Stocky's Long-Range Stocks

For years on end, Don Bitz has had a passion for refurbishing rifles but found few choices when it came to buying replacement stocks.

- John Haviland

The slim selection mostly included injection-molded stocks in basic black. That prompted him to start working with laminated wood stocks, synthetic stocks made by Bell and Carlson, and eventually selling stocks.

“I bought a hundred stocks from this outfit and another hundred from that company,” Bitz said, “with plans of selling them on eBay.” The stocks sold within a few weeks, telling him there was a demand for replacement stocks. A hobby quickly turned into a full-time business. In 2006, Bitz opened his Stocky’s Stocks website and began selling stocks in styles from crazy to classic made of walnut, wood laminate and synthetic from a variety of manufacturers. Bitz, however, had his own ideas of what materials, dimensions and barrel/receiver fit a proper stock should have and eventually developed his own stock designs, manufactured for him by other stock companies.

Recently Bitz took the expensive step to make his own stocks. His Long Range Composite (LRC) stock is injection-molded and fits short and standard-length Remington Model 700 barreled receivers. “Injection-molded” is a general term for stocks usually made of various thermoplastics like polypropylene with its melting point that makes it ideal for synthetic stocks. “A key reason for making stocks out of polypropylene is the material is inexpensive and you can get a stock’s weight down to around two pounds,” Bitz said. Because the stocks are flexible and relatively soft, though, they are often disparagingly described as Tupperware stocks.

Bitz says his LRC stock is poles apart from other injection-molded stocks. The LRC is made of a compound of 43 percent fiberglass-filled nylon. “This heavy material is injected under 120 tons of pressure, or twice that of regular injection-molded stocks, to make sure the mold is completely filled,” Bitz said.