. For those who like laminates, the color combinations are endless. Boyds', for example, offer stocks in 15 color combinations ranging from conservative all-brown to flashy multi-color jobs. Also, because laminates are indeed wood, they have that warmth of wood that feels so good in the hands and against the cheek. On the downside, though, is the fact that a laminated stock weighs five to six ounces more than an identical stock in walnut. Because laminates are so strong, however, they can be cored out in the butt section and a mortise cut along the bottom of the barrel channel, thus shedding the excess weight. I guess what it really boils down to is that there several materials that are both suitable and practical for stocking a rifle, but they're not equal. Some are more efficient than others; some lighter than others; some less expensive than others, and some are more pleasing aesthetically. Choosing among the options can be difficult, depending on our priorities, but at least we have a choice.

Back in the mid-1960s, when laid-up fiberglass stocks were still in their infancy, I had already embraced wood laminates over conventional one-piece stocks. In those days laminates were available only as semi-inletted blanks from firms like Herter's, E. C. Bishop & Sons, and Reinhart Fajen.

Unlike today's laminated stocks which are comprised of 1/16-inch veneers, in the "old days" the slabs were 5/16ths thick and of alternating blonde maple and dark brown walnut. They were pretty gaudy looking.