[BoltTrash]

While there have been a few stock options for the M40 enthusiasts, they all required a substantial amount of shaping, inlet and fit-up work and many times, the geometry and axis alignment, along it's length, was poor (crooked.)

In response, an enthusiast and builder has brought a new CNC executed product to the market. I purchased one in his initial offering and my stocker is very impressed with the detail and quality of this stock. Please see profile photos of my stock:

Taylor Precision Engineering LLC
http://taylorprecisioneng.com/

Based on availability, options which include butt plates and/or swivels installed and prefinished models, are also currently offered.

Feel free to contact Taylor Precision directly.

Just thought I'd pass this along...

Good luck!!

BT

 

[smoothy8500]

A little pricey, but they do look pretty good.

 

[WaM14gunner]

About 10 years ago I was bit by the M40 bug and put one together, with help from gunsmiths of course. I did all the stock work which means I purchased a whole rifle an early .308 carbine ADL 700. I sanded and scrubbed off all the checkering and cut the mortise for the BDL floorplate, got the mag/floorplate from Brownells I think, bought a Shilen barrel, gave it to a local smith to fit and space to the action, sent the metal off to a Parkerizing guy in the Midwest who gave me grey instead of the greenish I asked for but oh well. Result is an excellent shooting rifle, one I wont ever sell.

 

[BoltTrash]

About 10 years ago I was bit by the M40 bug and put one together, with help from gunsmiths of course. I did all the stock work which means I purchased a whole rifle an early .308 carbine ADL 700. I sanded and scrubbed off all the checkering and cut the mortise for the BDL floorplate, got the mag/floorplate from Brownells I think, bought a Shilen barrel, gave it to a local smith to fit and space to the action, sent the metal off to a Parkerizing guy in the Midwest who gave me grey instead of the greenish I asked for but oh well. Result is an excellent shooting rifle, one I wont ever sell.

It certainly is a contagious bug and doing a 'correct' M40 clone is no small task, as anyone who has undertaken this project can attest to.

10 Years ago, the only place that was still doing the elusive 'green' parkerizing was just across the border, from Detroit, in Canada. It was/is a very exacting chemical process and not always successful, but absolutely beautiful when it was and not at all cheap, costing about +3X the cost of the standard parkerizing job. Add that cost to the requirements to hire a licensed Canadian shipping agent and the permit costs to ship to and from the vendor and your green parkerizing job would have cost about U.S.$1,100.00 . It was our own E.P.A. through progressive levels of regulatory code, which first made it almost prohibitively expensive to ship, then prohibitively expensive to get a license to transport, then prohibitively expensive to store and dispose of and eventually illegal to even own.

These 'Taylor Engineering' stocks have tight tolerance 'drop-in' quality inletting. The stock I purchased will require my stocker to fit-up my original butt plate, relieve the barrel channel to my 'free-float' requirement and then bed the barreled action and bottom metal, before final finishing. Other options are available if someone wants to skip all of parts collection and fit and finish steps.

I'll upload a few photos, so the fit-up on an 'as-delivered,' direct out-of-the box stock can be viewed.

Opinions may and do vary, but given that an original M40 stock, which comes to market, can run in the four (4) figure dollar range (+/- $2K,) a literal drop-in quality stock, fully detailed to the original contour and with all of the sought after M40 identifying features, puts this stock, at the current price, in the 'bargain' range for the M40 'clone' builder.

 

[WaM14gunner]

I had the distinct pleasure a few years ago of visiting with a fellow locally who had come by a real M40. There was no question it was the real deal, had all the proper markings, serial number range, cuts and notches where they belonged etc. He told me it was destined to end up in the hands of a well known sniper from Vietnam but didn't actually tell me who. I don't know if that ever happened but it sure was neat to be able to handle the rifle.

 

[BoltTrash]

Photos (3) to illustrate the Taylor Engineering out of the box drop-in quality inletting:

Thanks!

 

[WaM14gunner]

I have that scope too, sadly in gloss black. The one I saw also had the green scope. The stock does look good.

 

[andyh1956]

That's nice wood. wonder if they make it in a long action?

 

[DepTaylor]

That's nice wood. wonder if they make it in a long action?

Hey Andy,

I am only doing short actions right now. I may do a run of LAs in the future, but I have 5-6 projects that I need to complete first.

Thanks for the compliment!

Here is a picture of one of my stocks with a barreled scoped action.