Elk Ridge is not a manufacturer - they resell Richard's Microfit stocks. The Great American Gunstock Company is also a commercial US stock maker you didn't mention.
You will find good and bad reviews of the "big three" in the US:
-Richard's Microfit
-GAG Co.
-Boyd's
Of these makers, Boyd's is considered the most "entry level" maker with (generally) the lowest grades of blanks to work from to keep costs down and I've found their inletting to be the most "generous" in an effort to provide a drop-in fit for the widest variety of actions. This is a good thing if you want a cheap easy stocking job, but a very bad thing if you are building a nice custom gun. At Boyd's, semi-inlet refers ONLY to the barrel channel. All their receiver inlets are CNC cut "virtual inlet part" so expect gaps up to 30 thou (or more) around the metal.
Richard's also generally does 99% inlet similar to the VIP for most actions. The good news is their VIP style inlets are usually tighter with more acceptable gaps generally. The bad news is they have been known at times to overgrade their wood, so expect the wood you order to be a grade lower than advertised. It is priced accordingly though in my experience. I never order anything below Fancy grade A from them and usually get what I'd grade as "select", not fancy. Some folks have had issues with off-center inletting, etc. but you get that from time to time with ALL makers and the guarantee at Richard's is quite good - if you aren't pleased send it back and they'll replace it if you haven't altered the stock. I think that you hear the most complaints about Richards because their customers generally have higher expectations than the typical Boyds' customers (think the least expensive) and due to the sheer volume of stocks Richards puts out (by far the largest maker) the number of slips in their QA/QC will by definition be greater.
GAGCo. is an outfit that I'd rate about equal with Richards, though you have to be VERY SPECIFIC about what you want (and pay for those specifics) or you won't be pleased. Of the big three this is the only outfit that does undersized inletting upon request. Their stock grading is much more realistic than at Richard's Microfit, but it's also noticeably more expensive so it about evens out to my "buy a grade higher" philosophy at Richard's Microfit.
For a big dollar custom, I've pretty much come to the realization that you're better off getting a truely custom piece of wood from one of the small makers here in Canada and that's what I'll do next time :wink:
Stuart
