Starting a new business making laminated stocks

[dorg]

I am thinking of starting a new business making laminated rifles stocks. These could be either fully finishes and inletted into your rifle ,ready to go, or something similar to richards micro fit rough sanded for you to finish, They would be available in all usual action inlets along with adjustable butt pads and cheekpieces. What i would like to know is, is there a market for this here and how much would you be willing to pay for such things. Would this be a viable business in the uk and how many of you would be interested if I were to go ahead.Your thoughts please

[taylor]

i love laminate stocks and would like to see the styles you have i have just built 2 rifles on laminates this month their from the usa

precision rifle and tool f-class low rider stocks ,there not cheep

i would say their is a market for some nice wood stocks

[baldie]

There is without a doubt a ready market in the UK for all manner of styles. You will quickly find the brick wall here, is the cost of the laminate, and the cost of having it shipped here. Virtually all the worlds laminate comes from either the states or the scandinavian countries i believe.

 

Dont let that put you off though buddy, have a look at it. I believe this is the main reason why Customstock [near me in Sheffield ] have never gone down the laminate route. They make stocks for airguns, a lot of the worlds rifle manufacturers too. The walnut thumbhole stocks on the Anschutz 14/16 are made by them.

 

Good luck.

[brown dog]

Always liked the look of this fellow's laminate A5: http://russoriflestocks.com/Stock_Styles.html

 

Would be great to see something like that in UK.

[1967spud]

i wouldnt want to pay no more than 300 quid for an uninletted un finished stock dorg

 

 

 

edited as i meant 300 not 500

[TonyH]

i wouldnt want to pay no more than 500 quid for an uninletted un finished stock dorg

 

Gasp! Splutter! Five hundred squids for a stock? Un-inletted and unfinished? I suppose MacMillans are a lot more expensive now than when I got one in the '90s but hell's teeth, I wouldn't dream of paying that much. Next time I'm trans-Atlantic (planning another groundhog hunt for 2012) I might bring back a stock, especially if £500 is anything like a typical UK price. I'm sure damn good ones can be had Stateside for far less.

Tony

[dannywayoflife]

I think there would be a Market for them at a competitive price. I think the ones from the guy that supplies the ones from Richards microfit over here are around 250 unfinished but inletted. I love lamminate I think they feel much more tactile than synthetic!

[Scotch_egg]

You would really need to be offering something different from the richards because you can get them better than £250 when buying direct.

 

 

Along the lines of a tracker and bench stocks is what is really needed. There are also the likes of Garry Cane in the UK.

[The Gun Pimp]

Dorg,

 

 

 

We have actions from Valkyrie and GBR and a couple of others. We have barrels from Border plus a few are constantly importing from the US - Foxy must have over a hundred blanks in stock. A reliable supply of stocks would be awesome. Rifles could be built in weeks rather than months.

 

There will be problems but the laminate is available from Scandinavia - I was talking to a supplier at IWA. A lot of blanks are quite short 34 inches - try and source some longer stuff - the Precision Rifles Sales are 38 inches. Buy long laminate - it can always be shortened - but not the other way round!

 

Also, I think most 'smiths would be haapy to have them un-inletted.

 

Vince

[dorg]

I am currently talking to the laminate suppliers the material ain't cheap but doable. Gary cane is quire close to me and makes a superb stock. I am thinking a rough sanded stock would be certainly no more than £250 going up depending on adjustable bits. Luckily I am a time served cabinetmaker and run a kitchen making business at the minute so a stock making operation would fit in to the existing business quite well.I can undestand why Customstock don't make laminated stocks for the trade as you are right the material is to expensive for that.I do strongly believe we as a country will soon need to be self sufficient for our rifle components the way things are going. thanks for your responces.

[taylor]

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this is the stocks from precision rifle and tool

[Scotch_egg]

[Scotch_egg]

[Scotch_egg]

[taylor]

cheers scotch-egg

not verry good with uplaoding pics lol

[Scotch_egg]

Grant got your pics to work

[taylor]

a stock like this costs over $900 semi -inletted with all the hardware ,you still need to finish inlet and sand and laqure and bed

as i said their not cheap but i love them well worth it in my view ,it tracks like its on rails

[dannyt]

Go for it Dorg , the market is there and you have all the skills at hand ,Build it up steady and right. there is no reason why you cant make your own laminate as well when you get the supply sorted .

[David Hancock]

Dorg, if you look at the price of the new Tikka T3 Sporter at £1640 there's approx £700 of that in a laminated stock I reckon. I would pay £500 - £600 for a finished stock which would 1 - give my rifle a unique character and 2 - fits like a glove. The trick is how you position your "brand" in the market and your reputation for delivering a superb quality product. Keep us posted. All the best. David.

[1967spud]

DORG do me one and ill put it on my next build

[TonyH]

You guys are still talking silly money! Sorry, but being prepared to shell out absurdly large amounts of cash does not make your rifle a super weapon nor you an ace shot. It isn't necessary. In the States you can get a top varmint-rifle stock from excellent suppliers such as MacMillan or Manners for well under $500, and if you're prepared to buy a cheaper product then rework or refinish it yourself, you can get a decent product for $300 or less. Even allowing for the absurdities caused by Uncle Sam's paranoid export policies, plus shipping, plus the government protection-racket ripoff VAT & import duty, you don't have to pay the price of a working small car just for a bleedin' stock. Get a friend to ship you a stock, go on holiday and buy it yourself, ask a business you know that deals with the US to get a stock shoved into its next containerload, whatever... Or make one yourself. but spending the kind of sums mentioned above just for a stock seems unwise. I like good-looking rifles, and good kit, but there's a limit imposed by common sense. Just my two groats' worth...

Tony

[taylor]

thier is nothing wrong with spending your hard erned cash on somthing nice

[TonyH]

thier is nothing wrong with spending your hard erned cash on somthing nice

 

Of course there isn't. My wife's just shelled out around £600 on rail fares for her and our son to do a triangular trip France-Germany-UK, some of it First Class, a bit of "something nice" spending. My point is that IMO paying unnecessarily huge sums for a stock, when the items themselves are not inherently high value (as demonstrated by what they cost in the US for example) is a bit odd. Stock prices here seem distinctly inflated, and ISTM there's an unhealthy sort of one-upmanship in showing that one is happy to spend far more than necessary simply for a rifle stock. It's the Emperor's New Clothes effect... £500 buys an air fare for a foreign hunting trip, or pays for a pretty good s/h rifle, or a new set of tyres......etc. Of course, for anyone with money to burn these considerations are trivial!

Tony

[Scotch_egg]

The stock that Grant has posted pics of has also got the metal work to go with the price.

 

 

You have to add the VAT to anything to make a realistic comparison, not every one can avoid it.

[1967spud]

Nice stock, that stock was a consideration for my shehane but i went with the robertsons instead, which insedently is now in the uk although ive not seen it yet, but will hiopefully change that by the end of the day and that cost a bag of sand roughly ouch!!