The first custom benchrest rifle I ever owned had a sleeved sako action and a McMillan stock. It shot really well, but I never liked the stock, it seemed really ugly to me. However, there was no doubt that the McMillan stock has probably won more benchrest matches in Australia than any other.

I recently was in the market to build a new rifle having had to sell my trusty Nesika due to a few matrimonial problems!

I had been following the Viper action since its inception as I had seen a very early version at Speedy Gonzales workshop in Texas a few years ago. I had never even considered buying one, but since David Kerr in Perth had one in stock and I wanted to build a new rifle, this was a relatively easy decision. And, since he had an Edge stock to suit in stock as well, there was my choice made for me!

The stock as shipped was beautifully finished. It had a moulded swirl finish in green and white and would have looked fine straight on a rifle. However, I don’t really like that swirl finish, so I gave it a black paintjob, with the idea of adding aboriginal dot artwork at a later time.

Stock design is shown above from a picture on the McMillan website. It is a little like the older style McMillan stocks, but has a flat rail to ride the bags and the butt is more hexagonal in shape. The butt has a hole that is threaded at the end so I had no trouble making a brass weight to fit.

I found that the stock feels really good, however, I would have liked it a bit wider in the pistol grip.

As the Viper required a cutout for the drop port to function, I milled the stock with no problems. As the stock is solid, this was really easy and it cut very well.

I really like the stock, particularly the ease of finishing, this will save hours of work over a more traditional fibreglass stock. This stock is a little more costly than others, but may well be worth it in the end, but with everything in benchrest, it is the results that count!!!