Visit to Gary Cane

[AdminMASTER]

credit: http://www.fieldtargetworld.co.uk/gary-cane-gun-stocks/

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"Early Saturday morning I set off for a bit of a drive to visit Gary Cane Gun Stocks. I’ve already been over to see him once, just before Christmas. This was to take my new Ripley AR5s action to him so he could ensure a perfect fit for the new stock he was going to make for me. Today I was going for the final fitting and a fist look at my new Field Target Stock.

Gary Cane is a very friendly chap, very welcoming and happy to have a chat and a cuppa. When I arrived my stock was waiting in the front office for me, i’ll make no apologies for the fact I was a little excited…alright a lot excited!

I took a few photos with my phone, so they’re not great but I think you’ll get the idea. Most of the work has been done, the finish is relatively smooth, about 120 grit paper smooth if you know your sandpaper. Basically there is just the stippling, final sanding and lacquering to do. The primary reason for my fitting is to check the hand grip fits me nicely and the length of pull, also check the overall feel and characteristics. I’ve brought along my System Gemini to fit so I can properly try it out.

My first impressions were displayed by the big grin on my face. It looks exactly as I had hoped, of course it looks a bit light and washed out in it’s raw sanded state, but I can see that once it’s finished and lacquered it’s going to be just right. I was surprised when I picked it up, I thought it was going to be heavier as the first thing people say about laminated stocks is how heavy they are. The hamster and cheek piece were both in their fully closed position to start, it will have knobs fitted to make adjustment easy but for now they have allen bolts countersunk for working on the woodwork. I did adjust them, they look and feel perfect for me. Even in this state it felt very comfortable.

Gary was interested in making the hand grip as comfortable as possible for me, so after testing the position several times he went to work marking it out. I found my fingers were slightly crossing the gentle grooves in the hand grip, so Gary penciled around them and headed into one of his workshops to reshape it. After making some changes, testing, changing a bit more, it fitted perfectly. To be honest I felt like I was being a bit picky, you’d probably not even notice the bits he changed if you picked it up. However, Gary wanted to make sure my custom stock was exactly that, custom, for me, perfect.

Once that had been done we talked through what work was left to do. Just the stippling on the hand grip and I asked for some stippling on the lower side of the hamster rail. He will fit slightly longer uplift bars in the cheek adjustment as I’ll be using a Riser Rail for my scope. The final sanding of course with the lacquering, I’ve decided to have a satin finish on my stock. I love the look of the high gloss finish, it really makes the wood look deep, but it can be chipped easier and I’m not keen on the feel in my hands.

So, when will I get my hands on the new stock? Gary said if all goes well he may be able to get it in the post Thursday this week. I might actually just go next Saturday and collect it. We’ll have to see how it goes. Either way, I’ll be shooting my new setup inside the next two weeks after waiting over 4 months for it all to come together.

As a bonus, I’ll be winning a pound. Not just any pound, a pound from Conor McFlynn, the Irish Pumpmaster General who bet me I wouldn’t be shooting it this month. Hey Conor, while I was there Gary showed me your new prototype hand grip, the one you haven’t seen yet and I have "