Kit stocks

[Philip Lebow]

Gents, Hivernants and other unwashed hermits...

Any preferences between Don Stith and Pecatonica stocks?
Opinions, experiences, etc?

Thanks,
Phil

 

[Erzulis boat]

Having only dealt with Pecatonica, I will say that they have provided a quality stock.

I ordered a walnut blank for a coaching carbine build, and the walnut was top notch.

 

[user 34300]

Neither one of them makes stocks. They source stocks and bundle kit parts. There are very few places that actually make pantograph stocks. There is a good chance it does not matter who the retailer actually is.

I have received two unusable stocks in a row from the same vendor. I gave up and built my Hawken from a plank.

I expect that any gun I make has perfect inletting and correct parts placement. Some people only want a gun that shoots. My definition of "usable" may be different than others'.

Unless you are using the best of the best, Kibler and Chambers, building from a plank is the way to go. You can make sure the layout and design is correct for your parts and the design is what you want. Mucking around with a messed up precarve is more frustration and likely more work than building from a plank. It MAY take longer but the result will likely be better.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Neither one of them makes stocks. They source stocks and bundle kit parts. There are very few places that actually make pantograph stocks. There is a good chance it does not matter who the retailer actually is.

I have received two unusable stocks in a row from the same vendor. I gave up and built my Hawken from a plank.

I expect that any gun I make has perfect inletting and correct parts placement. Some people only want a gun that shoots. My definition of "usable" may be different than others'.

Unless you are using the best of the best, Kibler and Chambers, building from a plank is the way to go. You can make sure the layout and design is correct for your parts and the design is what you want. Mucking around with a messed up precarve is more frustration and likely more work than building from a plank. It MAY take longer but the result will likely be better.

That is plain Wrong. Good grief. Pecatonica MAKES stocks. And pretty good ones at that.

 

[user 34300]

I stand corrected. I was under the impression that Dunlap does most of them. I am not aware of Don Stith running a pantograph.

 

[Philip Lebow]

Don Stith also makes his stocks. I just wondered whom was preferred. Thanks for the replies!!

 

[user 34300]

Don Stith also makes his stocks. I just wondered whom was preferred. Thanks for the replies!!

Don Stith has been battling serious health issues. Call him and see what he has ready to ship and to determine if he is still in business. His webpage is way out of date. I don't know if it matters but ask him if he actually makes his own precarves.

The Pecatonica Hawken stock picture on the website is deformed in the tang area. Make sure that it not what they are shipping now. Hawken Halfstock Rifle, Pecatonica River Long Rifle Supply

 

[Philip Lebow]

Don Stith has been battling serious health issues. Call him and see what he has ready to ship and to determine if he is still in business. His webpage is way out of date. I don't know if it matters but ask him if he actually makes his own precarves.

The Pecatonica Hawken stock picture on the website is deformed in the tang area. Make sure that it not what they are shipping now. Hawken Halfstock Rifle, Pecatonica River Long Rifle Supply

Thanks for the info on Don. I'll give him a call to see how he is doing. He has made benchrest stocks for my cartridge rifles, that were very good.
Phil

 

[Ames]

How is it deformed in the tang area?
Depending on the gun stock, the only problem I have with Pecatonica is the inlet for a lollipop tang on a SMR. If you try to square up the curve where the breech butts into the stock you get the lollipop moving farther back than it was inleted for. Now you are into wood repair land.

 

[PathfinderNC]

I stand corrected. I was under the impression that Dunlap does most of them. I am not aware of Don Stith running a pantograph.

And if you don’t know that Pecatonica makes stocks (has been for many many decades) - and you actually state they don’t make stocks, your credibility on the subject is done.

 

[Darkhorse]

I'm pretty sure Wayne Dunlap doesn't make stocks either. At least he didn't several years ago when I was looking for a LH Isacc Haines in 50 caliber B profile.
Wayne is an excellent supplier of premium wood though. And offers a better choice in his kits than most.

 

[PathfinderNC]

This is a Pecatonica stocked rifle (Tennessee Classic) that I just completed. Like many pre-carves, it needed some tweaking but by-and-large, very nice stuff. This wood is so beautiful.
I have been buying Pecatonica River pre-carves since the late1980's and will continue to do so as long as I am able. I just ordered another from them (Fusil de Chasse).

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Don Stith did an immense amount of research to create his kits and stocks. They are probably the more historically accurate for the guns they reproduce than Pecatonica River. PR makes a wide selection of stocks, many of which are generic but most are good quality.

dave

 

[Eric Krewson]

I am not a precarve fan, I am actually doing the final assembling today of a gun I made from the precarve stock from hell that I have mentioned way too many times here in the past every time I found another flaw. With leather dye and an artists brush I was able to hide all the glued in wood patches it took to correct this nightmare.

Here is the biggie to correct a badly misplaced lock inlet.

Here is the same patch after shaping and the leather dye to extend the curl from the very curly stock wood into the plain maple patch. The patch is sugar maple, the stock is red maple, it took some doing to get a close match.

 

[user 34300]

How is it deformed in the tang area?

Another alternative, IF they had 58 Cal barrels I would have bought one to see. I have never built one of these kits.
https://www.thehawkenshop.com/hawken_rifles.htm

 

[Ames]

Ahhhhh. Got it!

 

[Vaino]

I've built Hawkens rifles from both Stith and Pecatonica and had minor problems w/ both....perhaps not so minor. Looked the Pecatonica stock over and found the lock inlet was mislocated so drove to Pecatonica and they verified the wrong lock inlet location. At first they tried to replace the stock w/ one that had a very short LOP which I refused but did go home happy seeing they cut a new precarve while I waited and although I had ordered a #4 grade, the new precarve was a #5 {the top grade}. I had no further problems w/ the kit.

The Stith S. Hawken kit was LHed and the parts were quite different than the RHed kit and I had to buy 2 replacement parts from another supplier and these had to be reworked to fit. I think that Don didn't have the LHed kit finalized and substituted 2 RHed parts that had to be replaced. Otherwise, had no problems. This build was quite a few years ago and Don probably has the LHed kit finalized.

The Stith LHed Hawken has a more authentic Hawken look but has a very curved Bplate which mandates an upper arm hold....the customer liked the rifle and never complained about the Bplate and uses it for elk hunting.

I used my Pecatonica Hawken for elk hunting also and one of the reasons I chose them was that the Bplate is a lot flatter.

No further problems were encountered w/ both kits.....Fred