Thrash a nice wood stock hunting?

My stock is the Browning Medallion which I'd call a High Gloss. Not sure how to touch up high gloss.... Or if the years of use would take the gloss away. I'm definitely not going to strip it and oil it to make it "not gloss"

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Leave the stock in the safe or closet and buy a aftermarket one.
I have done that with some so that I don't mess up the wood stock.
 
Leave the stock in the safe or closet and buy a aftermarket one.
I have done that with some so that I don't mess up the wood stock.

What's the point of buying a rifle in a nice wood stock just to pull it off and stick it in the back of a closet to collect dust? Use it and enjoy it. Wood stocks wouldn't have been used as long as they have and continue to be used if they were as fragile as some people make them to be.

I've got my grandpas 1965 Wingmaster that he hunted with every year several times a week during season for small game and deer and used for pest control the rest of the year and shot clays for 50 years and the wood on that thing is still excellent. Wood is not fragile, and pulling a nice piece of wood off is lame.
 
My dad taught me that a firearm is a precision instrument and treated as such. When I hunt with one of my walnut stocked rifles, or shotguns I transport it in its case and I take extra care to avoid dings and scrapes. Sometimes they happen anyway, but nothing damaging, just character marks. It just takes paying attention to what you're doing and respecting the tool. That being said, I'd probably not take a fine walnut stocked rifle on a rocky sheep hunt. I have a CF stock rifle that would go on that hunt. If it gets scuffed, I do a paint touch-up... easy-peasy. I never understood folks that throw their guns around like a shovel, or rake, so after four or five seasons they look like they were used in a war. A firearm is a precision tool, so take care of it and it will take care of you.
 
My old Model 88 Win warped so badly in the fore end, by the time I opened it up enough eliminate the seasonal changes….I could have placed a "bull barrel" in the channel and never touch the sides!

Should've "chiseled" a trough in the fore end, epoxy a SS piece of square tubing in it, then full-length bedded it.

But, I was just a kid learning by trial and error ……lots of error! 😜memtb
Yep those Winchester Model 88's and 100's have a stock that's pretty thin in few areas but after 50 years of deer hunting, they still can be sanded and finished, to look new in a weekend. The Cabela and Scheel's used to have a more than a couple, on as is alley rack most any day. Sadly with GB and the interlinks they aint $250 bucks any more.
 
I don't have safe queens, all of my rifles, some costing as much as $10,000 have been hunted with, handed around and used as intended.
I still do not know how to post videos here, but here's some of my wooden stocks.
 

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I guess that I'm a bit different than many folks. That should surprise no one! 😜

I like quality tools, they need not be pretty….just quality and effective for their designed purpose. I see a "hunting rifle" as a tool….I want quality/reliability/practicality over appearance!

I was and to some degree am still a "poor boy", and apparently I don't appreciate the arts as much as I should. If I were offered the Mona Lisa as a gift with the condition that I must display it in a prominent location in my home….I would respectfully decline! 🤔

But……that's just me! 😉 memtb
 
My stock is the Browning Medallion which I'd call a High Gloss. Not sure how to touch up high gloss.... Or if the years of use would take the gloss away. I'm definitely not going to strip it and oil it to make it "not gloss"

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Here's a safe queen unless you have deep pockets.
 
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This is my grandfather and uncle about 1950's ish.....that model 11 Rem was already banged up then. Would appear however that it still shot.

Kodachrome side, BTW.

Wish I knew where my uncle's hammer double got to...

Both are long gone -- my grandfather did not smile much except with a good hand of cards. Uncle smiled probably on the day he died......
 
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This is my grandfather and uncle about 1950's ish.....that model 11 Rem was already banged up then. Would appear however that it still shot.

Kodachrome side, BTW.

Wish I knew where my uncle's hammer double got to...

Both are long gone -- my grandfather did not smile much except with a good hand of cards. Uncle smiled probably on the day he died......
I would call that picture a TREASURE!
 
You look at a gun a lot more than you shoot it. Most of my guns are walnut with nice to great figure and blued because they are far prettier to look at. I have one synthetic SS shotgun for hunting in REALLY nasty weather or salt water, and 2 synthetic SS rifles for the same reason. Even these I take care to clean stem to stern as soon as possible after each use in bad weather.

Outside that extreme use case, I hunt with the wood stocked rifles. Have one that I got new over 50 years ago, has seen many miles and many kills, still in very nice shape. Like a few others have said, I take good care of all my gear. No reason to have vehicles, guns, binos, or anything else that has been beat to crap. I don't and never have owned a "beater" gun. Any I brought that were rough I fixed up to look like new.

It really isn't hard to take good care of stuff.
 
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