Was out at Colorado Rifle Club this past Sunday doing some high power practice with a few of the local shooters. I am getting ready to head down to AZ next month for the AZ State HP Championships and I posed the question of whether my stock is legal for Hunter class. It is an H&S Precision stock and the gun does meet the weight and all other requirements. The question is... Is it legal for hunter? Does it fall in line with the Wooster and Pharr stocks that are accepted as Hunter legal? The one thing that I don't like is how far down the grip goes and I am thinking about lopping that off at an angle like the Pharr/Wooster stocks. I can only afford one HP gun so of course I am trying to squeeze everything I can out of it. We all seemed to agree that it is borderline. Personally I think that the Pharr and Wooster stocks are borderline as well.

Sorry about the poor photos.






Here are a Pharr stock, and a Wooster stock for visual comparison.

I'm currently carving this stick of wood and if I can have it done before the AZ champs then I will more than likely switch over to it, but I have a fair amount of work left to do on it. It has a sufficient grip that I can get a solid purchase on it(I have big hands), but I am giving up the cheek rest with this stock.

Your H&S Precision stock was designed by Larry Spoden and very popular in the 1980's with a lot of us. The original ones were made of fibertane a material not as strong and durable as fiberglass, then they added the aluminum bedding which made them quite heavy. I am not sure what yours is made out of or how heavy it is but It's going to be very hard for you to modify it to resemble even a Pharr or Wooster stock, the pistol grip is too large and straight compared to any of the "allowed" ones. Its a much bigger stock than all the other ones I am familiar with. I owned several H&S Spoden style stocks at one time or another and I am quite familiar with the Pharr's, Woosters and Brown Precision Hunting Rifle Silhouette stocks which as you say push the envelope as far as Hunting class stocks are concerned.
You could always ask Lee O'Neil's from Colorado or send pictures to Greg Connor if you have a concern as to the legality of the stock in a Hunting class rifle.

BTW Trent, that is a NICE looking peice of wood. does the other fit the jig is the question.

dave

Great looking wood stock Trent, heck of a job

silhouette13 wrote:BTW Trent, that is a NICE looking peice of wood. does the other fit the jig is the question.

dave

The jig is not the only determining factor as far as hunting stocks are concerned. Until a few years hunting class rifles were not put through the jig until some shooters wanting to use their hunting rifles for both classes had to have their rifles inspected as all Standard rifles are and some rifles had pushed the envelope some much with regards of how high the comb of their stocks were that the NRA decided to inspect all rifles so they would at least stay within the jig's measurements but that does not mean that we can use Standard class rifles in Hunting just because they make weight and have a two pound trigger with a safety. In rifle silhouette shooting "Hunting class" stocks like porn are hard to define but you know it when you see it. I myself do not have a problem with the stock Trent wants to use just trying to let him know what is going to happen if he shows up to a National Championship with it.

I think I am just going to try and get my wood stock finished in time and use it. I want to stay within the spirit of the game as well as being legal. I may take both stocks and switch between courses. If I do that then I could also add some lead to the H&S stock to bring it up to Standard weight.

Besides, the wood stock is prettier.

I have the original SPS stock, but am not a fan of them.

I will send it to Bill in AZ and see what his thoughts are. Even if he says he will allow it, if someone contests it... isn't it up to a "jury" to decide and could over rule his decision? I could be totally wrong on that.

Edit... should have said "Jim" in AZ... not Bill.

Trent wrote:I have the original SPS stock, but am not a fan of them.

I will send it to Bill in AZ and see what his thoughts are. Even if he says he will allow it, if someone contests it... isn't it up to a "jury" to decide and could over rule his decision? I could be totally wrong on that.

That is a good idea specially since Bill uses the left handed version of one of those H&S Precision stocks like yours on his Standard rifle.
See you next month if you are going to the AZ HP state Championships.

I think the picture of the gun at the link below was meant for hunting. It looks alot like a Pharr stock and not much like Trent's white stock.

I wonder why more people do not consider the Weatherby style Bell and Carlson Medalist stock?

http://www.fieldandstream.com/pages/win ... -works-art

Jim T. wrote:I think the picture of the gun at the link below was meant for hunting. It looks alot like a Pharr stock and not much like Trent's white stock.

I wonder why more people do not consider the Weatherby style Bell and Carlson Medalist stock?

http://www.fieldandstream.com/pages/win ... -works-art

Through out the years I have seen shooters with some really fancy looking wooden Hunting stocks. I am partial to the way the Weatherby stocks feel but have never made the effort to get one to use on one of my rifles. The closest I got was getting a H&S made out of Fibertane that I was going to use on a Sako 94 but sold the rifle and never completed the project. I may still do it if I ever get the stock back from a friend that borrowed it to copy.

Jim T, that is pretty much what my wood stock above looks like.

I received an email back from Jim H. and he said he would allow it as long as it meets the technical specs... ie weight, size and dimensions. He uses the same stock on his Standard rifle so we know it'll meet dimensional specs. He did agree that it is possible that other shooters may feel that it does not fall within the intentions of the "hunter" class regardless if it meets NRA specs.

I think I will just complete my wood stock and use that for the hunter class. I want to stay in the spirit of the game. I may take the H&S stock as well and switch between courses. I may add weight to it up to standard levels and also switch over to my Shilen trigger as well (for Standard). I'll make the decision on that once I finish the wood stock. I may end up feeling more comfortable with it, who knows.

Glad to see you may be allowed to use the stock as is. Due to the number of guns at this match there is not a lot of time allowed between the heavy and hunter start times. They open the range to hunter warm up about ten minutes after the close of heavy gun. Hunter starts up 45 minutes from the close of heavy gun. Not a lot of time to tear down a rifle, change out parts, get zeros checked and some how get some food into the boiler room. But knowing Dave, he will be right there handing you tools and feeding you bites of a sandwich , like a mother bird feeding its chick, while you are swapping out parts and tightening screws. You gotta love that guy.

Quit chasing your wife around for a few days and get that stock done. The one gun idea is the way to go.

Ok, you are right. One gun. That sounds like a pain in the ass (swapping).

Trent wrote: Here are a Pharr stock. . .

Wow, what a nice gun!