Floor plate or no floor plate, need help???

[Pappasniper]

I bought my son a "Mcwoody" McMillian stock for his rem 700 hunting rifle. I have a qualified gunsmith to build it out. It is not cut out yet. And I can choose to keep the drop plate or not keep it.

My gunsmith thinks its better to not have the drop plate Maybe he just doesn't want to do it, but he says it will be stronger which makes sense.

What are your thoughts guys. I have never had a gun that did NOT have the plate.

Thank you for your help.

It's the gun my son shot his elk with and will deer hunt with for years. It's very accurate.

 

[Temp9]

Re: Floor plate or no floor plate, need help???

I think your smith is just being lazy. How attached are you to your gunsmith? It may be time to find a new one.

From what I understand, the Marine Corps has been using stocks inletted for either a hinged floorplate or a DBM from years and years. I don't recall ever hearing about a McMillan stock failing because of it.

 

[The Surgeons Ghost]

Re: Floor plate or no floor plate, need help???

By drop plate, are you referring to the stock Remington hinged floor plate?

 

[The Surgeons Ghost]

Re: Floor plate or no floor plate, need help???

Having bottom metal or no bottom metal will not effect the structural integrity of the stock. That is it will not affect the stock as long as it is done right. JMHO, but your smith is full of more shit than a Xmas turkey. No, but really I feel the case is here, your smith just does not want to cut the stock out and put the floor plate in. That being the case, this tells me that the smith is less than qualified. If you have the "gut impression", which is usually correct, that the smith does not want to do the job then I would find a new smith. It is common for smiths to make suggestions based on experience. But no smith worth their salt will leave a customer with the impression that "they don't want to make an installation for the customer." If he feels it will make the stock stronger to not have a floor plate, this tells me he is probably not very good at installing them. Most smiths are going to charge you to install any bottom metal on a stock that is uncut and he is telling you it makes it stronger to not have the bottom metal. Interesting that a smith is turning down money, especially since it does not affect the structural integrity of the stock. Floor plate or no floor plate, your decision, but you need to find a new smith regardless.

 

[XTREM HTR16]

Re: Floor plate or no floor plate, need help???

I would sell the McWoody ADL stock and order a new McWoody BDL or DBM configuration, whichever floats your boat.

I have several blind mag stocks for hunting and have not felt that I was missing anything. Floorplates HAVE opened accidentally before...

 

[Pappasniper]

Re: Floor plate or no floor plate, need help???

Thanks FOR THE REPLIES. The smith is competent. He has done work for me and he did a McWoody for himself and suggested I get the stock. I think he just prefers that for himself. He is quite good , he just has a different opinion from most.

Others have told me they had stocks without the floor plates and prefer them as Kimber7wsm. However, I think I prefer them, but I just wanted to confirm it is a preference thing and not one being better than the other.

Thanks for the info.

PB

 

[leadbullet]

Re: Floor plate or no floor plate, need help???

If the original rifle comes with it, put it on the new stock, it won't hurt anything and makes unloading the rifle faster and easier.

 

[RyanScott]

Re: Floor plate or no floor plate, need help???

Blind magazines resist the spreading of the stock that happens with heavy recoil. In heavy, small caliber rifles it's unimportant. I wouldn't hesitate to build a rifle with a blind magazine.

 

[lonely_wolf]

Re: Floor plate or no floor plate, need help???

The only reason I would not put a floorplate or DBM on a rifle is if I was building a single shot.

Otherwise, no floorplate offers few advantages and many disadvantages. The biggest being you have to cycle cartridges to empty the rifle. Another, it makes it a bit more difficult to clean and keep clean.

A floorplate offers no disadvantages that I can thing of.

If a floorplate is accidentally opening it needs a stiffer spring.

 

[Pappasniper]

Re: Floor plate or no floor plate, need help???

I've never had a blind floor plate. I can see the advantage of it. That's all I've used. My Smith said, if you want to change it, he will gladly do it for me. I'm going to give it a try and see what I think.

My biggest concern is cleaning the gun. And shit getting into the well. That being said, I'm going for it. It's only a 270 win, so not a big recoil issue. Just going to give it try.