Materials
Firearms demand certain characteristics in a stock. There are a whole host of things to consider when contemplating a particular piece of wood for a particular rifle; including weight, strength, hardness, stability, pore size, texture, brittleness, workability, ability to hold detail (i.e. checkering) grain flow as applied to the intended usage, and its ability to withstand the sharp shock forces of recoil. The most widely used stockwood throughout the world is Walnut, due to the simple fact it ticks most of these boxes more consistently than any other readily available wood. The variety that is generally held in highest regard is the thin shelled European Walnut (Juglans Regia), also called English or French, amongst others. The majority of the stockwood Hatchers Rifle Stocks offer is European Walnut, with a sprinkling of other varieties from around the world. Our walnut stockwood is predominantly grown in Australia, with small quantities coming from New Zealand & the U.S.A. Some carefully selected Aussie grown hardwoods are also suitable for stockwood (again, dependant on the intended usage) these hardwoods provide attractive alternatives for shooters wishing to fit their rifles out with something a bit different. Tasmanian Blackwood is one of these species, and is a good option for the Target/Varmint shooter. The Blackwood blanks we use are quite hard, dense and stable, with some throwing some very attractive fiddleback in the higher grades. For us, good quality walnut will always remain our premier stockwood; but we also have an interest in researching & investigating viable alternative Aussie hardwoods for our customers. One extremely important fact when dealing with any of these stockwoods is to remember that it is a completely naturally occurring organic product and their properties can vary greatly from tree to tree; only small percentages of these trees display the properties that are suitable for stock production. We are very particular about the way our suppliers convert their trees into blanks; right from the system and processes used to cut, store & dry the finished blanks. All of our blanks used are 100% Air Dried and we go out of our way to source blanks that are stable which enable us to supply the best product. We can now offer all of our stock patterns in Coloured Laminated Birch. This material is very good quality and denser than most other comparable laminates that are on the market. It comes in a wide range of colour combinations, and customers can also have their own custom blanks manufactured using their own desired colours (for a small extra fee) Contact us for more information on pricing and colour availability etc