so you want to assemble your own 10/22, the stock

[See previous posts on the receiver, fiddly bits, the bolt, the barrel, and the trigger group.]

So if you have been following along thus far, you should have all the parts, pieces, and assemblies necessary to put together a device that is capable of chambering a bullet and going bang… but it would not be particularly comfortable to shoot. Which is where the concept of "stocks" comes in.

And this is yet another area where I bow out. What you are looking for in a stock is very much a personal choice – do you want a pistol grip or not, do you want a fixed length of pull or adjustable, is it a bench-rest rifle or a field rifle, ambidextrous or not, wood or polymer, free floated or barrel banded? So on, so forth. Sometimes you are hamstrung by state laws (although Kalifornistan’s misnamed "assault weapon ban" does not apply to rimfire rifles), sometimes you have to meet certain requirements (like I had to be able to mount slings on my rifle, and did not feel comfortable trying to install said slings myself), and sometimes you just want it to look cool.

In any case, you can spend as much or as little on a stock as you want (yes, that first one does cost more than my whole rifle assembled does… I would be curious to handle one, but Lord knows if I could ever bring myself to actually do anything with it, lest I scratch it or in some other way offend its gods), but bear in mind that there are companies out there with very good reputations (Hogue, Volquartsen, Bell & Carlson, Tactical Solutions, etc.), and there are some companies with… not-so-good reputations. Finally, there are some companies I would never do business with even if I could afford their ridiculously overpriced gos-se. As always, it depends on what you plan on doing with the rifle – if it is going in your trunk to take care of varmints on the farm, a cheapie stock may be the way to go; if you plan on knocking down steel silhouettes at 200 yards (or whatever it is those crazy guys do), you might want something with a bit more stiffness in it.

So what did I do? I went with the tried-and-true, classic Hogue Overmolded stock with the rubber coating, for a few reasons reasons. First, I wanted something a little different from Better Half’s BLACKHAWK! Knoxx Axiom Stock, which is a frankly awesome stock in and of its own right (amusingly, this means my rifle is Federal-Assault-Weapon-Ban compliant, while hers is not; yes, the law was that stupid). Second, it came with the necessary sling swivels for Appleseed already installed. And third, it makes the rifle look more "sleeper"-ish; honestly, I would have preferred a classic walnut stock especially with my octagon barrel, but aftermarket versions of those capable of accepting bull barrels were almost twice as much, and given I was already bouncing off my budget cap… here we are.

Really, for most of us, stock choice comes down to "what looks shiny" and "what feels comfortable", and for those folks who are looking for something specific, you already know what you are looking for, so why should I rehash it? Have fun.

(Stock pictures borrowed from Brownells.)