45 Maltby Correct Wood

[Peter Laidler]

It really all depends on who you listen to Swanson. If you listen to the enthusiastic amateurs that litter the world of gunshows, concourse competitions and pure waffle they'll be telling you about this that and the other, shapes of this, ribs of that, colours, dyes and wartime phases of the full moon and its effect on the workforce during the equinox and.............. You get my drift.

But if you want the truth, from an Armourers workshop it's this in my humble experience having been there and done it once or twice. If a rifle came into us that's been well and truly battered to the extent that it needed a complete wood rebuild then we'd select a reasonably colour matching set of wood off the shelf. We wouldn't care whether it was part-used or new or the type of wood or whether it had this or that or the other features. And if we didn't have it on the shelf, we'd be forced to patch and make do with what we had. Then we'd fit it all properly. Then we'd range test it for accuracy and zero it. When it passed the out-inspection, it'd go back to the soldier or Armoury whence it came.

Take your choice.