I’ve been working on this rifle for over two years now. In a two-week time span, I found two stocks: one that I could live with and one that I had to have. While I tried cancelling the former, both stocks arrived on my door step a day apart. While I could easily send the lesser of the two stocks back, I decided I could put it to good use. And so, Project Elk Slayer was born. . .

In my possession is a Hogue Pillar-bed Overmold Ghillie Tan stock and an OEM Remington LS black-laminate stock with factory R3 pad installed. I must admit that the Hogue stock is pretty impressive—considering the price. It’s relatively stiff, offers good contact with the action, has thick pillars, and the fit is great. [Said the actress to the Bishop.]

It’s also quiet and comes complete with a half-way decent recoil pad (although not as good as the R3’s). I can certainly appreciate the grip’s “tackiness” for situations where the rule “no glove no love” applies.

But my heart lies with the black laminated OEM stock. It’s as gorgeous as Marisa Miller in a sweat lodge, has a nice comb, and did I mention that it’s gorgeous? It feels good, points well, has nice checkering, and the OEM R3 pad is fantastic. The stock is accurate enough, but is it as good as the pillar-bedded Hogue?

Well, let’s see then! I’m going to shoot the 7mm Rem Mag with the factory LS stock, then again after pillar bedding and skimming. I’ll then compare these two results to the Hogue stock and see where we stand.

Is there a big difference between a $100 stock and one that’s been accurized? Is accurizing worth it or is that money better spent on more practice ammo (this is a hunting rifle after all)?

Watch this space.

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13 COMMENTS

  1. I look forward to reading about your results. Are you going to have any work done to the action, chamber, etc?

    • Other than having the chamber and barrel inspected, and the whole package refinished, nothing else has or will be done. Although I won’t be testing it along with the other stocks, I did try a cheapo SPS stock that I bought off of eBay. With that setup, the rifle was still able to hold down 2″ groups with Federal 150-grain hunting ammo.

  3. I have two 700 BDL’s. One is a 24″ .260 with the factory wood unbedded, one is a 26″ Sendero in .264 Win Mag with the factory synthetic with full length bedding blocks. Both made in the same year. Both have the same factory X Mark trigger. The Sendero shoots a little under 1 MOA, the .260 shoots about 1.25 with the same glass & bullet. This seems to be consistent across various weights/brands of bullet as well. I’ve always been tempted to buy an identical synthetic stock for the .260, but $300 always seemed a little pricey just to sate my curiosity..

  4. Wasn’t “Elk Slayer “the chief of the Fuggowie tribe? What did he ever do to deserve such a gorgeous rifle?

  5. Patrick,
    Appreciate the pic of our Acraglas Gel! I’ll be following the project. Always good to experiement. Please send me a private email.

    Larry Weeks

  6. I am looking forward to the results, as I am looking at replacing my Remmy 700 SPS stock. I have some grouping issues that I want to blame on the uneven pressure that is applied to the barrel by the forend of the fairly flimsy factory furniture(sorry). I have been looking at some of the full length aluminum bedding systems and I like everything about them but the price, my wally world combo was 430 OTD. I like the idea of pillar/glass bedding a nice factory laminate stock. Great subject matter, keep us posted.

    Just for those that are interested, I have attached a link for a guy that successfully bedded a factory Remmy SPS stock. It is loooong but from what I saw the guy did an excellent job and had great results. http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=55352

    • I thought about bedding an OEM SPS stock, but after getting the taste of vomit out of my mouth, I decided against it. Bedding that piece of Tupperware is like putting a 350 LS1 crate engine inside a Honda Civic. Sure, it sounds cool but in the end it is just silly. The Hogue and OEM stock are just under $150 (closer to $100 when you use a 5% coupon code and free shipping – thanks to my couponaholic wife). Much better platform to start on than a stock that my 4-year old girl can bend in half!

  7. I was intending the bed a new laminate stocked .270 Ruger Hawkeye last year but after it consistently shot MOA or less with my moderate ability, I decided to leave well alone.
    Of course my ability to transfer anything sticky onto things it was never intended for had nothing to do with the decision…:-)

    • Truth be told, with the cheap SPS stock this particular rifle is about a 2-MOA shooter, perhaps slightly better (I had troubles at my old range with wind). I often argue with people about what a hunting rifle “needs” to be in terms of accuracy. Even at 2-MOA, my guess is that this rifle would serve approximately 80% of the hunters in this country and Canada. Not every rifle needs to be a clover-leaf maker. Of course, that isn’t what this project is about – it’s about seeing whether or not pillar bedding and skimming makes a difference in an average hunting rifle.

      I agree with your move though – with an already sub-MOA shooter, I wouldn’t waste my time and possibly run the risk of messing up an already good shooter. However, if it was accurate but had a lot of errant fliers, then I would consider bedding.

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