My M40 style walnut stock.

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Minuteman
  • Oct 11, 2013
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    For anyone else interested in doing a semi close M40 clone, here's the stock I just sourced. I had approached Boyd's gunstocks in March of this year to see if they could make a plain walnut stock for a heavy barrel 700 and they said they could. In a few weeks they told me it's now available so I ordered one.
    Now, normally I'm a purist for certain projects but for this, the scope was already going to be different (I went old school steel weaver t-10 refurbished with mil dot reticle & nitrogen fill for this build) so I thought what the heck, close enough is ok for me for this project.

    I totally understand all the differences between this stock and the real deal, but I'm not paying 500-900 for a wood stock, sorry. In my opinion no wood stocks worth over 300 dollars. I can get an HS Precision for 269 and be much better off. Amongst the obvious differences are the finish (this one came much nicer than the factory M40, but they come unfinished as well), the two black dots on the side, (I'm assuming they're crossbolts for strength?) the nicer buttpad, slightly different pistol grip geometry, and the comb's pointed at a slight downwards angle whereas the real deal is more parallel to the ground.
    Though for 187 (that's with the slightly thinner buttpad) this is a decent substitute made out of super nice walnut. This is drop in ready, not "95%" (which equals to roughly 80% in the real world, that's been my luck in the past with stocks) The barrel channel is the standard issue civilian heavy barrel 700 that you see being sold today. You would need to enlarge it if you're running a true heavy barrel like the M24. (this comes with sling swivels installed but I took them out to throw more stain on this)

    For a good enough old school M40 style rifle this will do good enough in my opinion. If you sourced a truly old school buttplate in the past I suppose you could get this stock for a tad cheaper if you told them you don't want it with any pad. Getting it unfinished is I think 10 dollars more because of the labor involved in "taking it off of the line" before finishing. In retrospect I should have gotten this unfinished because I have my own way of finishing wood.
    All in all I'm pretty happy.
     

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    i understand we all got make money last now days i just paid $80 for a reproduction sniper cheek piece for a no 4 mk1 enfield; even worse get a scop good luck on your project
     
    I used a Boyd’s walnut stock on my 6.5x47. Nothing wrong with them at all. As a carpenter I have an affinity for wooden stocks. I got the unfinished option and finished it myself with several layers of tung oil and wax. Nice matte finish and feels really nice in hand. I bedded the rifle as well and it’s a great shooter. For a budget minded option they are great sticks.
     
    For anyone else interested in doing a semi close M40 clone, here's the stock I just sourced. I had approached Boyd's gunstocks in March of this year to see if they could make a plain walnut stock for a heavy barrel 700 and they said they could. In a few weeks they told me it's now available so I ordered one.
    Now, normally I'm a purist for certain projects but for this, the scope was already going to be different (I went old school steel weaver t-10 refurbished with mil dot reticle & nitrogen fill for this build) so I thought what the heck, close enough is ok for me for this project.

    I totally understand all the differences between this stock and the real deal, but I'm not paying 500-900 for a wood stock, sorry. In my opinion no wood stocks worth over 300 dollars. I can get an HS Precision for 269 and be much better off. Amongst the obvious differences are the finish (this one came much nicer than the factory M40, but they come unfinished as well), the two black dots on the side, (I'm assuming they're crossbolts for strength?) the nicer buttpad, slightly different pistol grip geometry, and the comb's pointed at a slight downwards angle whereas the real deal is more parallel to the ground.
    Though for 187 (that's with the slightly thinner buttpad) this is a decent substitute made out of super nice walnut. This is drop in ready, not "95%" (which equals to roughly 80% in the real world, that's been my luck in the past with stocks) The barrel channel is the standard issue civilian heavy barrel 700 that you see being sold today. You would need to enlarge it if you're running a true heavy barrel like the M24. (this comes with sling swivels installed but I took them out to throw more stain on this)

    For a good enough old school M40 style rifle this will do good enough in my opinion. If you sourced a truly old school buttplate in the past I suppose you could get this stock for a tad cheaper if you told them you don't want it with any pad. Getting it unfinished is I think 10 dollars more because of the labor involved in "taking it off of the line" before finishing. In retrospect I should have gotten this unfinished because I have my own way of finishing wood.
    All in all I'm pretty happy.
    That is a good looking stock. It would certainly pass a distance test for an M40, except for the buttplate.

    Buttplates aren't that much. Unless you are looking for an original. I don't know exactly which one they used. Not sure if it's one of the later 722 or early 700 aluminum plates.

    That said, they'll put a not-so nice bite on you if you're not in a good shooting position. A lot less forgiving on your shoulder than what you have. Keep us posted how your project comes along. I'm in the middle of one myself and I bought a $200 stock which is slowly (emphasis on slow) getting let in for my version of an M40 trainer. It's gonna be in .243. I already have too many .308's.
     
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    Yea I agree, while I'm a tad thicker than I was when I shot rifles every week (in the service) I'm still not a big guy, and shooting 762 all day with a plastic buttpad can start to suck. Which is why I'm going to build this in 6.5 CM lol, and opted for their "nicer" buttpad. The scope's currently in line at Iron Sight getting refurbed; all I need now is the barreled action, and what sucks is before everyone and their brother just HAVE TO have SOME sort of wizbang on their muzzle, I could get standard 24" barreled actions all day without the tactical swat ninja muzzle threading lol. Now I can't find CRAP without a threaded muzzle and cap lol. Just my luck. While it's true, shooting with suppressors and muzzle brakes can help with sound and recoil, still 99 % of people don't use that stuff because it's either too cost prohibitive, or they actually value their friends and dont use muzzle breaks lol. You can't reverse muzzle threading but you can always have one threaded. I say sell the barreled actions with no threads and give us a choice :)
    Can't believe the line at Iron sight is 3-4 months lol. I mean, who's shooting 50 year old scopes these days?
     
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    Good looking stock.

    You will appreciate the rubber BP.

    Ive taken my M40 to classes firing a goodly amount of ammo and that light a rifle will wear you out at the end of the day when wearing the aluminum BP.

    20-30 rounds no problem but 70-100 your abilities will suffer.

    Im getting an M40esque rifle built at LRI now using a cheapo wood stock with nice grain I got off Ebay.

    One of the biggest things Im second guessing is that it wears an aluminum BP.
     
    Im most interested in your experience having a mil dot reticle installed in your T-10.

    I think the T-10 is a great scope it can only be made better with a mil reticle in my mind.

    How did that experience go for you?

    Love to get a mil reticle in a glossy Redfield.
     
    wasn't aware you could approach Boyds direct like that. I'll have to try that when im ready too. You mentioned other more expensive stock? is anyone making a direct clone copy of a wood M40 stock ?
     
    Im most interested in your experience having a mil dot reticle installed in your T-10.

    I think the T-10 is a great scope it can only be made better with a mil reticle in my mind.

    How did that experience go for you?

    Love to get a mil reticle in a glossy Redfield.

    Sorry, missed this question. It was a long wait but they did a nice job. He raves about the reliability and consistency of these scopes so I decided to give them a try. He says him and his buddys still shoot matches and do fairly well with the old T10s. His prices are really fair too. I'm happy.
    Like with anything, get those old scopes while you still can, and send them in now, because I have a baaaad habit of being really happy with something and then it disappearing. Trust me, this guys going to retire soon watch. I'm currently looking for another scope for a future build just so I can get it in there before he up and retires.
     
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    Sorry, missed this question. It was a long wait but they did a nice job. He raves about the reliability and consistency of these scopes so I decided to give them a try. He says him and his buddys still shoot matches and do fairly well with the old T10s. His prices are really fair too. I'm happy.
    Like with anything, get those old scopes while you still can, and send them in now, because I have a baaaad habit of being really happy with something and then it disappearing. Trust me, this guys going to retire soon watch. I'm currently looking for another scope for a future build just so I can get it in there before he up and retires.

    I will contact today if I can.
     
    ive often thought about building an m40 repo ... and ive often regretted missing out on the limited run of rem 700 m40 commemoratives. then when i start putting things together for actual use hunting or at the range, i end up with a 700 classic or a 700P, both of which i already have. 🤷‍♂️