If you are talking about walnut stocks with a good quality finish, I agree. Walnut stocks are much better looking than any plastic stock. And scratches only add "character" to the firearm.

But...in many cases the "wood" that is put on many shotguns is birch stained to look like walnut or stocks made of laminate and both types are usually poorly finished and look like h*ll after a short time.

In that case.....give me plastic.....

I prefer wood for targets and dove, but anytime i get near mud, thorns and barbed wire, i carry synthetic. All my guns must have a magnetic pull toward those things because no matter how hard I try to aviod it, my gun always ends up with more "character", as jjas said, than I'd like.

I like wood stocks better.

I've tried to warm up to plastic stocks, particularly when thinking about a home-defense shotgun - I can see the advantages of a rugged, who-cares-about-it stock when hunting gets nasty or for knocking about the home or riding in a truck - but they always leave me cold. Ugly and devoid of character, plastic guns hold no real interest for me. I also don't like the feel of them. I much prefer a quality laminated stock if I need something that rugged. A nicely checkered, nicely figured walnut (particularly on a gun with a high-polish bluing) is what gets my heart pounding, but even straight-grained walnut has a warmth, beauty, and feel that just seems to vanquish plastic guns from consideration. My $$ always seem to follow walnut.

Yeah, Phil those black stocks are surely ugly but they just about indestructable. I do not have any shotguns with synthetic stocks but both of my slugguns have them. Weight is one of the reasons for the synthetics on those guns. also they are impervious to the elements. I too like the glow of fine wood stocks and would not trade any of the ones I have. Nothing like the soft glint of the sun coming from fine walnut

I don't know abut ducks, but I am convinced that pheasants prefer to be killed with good-looking walnut-stocked guns.

Thanks Lang, I think it's sweet that you're around everyday too.

And Phil, you forgot to mention how synthetic stocks are lighter. I own one wooden shotgun and its above the fireplace.

Both types of stocks have their uses...and places. I have both and definitely prefer the aesthetics of wood. But wood must be taken care of. I live in FLA and rain is often an issue. I love my 11-87 turkey special in part because I beieve the camo helps and spring showers are an ever present hazard in many areas of the country (actually, that is our dry season). Not to mention it's lighter so I can haul it over hill and dale...and swamp. My .270 700 BDL is black and I made the right choice there. I won an A-Bolt .300 WSM and was disappointed to see that someone had left a big gash in an otherwise beautiful walnut stock when they put it back on the display table at the sportsmen's banguet. Still shoots great, though. All of my upland guns are wood. Had to borrow back a black 11-87 I gave my brother-in-law for Christmas when I went on a goose/sandhill hunt in TX. It got so muddy I had to clean it 3X to make it presentable to return it. Good thing is wasn't wood.

There's pro's and con's with both types of stock, but for me the one thing I don't care for about plastic is that it seems slippery to me. I don't quite get why they when with the color black instead of say a blackish gray color, maybe it had to do with saving some dollars? I don't know.

With Upland game bird hunting it may be acceptable to hunt with synthetics; but a man aught not be proud of it.

Back in the early 1950's, I purchased my first new firearm, a Stephens 20 gauge side by side through Sears & Roebuck, or Montgomery Ward, don't recall which. When it arrived I was dismayed and crushed to discover it had a plastic stock, which was not mentioned in the catalog. To ease my pain and disappointment my Father consoled me by saying synthetics would be the wave of the future. His attempts to make me feel better were somewhat prophetic.

As I recall the the twenty shot just fine. Kindest Regards

All my guns have wood stocks and I plan on keeping it that way.

i dont care what your rifle has on it, but dammit a shotgun should have a wood stock!!!!!

What's the big deal with aesthetics of synthetic stocks?

Go to your local bookstore or library and pick a book on faux finishing. It's easy to paint up nearly anything to look like wood. Just do a little practice on something else, like a toy, before you tackle your actual stock.

Good post Phil. Wood has character. A wood stock is made from something that was once alive, the same as you and the birds.

Synthetic stocks are made from chemicals, which at one time may or may not have been alive. They have never had character and remain without a soul.

I have two plastic guns,a little .22 rifle and a Baretta Pintail with a rifled barrel.Great guns and good shooters and while I know they serve a purpose,I can't love them, I just can't.

On the other hand, If I ever have to paddle a boat back to the launch with my shotgun, I'm wanting synthetic. I know an old guy who paddled a bass boat a mile back with his crutch. Said he bought a paddle at the first store.

As for feel, some of the new Benellis have something on the forearms and pistol grip area that actually seems to give you good control.

And, I'm a double-gun guy, but those same Benellis handle better than most of the other autoloaders I've picked up. I actually think I could hit something with an M2.

But I have heard - think it was even on the "Gun Nuts" TV show - that some of these synthetic buttstocks will fill up with water, yaknow, should they be used as paddles or dropped into the drink. I spose if you dropped a wood gun in the water, whatever recesses there were in it would fill up too.

I don't have a synthetic stocked shotgun. If I need a stock that can take some abuse, I prefer a laminated stock.

"I believe upland birds generally prefer to be killed with good looking guns."

That should go in a book.

i really do not care if you call them plastic or synthetic, or even baked dinosaur goo. the fact of the matter is they are ugly. in my opinion, they make ugly look good. but, they are tough. tougher than most things. drop them. kick it, hit it with a hammer, and they bounce right back. they may even survive being shot. but wood, while having all of its bad habits, looks beautiful. personally, i will buy a synthetic stocked gun when they figure out how to make it look at least decent. i do not need a beauty queen. with extremely fancy wood, and a 12 layer finish. but i do want a gun that looks nice. when they can make an imitation stock look close to a nice new wood stock, then i will buy one. until then, i want wood. not military ugly beat half to death wood, but a nice, sharply checkered finished wood that anyone would be proud to own. the prey i shoot may not care what i have in my hands, but i certainly do. laminate wood is perfectly acceptable, as long as it is done correctly. life is to shot to carry ugly guns. if it was not, hi point pistols would be the most popular pistols on the market. and Yugo cars would still be all over the place. looks matter, in cars, girls, guns, even houses. i certainly will not say never, but right now i will say NO to plastic.

I love wood it was hard to look at synthetic but in the field you can't beat the peace of mind that you didn't destroy a good piece of wood.

Haverodwilltravel,

I'm completely in agreement with you on semiaiutos. I'm not really a snob. I'm highly in favor of things that work. Hunting upland birds, doubles work best for me, but if the weather was real bad, a semiauto - with a synthetic stock - would be cool.

A question: Is it difficult to go from a double to your Benelli and then back the other way? Like I said before, an M2 seems to mount almost like a double. I think the Benelli folks understand balance better than say Remington or Beretta.

Darn-it! Just spilled my beer. I get so interested in this stuff, I forget what I'm doing. Oh well, it's a good excuse to open another.

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