When all is said and done, Layne prefers to hunt with a rifle wearing a nice walnut stock, like this .416 Rigby built during the 1980s by the original Kimber of Oregon.

Anytime weight is not an issue, I will choose laminated wood over synthetic simply because I prefer the way it looks and feels. It is also about as stable as a synthetic when subjected to wet-weather hunting conditions. One reason for this is the glue used to bond the layers of wood together under high pressure actually fills the pores of the wood with an inert material, thereby preventing the wood from absorbing moisture. Just as important, the grain flow of each layer of wood is oriented in a different direction than the one below it, and this prevents warping. It is also why a laminated stock is quite a bit stronger than a one-piece wood stock, and this is especially important at the grip since that's where a wood stock is most likely to break.

When hollow wood cells are filled by a solid material, weight will increase. This seldom matters on a varmint rifle, and it is not an issue on big-game rifles used for sitting rather than walking, but laminated wood is not the way to go if your goal is to trim ounces from Old Betsy. I have not done a lot of weight comparisons of the same style stocks made of both materials, but my educated guess is a laminated stock will weigh anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 pound more than a one-piece wood stock of the same size and shape. A laminated stock worn by a Model 700 in .375 Ultra Mag in my battery weighs 44 ounces versus 39 ounces for a one-piece stock of the same style on another Model 700.

Most laminated wood stocks made today are heavier than they have to be simply because manufacturers seem unable to catch on to the fact that their great strength would allow a reduction in weight simply by slimming them down to smaller dimensions. Put another way, top-quality laminated stocks are strong enough to be a lot lighter than they are. What the world needs is not another color of laminated wood stock--brown is all we need--but dimensional copies of lightweight stocks such as those worn by the Remington Model 700 Mountain Rifle and the Winchester Model 70 Featherweight.

Synthetic Stocks
Riflestocks made of synthetic materials have been around for quite a long time, and some of the first to appear on sporting arms left a bit to be desired. The plastic buttstock of a Savage Model 24 owned by a boyhood chum of mine during the 1950s shattered into several pieces one frosty morning when he dropped it on a rock. A big leap forward in both quality and durability came with the arrival of Remington's Nylon 66 rifle in 1959. Except for its barrel and a few small parts in its action, such as the extractor and firing pin, the entire rifle was made of nylon Zytel-101 resin, which proved to be all but indestructible.

Then during the 1970s, a couple of stockmakers who just happened to be benchrest shooters borrowed an idea from the pleasure-boat-manufacturing industry and started making stocks composed of layers of fiberglass fabric bonded together by epoxy resin. The fiberglass stock caught on quickly among benchrest competitors for a couple of reasons: It was more stable than wood during changes in climatic conditions, and because it was lighter, it allowed a heavier barrel to be used without exceeding class weight restrictions.