Manners Composite Stocks Factory Tour
Since he expanded from working at his home, his business has grown by 30 to 40 percent every year. Within five years he had outgrown the shop and secured a larger facility. This required the laborious work of moving his mills. These were relocated on a Saturday and back up and running by Monday. Business growth has continued, and when I met with him he had just added another 4,000-square-foot building. Today he has 37 employees and runs two shifts trying to keep up with orders. Over the years, his offerings have steadily grown. Some of his biggest supporters have always been George Gardner (G.A. Precision) and Marty Bordsen (Badger Ordnance). They combined and created one of his first tactical stocks, the MCS-GAT. This stock became his first piece to be torture tested. To see just how rugged it was, he took it and put it on the arms of a chair and stood on it (USMC stock test) to try to break it. The stock shrugged off the abuse, so he used it to hit softballs, without issues. He then drove over it with a truck. When this failed to harm it, he put angle iron under each end and parked the truck on it. Despite all the abuse, it never failed and therefore the MCS-GAT caught people's attention.
Impressed, I asked him just what went into making one of his stocks, and he walked me through it. Every stock starts with a concept. This is perhaps the most important part of the entire process. It begins by finding out what shooters want. "You have to listen to the consumer, and while you can't please everyone, you need to listen to what they want," Manners said to me. Then you need to take the concept and develop it to fit most people.
Once you have the concept, then a "plug" is produced. This is the prototype, or master. The plug is tweaked and massaged until it fits properly. This then becomes what the molds are made off of. Once the plug is finished, they can begin to manufacture the actual molds. The stock then begins with an outer gel coat. Each piece of material (carbon fiber or fiberglass) is then carefully handlaid into place. Different material is weaved in a certain way to make a strong and stiff foundation. They carefully utilize the material's strengths to its advantage by how they weave it in this process. Different materials and weaves are used for different applications. Not only that, but different areas of the stock get different weaves and material. The end results are two clamshells that are put together, forming a hollow shell.
It's the attention to detail that separates a Manners stock. Note the aluminum pillar, 10-32 machined studs installed with steel T-nuts in the forend and nicely executed inletting.
While you wouldn't think so, the hollow shell ends up surprisingly robust. It actually becomes the backbone of the stock and provides the strength. So on a Manners stock the strength is in the shell and not the fill. Manners offers three different fill weights, classed as lightweight, standard and heavy. These will dictate how heavy the stock is. Other options, including lead, can be added to balance a rifle. If weight, not cost, is of primary importance, 100 percent carbon fiber may be utilized.
Impressed, I asked him just what went into making one of his stocks, and he walked me through it. Every stock starts with a concept. This is perhaps the most important part of the entire process. It begins by finding out what shooters want. "You have to listen to the consumer, and while you can't please everyone, you need to listen to what they want," Manners said to me. Then you need to take the concept and develop it to fit most people.
Once you have the concept, then a "plug" is produced. This is the prototype, or master. The plug is tweaked and massaged until it fits properly. This then becomes what the molds are made off of. Once the plug is finished, they can begin to manufacture the actual molds. The stock then begins with an outer gel coat. Each piece of material (carbon fiber or fiberglass) is then carefully handlaid into place. Different material is weaved in a certain way to make a strong and stiff foundation. They carefully utilize the material's strengths to its advantage by how they weave it in this process. Different materials and weaves are used for different applications. Not only that, but different areas of the stock get different weaves and material. The end results are two clamshells that are put together, forming a hollow shell.
It's the attention to detail that separates a Manners stock. Note the aluminum pillar, 10-32 machined studs installed with steel T-nuts in the forend and nicely executed inletting.
While you wouldn't think so, the hollow shell ends up surprisingly robust. It actually becomes the backbone of the stock and provides the strength. So on a Manners stock the strength is in the shell and not the fill. Manners offers three different fill weights, classed as lightweight, standard and heavy. These will dictate how heavy the stock is. Other options, including lead, can be added to balance a rifle. If weight, not cost, is of primary importance, 100 percent carbon fiber may be utilized.
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