Laminated stocks are strong enough to be a lot lighter than their manufacturers tend to make them. Due to its trimness, the stock at left on an Alpha Arms Grand Slam weighs 6 ounces less than the stock on the Remington Model 700 next to it. The Remington Model 600 Magnum introduced the laminated stock to American hunters in 1966, and today laminated stocks come in many colors, such as the one from Boyds’ on a Ruger 10/22.

Before long, shops that pioneered the synthetic stock for target rifles began producing lighter versions for big-game rifles, but it took awhile before they managed to win the hearts of hunters. Not long after they became available, I installed one on a Remington Model 700 barreled action in 7mm Magnum, and most other hunters who saw it turned up their noses in disapproval. I'll have to admit the stock was more homely than a fence post, and on a winter day, it felt as cold as a witch's heart, but it accomplished what I was after: trimming weight from my then-favorite elk rifle.

When it came to being first to offer a big-game rifle with a fiberglass stock, Weatherby beat everyone to the punch by introducing the Fibermark version of the Mark V rifle in l983. Soon thereafter, other companies saw the handwriting on the wall and hopped aboard the synthetic-stock bandwagon. Now, the number of rifles with synthetic stocks sold each year outnumbers those wearing wood.

Synthetic stocks are made of many materials, including fiberglass, carbon fiber, Kevlar, Fiberthane, Carbolite, and probably a few others I have never heard of. One of the more common methods used to make them is injection molding. The one big advantage to this type of stock is that it is less expensive than stocks manufactured in other ways.

Some of the early stocks had a tendency to warp when subjected to extremely high temperature--as when stored inside the cab of a pickup truck during the heat of summer--but the better ones made today do not seem to have this problem. Aesthetically, all synthetic stocks leave a bit to be desired when compared to stocks made of wood, and of the synthetics, the injection-molded stock is usually the least appealing of all.

A few stocks are made of a mixture of polyurethane foam and glass fibers, and even though they are commonly reinforced in certain areas by the insertion of aluminum tubing, they are not considered to be as strong as those made by enclosing a foam core with layers of fiberglass fabric. Stronger yet is a stock made totally of layers of glass cloth saturated and bonded together with epoxy. Laying up the latter type of stock is quite labor-intensive, and for this reason it is often the most expensive.

Whether or not any of this really matters depends on how a rifle is to be used. The fellow who hunts only a few days each year and does not subject his rifle to a lot of abuse can get along quite nicely with a rifle wearing an inexpensive injection-molded stock. On the other hand, if maximum strength and stability are important, a fiberglass stock is worth its higher cost.