Hunting Rifle Stocks

was a centuries-old conception of gun stocks whose originators knew more of art than of shooting. Continental rifle makers generally followed a design that included razor-combed carbines with a full-length toothpick stock, and rifles having skinny forends with a schnabel tip and buttstocks with a hogsback comb and too much drop at heel for use with a scope. A notable exception was the 1950's Mannlicher-Schoenauer which had a high-comb Monte Carlo. Today, the Europeans have largely adopted American stock design, at least on firearms being exported to America and Australia. For a stalking rifle to be carried all day in the field, we can largely ignore some of the grotesque thumbhole stocks and skeltonized affairs attached to tactical rifles. And also the ugly technicoloured monstrosities that are optional for sporters, but which no serious hunter would even