I love the looks of a good wood stock but they're expensive and hard to come by. I also love the looks of fine doubles with Damascus barrelsbut I'll never own one, I have a Stevens 311. I prefer a synthetic stock because my guns are hunting tools not pieces I'd take to the range or put in a glass display case to be admired. I have a Savage 99f. I bought it used and a friend offered to do a triger job on it. He came across a nice stock for it so I had him fit it to the rifle and when I finished it it sure looked good. On my first hunt with it I did a 100 ft slide on a shale hill, it doesn't look as good any more. I should have saved the money and kept the old stock. I have also refinished a lot of stocks for friends. I came to the shooting hole with a rifle a good man sold me for a price I could afford at the time(he took pity on me). He said it was caried more than it had been shot and it showed. It was his elk rifle. Everyone commented about how nice I could make that gun look and asked when I would refinish it. I told them I never will. That gun got those dings and scratches honestly and in the field, I won't erase the history of the man who sold it to me. It's a Rem 700 chambered in 280 with a floated barrel glassed action and a trigger job. It now wears a 4x12 Leupold and a bit more history. I love wood but don't want to cry when I scratch it.
When I pass my guns on to my kids the value will be in the stories told about them and the fact that they were my guns and that's enough.
