Accurate Innovations Rifle Stocks

[Michael458]

Big Bore rifles present many challenges, one of those challenges comes with the stock. You cannot just use any stock on a big bore rifle and expect it to perform. There are several factors involved that need to work together when it comes to the stock on a big bore.

To control recoil and muzzle flip the bore and stock must be straight in line, or very close. If you have a lot of drop in the rear of the stock, then you are going to get more felt recoil and a lot more muzzle flip. In the field muzzle flip takes more time to get back on target for that second shot, which could cost valuable time.
Stock design is important in this area.

Weight is important as well. I love Classic Wood stocks, and I love a Winchester M70. In fact, I won't even go to the field with anything other than a Winchester. Not when it comes to hunting dangerous game anyway. You don't want a stock that is too heavy, anymore than you want one that is too light on a rifle that has some recoil, there needs to be balance in the equation.

I was introduced to Accurate Innovations stocks early on and for one reason. We had just put together the first 500 MDM and the first rifle stock, a very nice Winchester Super Grade, had busted in 18 rounds. A second stock busted in 4 rounds.

Brian at SSK had heard of Accurate Innovations in South Dakota at the time. Small outfit, owned by 3 guys. Not big enough to even support one of them, they all had other jobs, AI was a sideline job at the time. What they had over all other stocks on the market was an Aluminum Chassis that ran from the action all the way up the forearm of the stock. The Chassis had 3 full recoil lugs along the way. The action would sit down in this chassis, and the recoil lugs distributed recoil along the length of the entire chassis. With this embedded into the wood inside, it seemed that it would protect the wood, distribute the recoil, and just might not bust the stock all to hell.

Pins and rods were not working, so I decided to give it a try. I contacted one of the guys there and we got a Myrtle Stock in the works for that first 500 MDM.

When AI was in South Dakota, they didn't have any true checkering, they offered the laser engraving, so I took what they had available as I wanted to expedite this stock so I could get started shooting the 500.

In this photo, the Middle rifle is the first AI Myrtle stock, soon after I built a second 500 MDM, and they did a Claro Walnut stock for it. The stock you see on top is English Walnut, and that was done after Accurate Innovations moved to the Carolinas and Wes Chapman took over. Big Difference in quality and workmanship.

 

[Michael458]

While Accurate Innovations was still in South Dakota I had them build 3-4 stocks. For the most part I was very pleased, and was indeed correct that the Aluminum Chassis would hold the recoil and protect the wood, and
the stock just could not be busted. The stock handled the 500 MDM easy, and to this day has never been an issue at all.

Accurate Innovations was bought out by Wes Chapman in Andrews North Carolina. Wes and I got well acquainted in the beginning. While I was happy with the stocks and the design I wanted to tweak and change some things about the basic stocks to more fit my requirements for the B&M rifles.

But before we go deeper into this conversation, I want to show you just why these stocks are PERFECTION for the big bore rifles.............

Here is an example of a 50 B&M which busted on the range here with a common stock......Even though it was heavily bedded in the action.

Here you see the Aluminum Chassis before it is put in the wood.........and note the 3 recoil lugs to distribute recoil.......

Embedded into the stock recoil is distributed throughout. In addition to just handling recoil, the chassis prevents the stock from warping, moving POI, in season change, or the occasional trip to Alaska, or just plain living in damp, wet conditions as well.

As noted, not only does the Chassis fully stabilize the wood for heavy recoil, but if one is hunting in Alaska, or other very wet areas, the wood cannot move, or warp, which changes Point of Impact, or POI. Not a good thing when in the Alaskan wilderness chasing bears and moose. The full length chassis solves a lot of issues with wood stocks.

 

[Michael458]

Wes wanted to take Accurate Innovations to an entirely new level of Quality and Craftsmanship, and over the years he has done just that and beyond. Personally I don't even think, or consider anyone or any other stock out there for any rifle. Accurate Innovations stocks are not just for Big bore rifles, that is just the niche I had for them, and they are superb in that role, I think the very best that can be had and the only stocks we recommend for the heavy recoil of some of the Big Bores we have from 458 to 500 caliber. But Wes builds stocks for many different rifles, not just B&Ms and Big Bores, and they are a work of art in many cases.

Please go have a look.

https://www.aigunstocks.com

When Wes got settled in we started talking about tweaking our stocks for B&Ms. One of the first things that had to be addressed was the width of the forearm, which the basic stock was just too wide at the front. Felt like trying to handle a 2X4. We thinned the forearm down and it made a world of difference in the way the guns handled. When shooting big bore rifles, your hand that holds the forearm is what you grip the rifle with, and pull hard into your shoulder to control muzzle flip and recoil. While your trigger hand is not as tight. So you need to be able to grip this well and hold on to it. If its too fat, you can't get a good hold on the rifle or control it as easy.

Basic LOP is 13.5 inches for the standard profile of the M70s. This was perfect for me. I can't work with one that is too long, and makes it hard for me to control. This LOP fits most people.

The B&M rifles are not long barreled guns, so the stocks are shorter than standard. I hate a stock that is too long, short barrel, just looks like crap to me, so all the B&M stocks have a shorter overall length than stocks made for longer 24 inch barrels, by 1.5 to 2 inches.

I like ebony forend tips. But have to be proportionate to the barrel and stock, so B&M stocks have a much shorter tip than normal.

I like shadow line cheek pieces as well, so all B&M stocks have that as standard.

Wes was good enough to come here and spend several days getting the specs for the stocks just right. And now all the stocks made will work with any B&M in that class, from Super Shorts, to Standard B&Ms 416, 458, and 50. The 9.3 and 375 medium bores have a smaller barrel contour, so they have their own specifications. Then there is the 500 MDM in a class of its own. Wes has all these specifications and can do the stocks now, without even having a rifle to fit them with.

Here is the original 500 MDM and the Myrtle Stock from AI South Dakota. Nice stick of Myrtle, but the laser engraving looks a bit on the "cheap" side. Notice long forend tip.

After Wes making several stocks for me, I remodeled the first 500 MDM. I sent barrel and action to SSK to have Brian shorten the barrel to 19 inches, above is 21 inches. I also opted for the Matte Finish GunKote instead of the hi polish blue of the original gun.

Myrtle turns color unfortunately and this stock had turned to a dirty color brown. I talked to Wes, and we decided to bring the stock up to current specs, which means completely refinish, thin the forearm, and checker the stock with real checkering, removing all the laser engraving. Below is how it turned out...........

I think that was a nice remodel job, and very much happy with the stock...... This was a few years ago, the Myrtle has now turned again and is not as light as it was when new and fresh. But none the less, still a good stick of wood. And holds up to the extreme punishment the 500 MDM can dish out. We are not talking about a few rounds, we are talking about at least a 1000 rounds run through this gun alone, and probably way beyond that.

 

[Michael458]

I have a friend, Corbin Shell, yeah, some of you might know Corbin, he has been round the block in several areas of the Industry for several years. At any rate, Corbin was headed to Las Vegas for the Shot Show or one of the shows, and Corbin collects fine wood blanks, sometimes has a stock built, but mostly has a bunch of really nice blanks he keeps. He was headed to one of the premier fellows in the country that trades in wood blanks for rifles and wanted to know if I wanted a few.

Well hell yes, pick me out three of the finest Bastogne Walnut blanks you can find. So he did, and sent these photos for me. Somewhere in there there is 3 different ones.

I asked Wes if he would make the stocks for me and he of course agreed............ and here are the three guns............

Top one is 500 MDM... And a very sad story to follow on that one. The middle is "THE B&M RIFLE", 50 B&M and below is on a 458 B&M as I recall, but that stock has been on several different guns and is currently not on a gun now and just waiting for the right one......

Shortly after these photos, I sent the 500 MDM back to SSK for some reason, I can't recall what, but during the shipping it seems a fork lift rode across the box somehow and busted my damn Stock all to hell. I did forget to mention that Accurate Innovations installs a steel pin down through the pistol grip of these stocks and this also keeps the grip from getting busted during recoil, or cracking. But the Pin did not help much with the fork lift running over it. Rifle was in a plastic gun case type box as well. The pin kept it from breaking completely in two pieces however. Want to talk about having your heart broken, I was heart broken over this.......

After much hassling with Fed Ex, they paid up in full....................

Another photo of the 50 B&M..............

Those were some incredible sticks of wood....... and in particular the one above, it could never be replaced or matched.............

 

[Michael458]

Over the next few days we will talk more, I will show some more Accurate Innovations stocks as well............. Remember, they do all sorts of rifles, not just big bore guns........

So go visit and come back tell me what you think......I am in the process of sending Wes some stuff now, and doing another Myrtle Stock for a rifle... I will show you later....

https://www.aigunstocks.com

 

[Michael458]

Just showing some photos of a few of my stocks from AI over the years........

 

[Michael458]

Wes knew how good I liked the Myrtle, but did not like the way it changed color over the years. He suggested I try a Maple stock, so I did. We put it on a 50 B&M and that is where it stayed to this day...................

 

[Michael458]

Some more photos of that Bastogne 50 B&M......

A Claro for this 500 MDM

More Bastogne

 

[Michael458]

 

[Michael458]

I also like the laminated versions from AI.........

 

[Tim]

Very nice

 

[Michael458]

Very nice

Thanks...................

This is the first Super Short stock Wes did.........

 

[Michael458]

Oh and Billy, this is on that gray wildebeest hide we were talking about.........

 

[gsimmons]

Those are beautiful! I’m normally a military collector(up through WWII), but find all this very fascinating. Thanks Michael!

 

[Michael458]

Those are beautiful! I’m normally a military collector(up through WWII), but find all this very fascinating. Thanks Michael!

More than welcome, and no thanks needed. I wanted very much to let all you guys know about Wes and Accurate Innovations, and that goes double since AI is in Andrews North Carolina.

Being in the Carolinas, I bet we have some folks here that know what "Wormy Chestnut" is, am I right? The only chestnut wood left is what has been salvaged from old buildings, barns and smokehouses. My Great Grandfathers old house in the mountains of NC was torn down 80-90 years ago, it was built from chestnut. My Grandfather took the salvaged wood from the house and built various things, including an old smokehouse. My Father tore the old smokehouse down some years ago and salvaged the best of the old chestnut planks and boards. He stacked it away, like he does everything else. Probably 10 years ago or so, I said enough, I told him he was never going to do anything with that wood, that I was sending someone to get it all and bring it here to SC. I did, I sent one of my employees, they loaded all the wood on the truck and brought it to me. We were in the middle of a remodel shortly after, and I took some of the wood and had a bar top made from it, and it is drop dead gorgeous.

Now, I am like my Dad! I have it put away and stacked away. The last week or so I have been talking to Wes about this. I am gathering up a few of the better boards, going to get this up to Wes. He is going to attempt to
have it glued together like you would a laminate and just maybe we might be about to make a rifle stock out of it???? We don't know just yet, but it would be a very nice project if it works we think! And, Wes can also take some of that left over wood, and just maybe make us some really nice looking 1911 grips too................

We are having a Chestnut vision, and as far as I know it would be the only rifle stock, or handgun grips in existence made from American Wormy Chestnut........

I will keep you posted on that project...........

 

[gsimmons]

That would be a beautiful stock and grips! I’d like to see that!

 

[Michael458]

That would be a beautiful stock and grips! I’d like to see that!

You got it, if we can make it work out...... I have a plan now to get the wood to Wes next week and we go from there.

Not too long ago Wes had a very special piece of wood, Zebra Wood. It was only long enough to make a stock for the Super Short. Left over stuff he made a couple of sets of 1911 grips for me. They are resting on
Commercial Series, or C Series Colts...........

 

[NKD]

These guns are such bulldogs. They are so nicely made.
It's also fun to think of development of the cartridges and rifles themselves, and then put into use on big game, as we have seen in your other posts. Pretty fascinating.

This couldn't be more different than the kinds of guns I shoot and the type of shooting I do. Maybe that's why these guns seem so exotic and cool to me!
Ohhhh, that maple stock one....... so sweet. I don't even know what it is but I want to shoot a poor pig with it, heh. I'd park that baby over the mantle and gaze at it frequently!

 

[Michael458]

These guns are such bulldogs. They are so nicely made.

Thanks.... I agree......

It's also fun to think of development of the cartridges and rifles themselves, and then put into use on big game, as we have seen in your other posts. Pretty fascinating.

Many years of hard work put in. A tremendous effort to Bullet Tech, especially and beginning with the .500 caliber, true .500. You see, when I started this in 2005, there were no suitable bullets available in .500 caliber, there were no big solids that could handle elephant, there were no trauma inflicting bullets that would hold up for buffalo and other heavy animals. We developed all those here. And then a lot of load development along with that.
It was a long, but very eventful journey to this point.

 

[Michael458]

I am now working on a rifle. This is truly a bastard child. During the development of the CEB Raptors, we discovered that the talon tip we added to them would gain about 150 fps at 50 yard impact. In the scheme of the world, in most cases, 150 fps is neither here nor there, but in the case of the Raptor even an increased 50 fps increases the devastation and the penetration these bullets can dish out. But to get that Talon tip installed you either had to go deep in the case, or you had to have a shorter case. Going deep, reduces case capacity under most circumstances, but going long rounds won't fit in the magazine. I decided to build a cartridge that would take the long nose of the Safari Raptor, and Talon Tip, fit in the magazine.

We took a long action Winchester M70 RUM. We shortened the 500 MDM from 2.8 inches to 2.5 inches. Using the longer action gave us room to use the longer nose projection of the Safari Raptors, and add the Talon Tip.

Now of course, with a shorter case, less case capacity and less velocity. However, with that Talon Tip added, at 50 yards you gained 150 fps. While you were not getting the velocity at the muzzle, you were getting it at 50 yards over a Raptor that did not have the Talon Tip. It damn near worked out close to the 500 MDM, at the 50 yard impact ranges.

This was not a cartridge I promoted, it was just something I wanted to play with. So you won't see it listed anywhere or very much mention of it.

I built the first rifle, used a very nice stick of Bastogne that Wes made up for me. I used a smaller contour barrel, same as the 50 B&M, and not the heavier contour of the 500 MDM. I also went with only 18 inches of barrel.
So the stock was different than any of the other B&Ms. It was shorter than the 500MDM stock, and more along the lines of the 50 B&M, just for the longer action. A bastard no doubt.

I did fairly extensive data on the cartridge, and it proved to be very capable. It was at its best with 450 gr Solids and 410 gr Raptors, which it ran the 450s at over 2400 fps and the 410 Raptor to 2500 fps. This combination proved absolutely deadly on buffalo. I only used the rifle one trip before retiring from hunting.

It was also capable of using a 525 gr CEB Solid at 2180 fps, which is and would be very serious for elephant.

There was only one other rifle built in 500 B&M, by a friend of mine that kept up with many of the things I would work on. Later, he retired from big bore rifles, removed his barrel to use the action on something else, and I ended up with the barrel here, where it has been laying around gathering dust for several years.

The last few weeks, I decided what the hell, I could use another one right! HEH..............

I sent an action to Brian at SSK this past week, a Winchester RUM of course. I also have been in contact with Wes and we picked out a nice looking stick of Myrtle to build a stock for this bastard rifle. He had the specs on the 500 B&M, but to speed things up a bit, I sent him the rifle above to fit the stock. If the stock fits this one, it will fit the new one. I am having Brian black matte gunkote the rifle once he gets it put together, while Wes gets the stock done, which I ordered the same checkering that I have on the one above, and that will take time as well..........I expect about 2-3 months I might have a new rifle. And the last of the 500 B&Ms


Here is our stick of Myrtle...................

If any of you ever think you want to have a stock done, call Wes, you will not be disappointed and you will have a fine piece of work....................

Again, here is the Website for Accurate Innovations, check them out.....and remember, he makes all sorts of stocks, not just for big bore rifles, you can have your favorite 223 done, there are great advantages to the AI stocks, along with absolute gorgeous wood to be proud of.........

https://www.aigunstocks.com/about/

Michael

 

[Michael458]

Had a very pleasant visit with Wes Chapman this week, from Accurate Innovations. Wes had a meeting close by, and decided to drop a couple of rifles that I had AI Stocks done. One was for a fellow with a 500 MDM, and of course, the other was MINE, and in fact, the Myrtle Stock from the Myrtle Blank seen in the above post................ The rifle is a 18 inch 500 B&M, which is a 2.5 inch RUM case, and .500 caliber.....................I am very very pleased with this stick of wood...............

 

[MikeDawg46L]

I have never in my life had the desire for a custom wood stock. I should NOT have clicked on this thread!

 

[REELDOC]

Brave man shooting scoped cannon LOL. I thought that most safari grade heavy hitters did not wear scopes and used open sights for safety reasons of a scope malfunction.

 

[JimP42]

That is gorgeous.

 

[Michael458]

Brave man shooting scoped cannon LOL. I thought that most safari grade heavy hitters did not wear scopes and used open sights for safety reasons of a scope malfunction.

If you use Leopold carry two or three extra scopes with you, use QRW Rings and bases.........

I quit using Leopold.

I only use 1X4 Nikon Monarch, originally African.......... Have never busted one of those.........I always use the rifles scoped, from Impala to Elephant, and have shot elephant at 6 feet, so really didn’t need the scope on that shot........LOL...............

I am retired from hunting now.

 

[Chris.]

Those stocks are works of art. It would be hard not to appreciate the skill level and craftsmanship it takes to create something that beautiful.