Those old enough will remember the TV Show called the A-Team will be especially interested in this post.....
In the early 1980's The President of NBC, Brandon Tartikoff, had an idea for a TV show that would combine elements of Hill Street Blues (a police drama), The Dirty Dozen (WWII movie), Mission Impossible (a Spy movie), Mad Max (dystopian drama) and The Magnificent Seven (a western) with Mr.T driving the car.
Stephen J. Cannel and Frank Lupo, a team that worked on many hit TV shows, created the story about former U.S. Army Special Forces team members who were wrongly convicted of a war crime they didn't commit.
They escaped the military stockade and worked as soldiers of fortune in the Los Angeles underground....."If you have a problem, if no one else can help and you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team" ...cue intro music....
Built on the original tooling, or molds I should say, the only difference between the new ones and the old ones is the grip material and the stock material. The original grips were made of a shiny Bakelite, which were brittle (and got more so as they aged), and the stocks were made of birch.
The new stocks are made of satin finished walnut with a matte, fiber reenforced nylon grip, both of these are welcome changes.
Ruger also introduced a blued version for the Mini-14 as well as a "B-TM" stock in blued and stainless for the 10-22.
The A-TM moniker had to be used to avoid trademark infringements, the B-TM just felt appropriate, I guess.
My rifle does have a folding stock, but it is a Butler Creek version, and it was on the gun when I purchased it.
The other day I was on ShopRuger.com looking for something else and decided I would check to see if the stocks were in stock....pardon the pun.
The outside of the box had some damage, but I wasn't too worried.
Ruger packed the box inside a box, so the inner box was 100% intact.
The fit and finish is superb. I know a bit about finishing walnut and the finish on this is perfect, filled grain, smooth as glass and everything fits like it should.
Ruger not only provided instructions, but also a return form in case you were unhappy with your purchase (has never happened to me with ANYTHING from Ruger).
For those of you not familiar with the stock, I'll show you some of the finer details:
The lever also is used to open the butt plate to the vertical (open) position and horizontal (closed) position.
This spring-loaded button locks the butt stock into the open position. It is tapered so you do not need to push it to open up the stock, only to fold it back up.
This notch is for a QD style sling swivel, it is left over from the original AC 556 stock as it had a corresponding side sling mount on the front gas block.
Luckily Samson makes these sling mounts. They of course called it the BA sling mount for B.A. Baracus, played by Mr.T.
Four styles are available, pre and post 2007, and in 303 stainless or black oxide 4140 chrome moly steel.
Looking for an email address for you, mine is jimmy.mcmurry@gmail.com I have a ruger 44 mag carbine that I might be interested in restoring
ReplyDeleteVery nice review on the stock, they certainly do look nice. I have a Marlin Model 60 stock, I remember you said you were looking for one a while back. If you might be interested, let me know how to contact you via email.
ReplyDeletemy email is knuckleheadparts at gmail dot com
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