Have a few questions for you TreeBone Rifle Stock owners out there! First, I was interested in how heavy your stock is, a pharr rt/s cut pattern, and about how much should I expect to pay for one. I know the sky is the limit with all the different wood grades, but about how much in labor and that way I can calculate that plus whatever my blank would cost me. Pictures are a huge plus to this thread, as I am not super familier with Georges work. I think I have only ever seen and felt one.

Thanks in advance,
Pat

Is this going to be a HP or SB rifle stock BH? Are you thinking about a regular wood stock or have you also considered a laminate blank perhaps? I much prefer the laminate for stability and strength but it will weight more than most regular wood stocks depending on species density. We just had a shooter put a Tikka T3 in a Laminate Pharr RT/S last year and he had to skeltonize the butt area and then also do some compound curve sanding inside the area removed to get it to make weight with a Weaver on top. The Tikka is a light hunting action with a thin barrel to begin with so I am not sure you could get a Rem 700 with a Stainless barrel into one and make weight without a lot of whittling.

I was looking at Treebone when Robertson's went tits up as an alternative but was lucky and able to find a uninletted Pharr composite anyway and STILL I was 3 ounces overs with the 4200 I wanted to use!

Let us know what you find out about pricing. Oh and don't forget you can get a crappy looking piece of wood that is structurally fine, have it inlet and finished then have it dipped to make it into the most expensive looking Exhibit Grade Wood available for way way less than just a chunk of Exhibit wood would cost you by itself ;)



Dee

Dee, it is forsure a smallbore build. Already have the action I plan on using just not sure about my stock options at this point. I also need to call Steve Wooster and see if he is still making his stocks aswell. Should be an intresting build when it is done though. I'm using some old school stuff in this build.

I contacted Steve and he is still making stocks. He mentioned IIRC that he has the form for the Pharr stock but wasn't satisfied with it just yet. But he is still making them as of the end of last year. You shouldn't have a problem is you use laminate for a SB rig. Is this going to be a Standard Class rifle?


Dee

Right now it is just going to be a hunter rifle.

BH, George doesn't do any inletting work. You will receive the stock as a "flat-top". It comes to you right off his duplicator. Not nearly as rough as one you might receive from companies like Boyds. You will either need to pay to have the inlet and wood finishing done or do it yourself. I did all of mine myself for my Weatherby/Anschutz 64.

If I remember correctly I paid $275 for mine. George has a warehouse of blanks to choose from and many different wood species. I went with walnut and picked a grade of wood that I could afford. Basically mine is one step up from what most people call straight grain. George is incredibly nice to talk to on the phone and very helpful in helping you choose what grade of wood and what species.

I haven't weighed my stock but I am about a 1/4 pound under hunter weight and I think I added a little weight to the stock under the buttplate. I can't remember... too many guns. Sorry, crappy cell phone photos.

BH,
Cost will depend on grade of wood and quality of the inlet and finish work. My maple RT/s on my 40x set me back a total of $1170.

$285 for the blank, $85 for Treebone to carve the blank. And $800 forthe smith to inlet, bed, butt pad, and do the finish on the stock.

That may seem high but the quality of the work will show how much time and detail that Mark Pharr put into it. It is one of my guns that will never be sold, unless someone gets crazy with
a whole bunch of money and then I would just do it again. Be prepaired to work to make weight depending on which action you are building on. With my 40x we had to go with a fluted #5 Lilja at
23" to get under the weight limit for hunter. Plan to bring it with me to Winnsboro, let me know if you would like to take a look at it.
Blank

After shaping

Once Mark finished his work

Your certainly have some pretty rifles Paul....

Thanks Bob, I have said it many times before. I have the best equipment money can buy, now all I need is a shooter!

stsbuyer wrote:Thanks Bob, I have said it many times before. I have the best equipment money can buy, now all I need is a shooter!

LOL.. I know the feeling, my rifle hung a sign on itself saying 'New Shooter Wanted', talk about embarrassing. Part, or most of the problem is so far this year we've had only 1 match held up here, so practice and range time is hard to come by, unless your retired. Winter in the north country sucks.... I'll be fixing that problem soon

That is a gorgeous rifle Paul. I really would have thought a blank like that might have costed a bit more. If I ever send a composite stock off for a Hydro Dip I will probably get it done in some super fancy looking wood.

Are there any gunsmiths around that can inlet a stock that doesn't have a 6 month waiting period? Preferably one with reasonable prices?

The good ones are always backed up, but always worth the wait!!

Someone needs to check on BH, I think when I said how much I had into my RT/s wood stock he may have passed out.

Hambone49 you better go check on him.

Paul

Paul, I'll admit that I was a bit stunned by the cost of your inlet and finish. From the opposite point of view though I guess I saved myself $800 by doing mine myself. My wife will be happy to hear how much money I saved.