American Airguns Blog
The Random Ramblings Of An Airgun Addict

One of the easiest ways to customize an airgun is to make a custom stock for it. I have made or finished several stocks in my airgunning life, most of them were match style stocks. I currently have two match stocks that I bought from Jim Macarri Jim has always been easy for me to work with. Normally when I buy stocks from him I have him leave extra material on butt and forearm areas so I can custom finish the stock to fit me a little bit better. The only drawback to the CS1000 HW97 match stocks that I have is that the grip is cut too far rearward so it makes it a bit of a reach to the trigger. Even with the the match stock make the rifle much easier to shoot accurately under match conditions.

I bought a reddish match stock for a TX200 from Airguns of Arizona a few years back and got the basic inletting finished but found that the length of pull of the stock without the buttplate on it was already a bit long, I need a 13.5" length and this with a buttpad would be around 14.5"-14.75". I put it on the back burner since I was going to have to modify the cheekpiece in order to get the length of pull right. I think I may just sell it since I don't plan on shooting a TX for FT anymore now that I have my new HW97 trigger blade.

I decided that I would try one of DaveG custom stocks for my HW97 since it looked like it was fashioned after the FWB 600 series 10 meter match stocks. I ordered it now over a year and three months ago. How did I like it? I don't know, I still haven't received the stock or a refund of my money. I have called Dave many times over the past year and every time I talked with him I got the same old story, it will be done in a few weeks. I few months later I would call him back and still the same thing. I fear that my $250 is gone and I will never see it again or a new match stock either. I have heard similar things from others but most of them did receive what they ordered at some point. I guess the lesson here is don't buy anything from him unless you see the product first. In my ten years of dealing with airgunners on the internet this is the first time I have been burned, it is a shame too since many of the stocks I have seen were pretty nice.

A shooting buddy of mine has bought several custom stocks from Mike Abernethy at Customwerks for his R9 and HW97. These stocks are truely beautiful works of art. They came finished so there wasn't any work to be done to them, just drop in the action and shoot. I would bet that Mike would leave them unfinished if you asked him but he does such a nice job on the finish I don't know if I would want to go that route.

I guess my favorite custom stock was one I made from scratch for a CR97 that was my first PCP rifle. I made it from a custom laminated wood and fashioned it much like a three position rifle. It was a lot of fun for me making it from scratch since I like working with my hands. It took me about two weeks to finish it but it was pretty nice. I even rigged up an adjustable cheekpiece out of aluminum and some hardware. I ended up selling the stock after I sold the CR97 to finance other airgun endeavors. I still have fond memories of it and enjoyed shooting the CR97 in its custom stock.

I reallly enjoy the custom stocks that I have made for my rifles. My current match rifle, an HW97 with a Maccari match stock, is painted a ruby red. I always wanted a deep red stock and since I couldn't find a nice red stain and the figure on this particular stock wasn't all that great, I decided to paint it and I really like the results. Whether you finish the stock yourself or buy one prefinished, a custom stock can really enhance the looks and performance of your favorite air rifle.