Help with stocks....

[Capt Gary]

I purchased a Realtree Hardwoods stock from these forums. Stock was nice and as described.
I ordered Realtree Hardwoods muzzleloader and rifle forends from Cabelas.
They came in a looked great.
After putting the rifle together I noticed that both forends are "lighter" than the butt stock.
The butt stock has an over all gray color with very muted brown leaves etc.
The forends seem to be much lighter, brighter. After looking over the forend packaging they read
"Realtree Hardwoods HD Camo"
Is this different that regular Hardwoods camo or is it just a dye lot shade?

Any help would be appreciated.

[Joe58]

I had the same situation with a stock set I purchased in Realtree off the net. I then decided I wanted a new thumbhole flextech stock and when it arrived, I saw that it is noticeably lighter/brighter than the older set. The older set, like yours, is more gray and subdued.

I had to order a forend in Realtree HD to match it. It just didn't look right. If you want it to match, you may want to consider one of the flextech thumbholes in Realtree HD...I like mine, and now I have an excuse to buy another frame to go with my old stock set...

Joe

[Capt Gary]

Actually, I changed stocks around last night and decided to go with the plain black synthetic.

My Encore is the stainless model (Muzzleloader and 7 MM Rem. Mag barrels).

I found a guy on line who does industrial teflon finishes that looked really good. I sent all the metal work (including bases and rings) to him and he applied his finish to it in a black matt.
http://blackicecoatings.com/Index.html

His name is Lee and he does really nice work at a fair price.

Turned out really great.

I was putting everything together last night and decided I like the rifle best with the plain black stocks .
All black rifle/scope and stocks looks really good.

I also have a set of TC factory gray laminated wood for the gun that also looks really good with the black metal work.

I'm going to sell all the camo stocks and forends and maybe the gray laminate also.