hs precision or bell and carlson

[OU812]

Guys I'm looking for some first hand info/feed back on the HS precision Pro-Series Sporter and or Bell & Carlson medalist Alaskan stock.

I'm wanting to replace my Remington 700 classic stocks (so they don't get beat up) and for no other reason. Which of these stocks would suite my simplistic needs the best?


Bill

 

[Guy Miner]

I've got an HS Precision stock on one rifle, and a B&C stock on another. They're both decent stocks, can't say that I prefer one over the other.

At one time I might have given the quality edge to HS Precision, but am not so sure about that anymore.

I haven't been a lot of help...

 

[OU812]

I've got an HS Precision stock on one rifle, and a B&C stock on another. They're both decent stocks, can't say that I prefer one over the other.

At one time I might have given the quality edge to HS Precision, but am not so sure about that anymore.

I haven't been a lot of help...

Yes you have, you've been honest. As for quality as HS slipped or B&C stepped up?

Bill

 

[JD338]

Bill,

I have always liked the HS Precision stocks but I have never owned one.
I was going to put a PSS009 on my 280 AI but fell into an LSS stock.
https://www.hsprecision.com/shop2/media ... e_2_25.jpg

JD338

 

[billbam]

I put my Rem 700 300WM in the B&C Alaskan II and like it alot. It also shot very well. I also had picked up one of their Tactical stocks and that one is also working out.
I think it comes down to which one you like the best. The B&C is a little cheaper if that matters.

 

[OU812]

I put my Rem 700 300WM in the B&C Alaskan II and like it alot. It also shot very well. I also had picked up one of their Tactical stocks and that one is also working out.
I think it comes down to which one you like the best. The B&C is a little cheaper if that matters.

Thanks for your input. The Alaskan II is the one I was looking at as well. The B&C is a little lighter which appeals to me.

How was the fit? Any additional alterations needed?

Bill

 

[billbam]

I had to sand out the pressure pads in the fore-end and just clean the barrel channel out. I haven't done any bedding yet. It shot well as it was. I may bed it when I get a chance.

 

[OU812]

I had to sand out the pressure pads in the fore-end and just clean the barrel channel out. I haven't done any bedding yet. It shot well as it was. I may bed it when I get a chance.

Not to much to ask, did the same on my 700 stocks. Looks like it shoots very well.

Bill

 

[SJB358]

Bill, I have a few of the B&C Medalists, I like them alot. They fit me very well and I have not bedded a single one and they shoot!

I am thinking of putting my Whelen in the B&C Alaskan as well. The wood gets pretty beat up on them and I think the weather resistance would be a nice advantage. Never had an HS stock, so I can't help there, but I do like the B&C's.

 

[billbam]

I do like the wooden classics but if you hunt hard, they do get some wear. I think your Whelen would be great in the Alaskan. When I was putting together my build for my Whelen, I was considering putting it in one also. But after speaking to my smith, (who does like them) I went with the McMillan to make it special. :wink:

 

[SJB358]

Yeah, the wood on the Whelen is pretty scarred up. It doesn't get any real special treatment at all, so it bears alot of those beauty marks!

I am not sure you could go wrong with the McM stocks. I would like to try one someday as well.

 

[Guy Miner]

"As for quality as HS slipped or B&C stepped up?"

I think B&C has improved. Years ago I looked at them, perhaps erroneously, as simply a low budget stock maker. A step up from the injection molded plastic stocks, but in those days I ranked them:

McMillan
HS Precision
Bell & Carlson

Factory injection molded

That was the way I saw it 15 years ago. I still put McMillan at the top of that pile, but I'd put HS Precision and Bell & Carlson as equals anymore.

Even some of the newer factory stocks seem much more substantial than the flimsy early type injection molded stuff. I got to work with a Rem 700 last year that had a surprisingly sturdy stock, with an excellent "classic" shape to it. Just the factory stock, but it worked really well on that .270 rifle. I was impressed. It was worlds better than the injection molded stock I got on a 700 ADL about 10 - 12 years ago.

Digressing somewhat from the B&C vs HS Precision discussion. Hmmm. I do that.

Youngest son at the 300 yard line with our ancient .30-06 in a Bell & Carlson stock, with a 6x Leupold. The stock is pretty rigid - although I can twist it a bit if I've got it on the bipod and try. This rifle was bedded and the barrel channel free-floated. It works real well, and cut a fair bit of weight from the rifle as well. For my purposes, with this rifle, it's a perfect stock:

HS Precision stock - it was the original equipment on my .308 Win/Rem 700 rifle. Several years ago I replaced it with a McMillan, but last fall for hunting season I put the rifle back into the HS stock to cut the weight a bit. The aluminum bedding block in this stock never quite married up with the receiver of this rifle - and it suffered a small "wandering zero" problem. That was cured by bedding the action to the stock. It's been great ever since, even if I pop it out, and into the McMillan for most of my shooting, then back again for hunting.

Yeah, I really ought to stop posting photos of November's dink, but I shot him for his backstraps, not his antlers!

Both are good stocks. Both required bedding. The HS is thicker and more rigid, it works better if I sling up and put some torque on the rifle while shooting. The B&C stock deflects more when I do that, but it's nowhere near as thick either.

Over the years, the HS stock has been painted a few times and has some skateboard tape glued under the fore-end too.

FWIW, Guy

 

[taylorce1]

If it were me for a lwt hunting stock I'd look at the Alaskan II or a McMillan Edge. I have an M70 LA Edge sitting waiting for a future build and it weighs 22 oz with recoil pad.

 

[joelkdouglas]

I have an HS Precision stock destined for the trash can, as I strongly dislike it.

For some reason the recoil out of the HS is significantly worse than the Rem stock that came with the rifle, and also much more than the McMillan she's in now. And I put a recoil reducer in the HS, and even pig heavy she's still worse in the recoil department. I also don't like the chunky feel of the HS.

I would vote 1. McMillan, 2. Manners, 3. Bell and Carlson. A Melvin Forbes stock would also be in here, somewhere between first and second. But I've not shot a rifle that had one.