1: Riflestock Inc. Custom Remington Model 700 2: Browning A-Bolt Ti 3: Custom Remington Model 700 with McMillan Hunter Class Stock 4: Weatherby Mark V with McMillan Stock

Synthetic stocks come in many colors, and while black is the most popular with camo in second place, my favorite for a big-game rifle is the wood-grain finish from McMillan. On varmint rifles, I become a bit less conservative and have been known to bump off a prairie dog or two with a rifle painted fire-engine red.

It is commonly assumed that just because a particular stock is made of a synthetic material, it is lighter than a wood stock, but this it not always true. Some can weigh as much as 3 pounds. But a synthetic stock can be incredibly light. The lightest one I own is worn by a custom rifle in 6.5 STW built by Rifles Inc. on a Remington Model 700 action. The stock weighs only 15.75 ounces, and that includes a recoil pad, steel sling-swivel posts, and aluminum bedding pillars. Total weight of the rifle will vary depending on which scope it happens to be wearing, but it is usually no more than 6.25 pounds.

Drop-in stocks are available from a number of sources, and while nothing more than a screwdriver is required to install one on a barreled action, the job does not always end there if top accuracy is the goal. I have seen accuracy improve when factory wood is replaced with aftermarket synthetic, but I have also seen it get worse. This is due to the fact that bedding area dimensions of mass-produced stocks are generous enough to work with all rifles, making them a close fit with some rifles but far too generous with others. So, regardless of what the manufacturer's sales pitch has to say, it is quite possible that the receiver of a rifle will have to be glass-bedded into the stock before it will reach its true accuracy potential. This, by the way, applies to any stock, regardless of the material from which it is made. Bedding kits available from MidwayUSA and Brownells are inexpensive and easy to use. For more on the benefits of bedding, be sure to read our Shooting Editor's column on page 22.--Eds.

Perhaps the biggest appeal of a synthetic stock is that damaging it in the field is not guaranteed to break your heart. This is why some hunters have two properly bedded stocks for their favorite rifle; most of the time they stick with wood, but when the going promises to get wet and dirty, they switch to synthetic.

Wood, Version 2.0
A new type of stock available from S&K Industries allows us to have our cake and eat it too. It has the look and feel of fine walnut--because that's what it mainly is--but its method of construction makes it stronger and more stable than walnut in its natural state.