I put together a .243 over the winter out of a bunch of mixed up parts. A satin nickel reciver , a 22" med contour .243 win barrel , feeler gauge shim on the hinge pin fitted and milled to fit tight to the latch , a pallet wood hi comb sock that turned out to be birch with realy nice grain, after a few hours of work and a dozen coats of mahogany stain and tru oil I would'nt trade it for a laminate!. The first time to the range was a let down to say the least, it had vertical stringing of over 3" . It shot perfect right and left but all over up and down!! I have a bunch of single shots and this is the first one I have put together that I did not look at the forend . I took it for granted it would "shoot". Well after spending about an hour takeing down the wood to clear a doller bill, then beding the screw area "about an inch piller" with brownels glass ... it shot 5 into a .411" group today, waiting 10 min. between shots at 100 yrds !!! Man you gotta love these handis!!! What else can you tinker with and get this kind of accuracy for the $230 I spent? It helps my father was a gunsmith and taught me the working order of most firearms... Still I have very expensive custom bolt guns that I have not had this much fun with......Mark
