TargetTalk

Thought I would share with you my experience making a new stock for a FWB 700 Basic air rifle, as I am a long time woodworker, and appreciate a nice gunstock. Since I couldn't convince a local shooter to sell me his curly walnut Anschutz, I decided to make my own. I have new access to a full CNC shop, via the local Community College, so decided that instead of inletting a new stock by hand, I would use a HAAS CNC Milling machine to do it for me. I had a new blank, seasoning in New Mexico after purchase 2 years ago in Portland OR, and using CNC software (Aspire), I inletted the blank. The stock is designed for Senior Olympic air rifle competition, involving benchrest and standing, so the stock is longer than the standard, but still not too heavy to hold standing. The buttplate and cheekpiece support are made from curly maple. With the program to machine the stock, its an easy task to make additional stocks. Would be happy to discuss the details.

Very nice. Looks kinda chunky though for kneeling and prone.
Now does it shoot with the new stock?

Yeah, I know it looks a bit hefty, but in Senior Olympics, you don't shoot prone or kneeling. Do not know of any traditional position shooting here in Southern New Mexico, but there are a set of ageing seniors doing both rifle and pistol shooting. I decided to keep as much of the wood as I could, which results in a bulky stock. I can always remove more wood, but for now will use the extra weight for training.

For standing, it looks like a really nice stock. lots of weight (which I like) and you already have a lot of fore end thickness, so you can use a thinner hand block if you need one.

In response to Andre's question about how it shoots with the new stock: it is as accurate now as its was originally. I have done some benchrest testing, and can shoot repeatable 100 pt. targets. I worried about this too, using a non-laminated stock which can warp, especially if not completely dry in our very low humidities (less than 5% in the winter indoors). I will continue to monitor this as it cycles with the seasons.

I have decided that with the muzzle weight and the extended stock, it is too muzzle heavy, so I will be increasing the taper on the forestock, rather than adding weight to the stock for now.

If you are shooting ISSF rules/comps, the rifle must not weigh [fully equipped] more that 5.5KG.

Not a problem, this walnut was not particularly dense, so weight tops out at a little over 9 lbs, or about 4.1 kg; should be under 4 kg after the trimming.