Why do wood stocks crack?

fastcarsgofast

I see a lot of older shotguns and rifles with cracked stocks, but have never had one crack on me. What causes this. Is it abuse, neglect, poor quality wood, or what? I love the look of wood stocks, but want to pass my guns on to my children. I was wanting to know so I could either replace all my wood with synthetics or do what is necessary to preserve it.

woodshermit

Depends on the gun, too. Many of the old Winchester semi-autos will have cracked wood from the stress of recoil in those actions, for example. Drying out could be a factor, too. Hard to say without knowing the history of the particular piece.

mrbruce

The majority of those old guns have a lot of oil in the area where wood meets steel and after some time they don't hold up as good as when dry, and steady recoil starts to beat em pretty bad causing them to split because of the soft wood... Drain the old oil and glass it to the receiver and it's no longer a problem...
Keep the stock free of oil and keep it dry and you'll never have a problem....

He Dog

In some cases the problem is the design of the action. L.C. Smiths for example tend to crack behind that rather pointed side cover because the force of recoil drives back into that small area.

Wehrmacht_45

Or if they are recoil operated, they tend to beat the forearms to death as well like the Browning Auto 5, Remmy 11, and Franchi AL48