Laminate stock defects on new Wildcat

[dryflyelk]

Hi gentlemen -

I just got my first FX airgun and first bullpup in the mail - a laminate .22 Wildcat. Can't wait to put it through it's paces! I want to get your opinion on the stock, however. The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was that the laminate stock (a $300 up charge) had some issues. It looks like there were some problems during manufacturing and there are quite a few small defects in it. 

I've attached a pic of the worst area. What do you think? Acceptable or no?

I've sent an email to AOA to see if they can help me and swap it out. We'll see what they say.

 

[dryflyelk]

I should also add that the gray laminate stock of my $400 weihrauch looks much cleaner and better done than this one - who knows, maybe they are made by the same company and this one was just a dud. I've seen quite a few pictures of the laminate wildcats and haven't seen these issues on any others.

 

[Berky]

Unacceptable! 

 

[TKA87]

That is unbelievably awful. I love laminate stocks but if I ordered a laminate Wildcat and my stock looked like that I would be furious. I am a Wildcat owner myself and just called AOA a few days ago to see how much it would cost just for the laminate stock by itself and they said $496 or something close to that which doesn't make sense because a brand new laminate wildcat is $1700 but to just buy the laminate stock is almost $500!!! Why is the stock $200 more than the whole gun? Dude send that back and tell them that's unacceptable. I have nothing personal against AOA and I think their an asset to the airgunning community. I'm actually mad for you I had such Hi hopes for the laminate stock but I'm not dropping $500 on a fancy stock for my wildcat and risking it showing up like that. Good luck with your dealing with this issue and I really hope you get it solved. In fact I'm getting ready to trade my wildcat hopefully for a Daystate. It's an amazing gun and crazy accurate but I'm on a quest to find a keeper plus I'm trying to get back into more traditional rifles I'm kind of over this Bullpup craze.

 

[T3PRanch]

I get the impression from the many AOA Videos of testing new guns that they check each gun and put their check sheet in the box. Is this true or not? If so then someone was asleep at the wheel.

Thurmond

 

[TKA87]

Or drunk!!! I just know that I really wanted to buy the laminate stock for my Wildcat but this thread has scared me away from doing that now. Oh and besides the fact I'm going to be listing it for trade but how disappointed would you be if you were in his shoes, and AOA double boxes their gun plus there's soft padding inside the box so even if the shipping carrier was rough with it you still wouldn't end up with that type of damage.

 

[dryflyelk]

It should be noted that these marks are not nicks in the wood - you can't feel them with your fingers. They are imperfections in the wood itself and spots where the dye in the laminate didn't quite take somehow. There are more of these marks on other parts of the stock as well.

 

[Michael]

Curious to hear what some professional wood-workers have to say. Maybe Steve Corcoran will chime in.

 

[Rami939]

If I were you,I would not fire that gun until AoA give you an answer .
Don't put any marks on it ,or,they might blame you .
There's no way they have not seen THAT !

 

[Scott_MCT]

It wouldn't accept that. Had a few blue or grey laminate and much lower prices and no issues like what you posted.

 

[FearnLoading]

I hate scratches on Guns. This looks like small drill holes. Return it mate. 

 

[ozone08]

I actually don't think it looks bad at all I think it gives it a bit of character but If your not happy with it send it back im sure they will understand and give you a replacement.

 

[amoxom]

I would say that while these are cosmetic marks. The birch laminate veneers used to make these blanks cannot be without some anomalies here and there. This is true of ANY wood, and some would say these small flaws add character to the wood. You will always get some type of speck, flaw, hole, somewhere. In this case, it looks like the dye used in the alternating colors, did not penetrate the wood. This could be due to denser wood in some areas, or small birds eye flecks, or sap specks. That said, it is possible that the flawed piece could have been placed somewhere else in the veneer stack so it was either milled out or hidden. As I said, it is cosmetic, is it ideal? No, but is to be expected in some cases. I do not think the small flaws present any issue function or strength wise, as the wood is formed under high pressure with epoxy being forced into the wood fibers. Now will AoA change it is the question. They may look at it and say it's a naturally occurring flaw, nothing we can do, or they can swap it out. 

 

[Alan]

Well, you could immerse camo it, and you wouldn't see the defects! 

 

[ozone08]

here is one of my laminates with some similar marks.

 

[Nueces]

One should not expect wood to appear like faux wood made out of some kind of plastic. These marks are part of the 'figure' of the wood. JMO

 

[dryflyelk]

Ozone, I may be blind but I'm not seeing the marks on your stock.

The marks on my stock jump out as they are white/light color. It was literally the first thing I saw when I opened the box - the really jump out. They appear to be scratches but aren't. 

I have several laminate stock guns and they are all uniform in color and appearance, which IMO is one of the benefits of laminate. You get the grain of the wood but you avoid the dings and dents you get from regular wood. Honestly, this is the most poorly finished laminate stock I've had out of about 6 different rifles. 

I'm sure FX contracts them out to another company to do. As I said before, I went through all the pics of these wildcat stocks I could find online and I didn't see another one with the same issues mine has. I think this particular batch just had some quality control that slipped through the cracks. I would have expected 1) FX to catch it and not accept it as a 1st quality stock, but instead a blem or 2nd, and/or 2) AOA to see it in when they took the rifle out to test it and either swap it out or send it back. 

They are charging $300 more for this stock - I'm not sure how much of that is straight profit, but I'll bet it's a good chunk. I'd expect them to be dang near perfect for the up charge cost, especially for a base rifle that's $1400. When I'm into the whole thing close to $2000, I want the thing to be perfect, and it should be.

 

[Nutcracker]

I didn't know wood could rust. They look rust spots to me.

 

[AirgunBill]

"amoxom"I would say that while these are cosmetic marks. The birch laminate veneers used to make these blanks cannot be without some anomalies here and there. This is true of ANY wood, and some would say these small flaws add character to the wood. You will always get some type of speck, flaw, hole, somewhere. In this case, it looks like the dye used in the alternating colors, did not penetrate the wood. This could be due to denser wood in some areas, or small birds eye flecks, or sap specks. That said, it is possible that the flawed piece could have been placed somewhere else in the veneer stack so it was either milled out or hidden. As I said, it is cosmetic, is it ideal? No, but is to be expected in some cases. I do not think the small flaws present any issue function or strength wise, as the wood is formed under high pressure with epoxy being forced into the wood fibers. Now will AoA change it is the question. They may look at it and say it's a naturally occurring flaw, nothing we can do, or they can swap it out.

I agree with amoxom about what is going on with the marks being cosmetic and their potential causes. However the concentration of your marks in one area draw your attention to the marks and are unacceptable to me. These marks may not bother some but AOA should find you another stock with no cosmetic defects or that they are few, more spaced and less noticeable. Bill

 

[AZBOBCAT]

It is wood so you will always have imperfections. Small voids that didn't pick up the dye, probably could have been touched up in manufacturing but these are not what I would call fancy grade stocks more like field grade so they are not going to spend time touching them up. Why do they cost so much? Well you have the manufacturer the distributer and the shop making a profit on a stock, the distributer sells them to the public for the same price as a shop.. how much is a laminate Boyds stock?