Well, here was my thought sequence.
First I was just going to order a set of 95% inletted stocks from Macon, then I read lots of bad things about Macon.
Then I looked at some of the better duplicators, still I have to either buy or come up with the wood, then ship it, then pay the labor to do it, runs several hundred dollars minimum, and I wouldn't be able to choose the grain layout.
Then I realized that the comb height and width just isn't going to work for me, and the fore-end needs a little more "s" shape to the profile to suit me, and needs a swell in the width to fit my hand better, so duplicating is pretty much out of the question. This is a "restification", not a restoration, since I'm making the rifle to suit ME and not necessarily keeping it in original form.
Walnut is ok, but not my favorite. I much prefer cherry, maple, pecan, or mesquite.
So that leads me to sourcing my own blanks, and carving it myself.
Bill and Jon, your offers are generous and much appreciated, but I'm leaning a different way at the moment, subject to change as always!
Keith, I have a high opinion of properly-made, laminated wood stocks. They are light, very strong, very stable, very inexpensive....and look like a piece of vinyl-veneered Chinese office furniture IMO. They are best painted, or painted and hydro-dipped in a nice camo pattern.
I wouldn't dream of putting one on an antique Savage levergun.....unless of course I put that quad-rail handguard, bipod, and folding red dot/laser sight combo on it too..
Here's one of my Swedish Mausers done in some of the more plain cherry some years ago, back before I figured out out to properly finish tight-grained hardwood
Forgive the "apprentice marks" where I over-ran the checkering borders in a spot or two.
You wouldn't have believed a person could have made a full-sized rifle stock out of that particular tree, it was only about 10" in diameter a foot off the ground and only had one good half. By the time I got rid of most of the sapwood and the rotten core, the stock itself was just about all that was left.