Well, as I reported to the Australian who was interested, it took Ruger three tries to give me a laminated stock that did not crack or crumble as delivered from the factory when shooting a 250 grain Hornady over 66 grains of DuPont IMR 4350. After about 100 shots it appears they did good. Except for the initial sending fee, Ruger paid for all shipping to and from their facility.
I would also like to report the following on the performance of this rifle.
This is a very accurate rifle, capable of 3 shot groups at 100 yards under 1 MOA.
The trigger is one of the best out of box triggers I've gotten from any brand in the last 20 years.
Ruger installed their iron sights for $125. This was significantly less expensive than any gunsmith I could find.
The New England Custom Gun N-100 aperture works well on this rifle, holding even under the recoil of the .338WM.
The weight of this rifle with scope makes it shootable for extended periods from the sitting and offhand positions at 200 yards. I am not sure that I would personally want a .338WM lighter than this rifle. It is about 1 lb. lighter than my Winchester Model 70 Classic Super Express in .375H&H, and they recoil about the same, the upper limit for me to shoot accurately out to 300 yards or so.
