New stock for the old A-Bolt

Kilo Charlie

Kilo Charlie

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Super GunNutz
Rating - 99.5%
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Location
Yellowknife, NWT
My go-to hunting rifle since 1993 has been my A-Bolt Hunter in .280 Remington. I always liked most of the features about the rifle, but always found the stock wanting a bit. Hard recoil pad, squarish forend, panel checkering instead of wraparound....not to mention I have seriously scuffed and scratched that original Miroku stock over the last two decades.
So this year I decided to splash out on a better stock for the old darlin'. Just got it from Boyd's this week. I wanted wraparound checkering, preferably in a fleur-de-lis pattern. Also a black forend cap and a grip cap. In decent walnut.So, out with the old.......



And in with the new.



It shoulders nicely and the forend feels great for grip. I am a little disappointed by the quality of the finish; I think the grain could have been filled better. And I spent considerably extra for the XX Claro walnut, so I would have liked to see a bit more figure. But all in all, it looks and feels good. Now I have to see how she shoots. One reason I've kept this rifle is its dependable accuracy; it is a reliable MOA shooter.
 
That looks really sharp. I thought about a new stock for my a-bolt micro medallion, I like the fleur-de li pattern as well. My rifle is the ballistic twin of yours, its a 284 win. Your rifle looks great Kilo, enjoy. cheers pete.
 
pete dobinson said:
That looks really sharp. I thought about a new stock for my a-bolt micro medallion, I like the fleur-de li pattern as well. My rifle is the ballistic twin of yours, its a 284 win. Your rifle looks great Kilo, enjoy. cheers pete.
Click to expand...

Pete, the Platinum stock has fleur-de-lis wraparound, which I prefer to panel checkering. Their other common stocks, the Classic, Prairie Hunter and Heritage have smaller, flatter forends and panels. This stock, as is, in standard walnut would be about $235 US, taxes in, shipped. I parted with an extra $179.00 US for the double-upgrade to XX Claro. Still, a pretty nice stock for around $435.00 US, delivered. Coincidentally, I paid exactly $500.00 for the rifle new in 1993, LOL!
 
Boyds seems to have a good thing going these days. Good product for the avg guy not doing a high end rifle, but they do offer enough custom features to keep it interesting. I've had a couple and like them both.
 
Very nice! That upgrade was well worth the price, it not only improved the rifle's appearance, but with the more open pistol grip angle, I'm sure handling will be improved as well. Providing due attention was paid to bedding, accuracy won't suffer, and might actually improve, although those old A-Bolt's were shooters.
 
I whipped up some handloads and shot the rifle on the weekend. It was fairly windy so no spectacular groups, but my old reliable Hornady 154 or 139 SST and H4831 ran from an inch to 1.5 inches at 100 yards. The 115 Speer HP with Vitavuorhi N160 ran just barely sub-MOA for 4 shots. So accuracy has not changed. What I was looking for, and got, was a reduction in perceived recoil, and better natural scope-to-eye alignment thanks to the cheekpiece and higher comb. She's a keeper.
 
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