Hey folks,
A couple years ago I bought a Winchester 94AE in .45 Colt from a buddy at work. It was in absolute MINT condition and only had 15 rounds through it (the guy even threw in the remaining rounds from a box of 25 he had origionally bought with the rifle!!!!) the only complaint I have with the rifle is that the wood stocks that came with it had what I believe were factory defects in the finish, and the guy I bought it from installed a swivel stud on the rear stock himself, but it is off center and about 5 inches too far up the stock. So I have been off and on searching for replacement stocks and finally have decided to get it taken care of and pick up new stocks. So.........
What I am looking for is both the front handguard and rear buttstock, but one thing I don't know is will the usual Win. 94 handguards (which I make the obvious assumption are basically for .30-30 sized bbls) also fit the larger bore 45 colt I have (which is a full length 20" by the way and not the carbine length 16"). I do love wood and it would be my first choice, but since I bought this for a serious hunting rifle to pound the woods in all kinds of weather with I am worried about durability and so I am also open to synthetic stock as well. I am not so worried about water/rain and the wood (I have a system I used on my caplock muzzleloader in which I use spar urethane on the inletting and other open grain parts and healthy and copious amounts of Butchers Floor wax making for a solid piece of wood that looks great and has repelled any amount of water I have yet to drag it through), but getting banged around and dinged up will mean more work waxing as time goes on. I also don't want to spend an arm and a leg on fancy wood or pricey synthetics for a "working" gun.
So, can anyone answer the question about bbl thickness and the handguard size, and what about suggesting some wood or plastic for it?
Thanks,
Brian