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I've always appreciated a nice wood stock but in the early 2000's I got into long range shooting and competition and wood stocks generally went by the wayside. I did compete for a season with a modified wood stocked Mosin Nagant M28/76 and did quite well. Some people took it the wrong way and thought I was shooting that rifle to try to embarrass other competitors (not my intention but I left that rifle at home after that). For years my wood stocked rifles collected dust in the safe but I always believed that a "real" rifle has a wood stock… a real rifle is part tool and part art. I started purchasing pre64 model 70's, HVA commercial mausers, and a few other rifles I was interested in carving wood stocks for. I started to incorporate wood into match rifles… first with a laminate stock (harder than woodpecker lips… won't do that again). Then I eventually embarked on a truly ridiculous project of carving a wood stock to attach to the chassis system of a Sako TRG… took over 400 hours. I actually took it to one match last year! I now have many great peices of wood ready to carve and enough project rifles to last a life time. I'll still build some rifles without wood but those are tools not "real" rifles. I also love traditional style rifles and rifle stocks.