In my opinion, once your in front of the recoil lug and screw, and with a barrel that doesn’t touch the wood anyway, make this area as you want it. Obviously getting to radically thin would not be a good idea but the wood doesn’t support anything anyway. I don’t work with bolt guns, do many single shots, but did restock a Remington 788 so I’m definitely not claiming to be an expert. I don’t like big bulky looking guns and like the wood to get smaller as it goes forward. I like that top edge to narrow considerably going forward and do not make it a flat surface on top. I prefer to roll it up to the barrel from the side. Also rolling it down around to the belly. By doing both of these gets you away from the square looking modern stock.
I also work only from blanks, and prefer not to use duplicated stocks, so the comment about getting it to thin does not apply to what I do but probably does for you.
Bob
Last edited by rwarren; 04/30/25 10:59 AM.
