Finished! I have never carved a moose before, but this gunstock carving has been a joy to do.  The gun is a Ruger 300 Mag with a stainless steel barrel. It also have a stainless steel scope to top it off. After looking at many pictures on the internet.  I found a picture of a moose I just couldn’t pass up. The carving is of an Alaskan moose. The scenery in Alaska is breath taking. I am looking forward to the day I can go visit, take my own pictures and enjoy what Mother Nature has given to us to protect and share. Then return and carve the images I will have on film as well as in my mind into wood. “The last frontier,” is what my husband would say. I would agree with him.

 Here is my rendition of this picture.  The gun has been custom carved and painted. I chose this large caliber of gun to put the moose carving on because in my mind you need a large caliber gun to bring down an animal of this size. Whether you choose to have your gun painted or left natural is up to you. Either way the end result is a beautiful, one of a kind artistic master piece. One you will be proud to own and display. I’m sure this gun will be hand down from generation to generations.

This gun as well as many others is for sale. I will have this gun with me at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show in Salt Lake City, Utah, this September 25, 26, 2010. Please come and look me up I would enjoy meeting and visiting with you. If you have a comment, please feel free to leave one below. I enjoy all the feed back I receive. Thanks and happy hunting! Deb

Update March 7, 2010: I have had a hard time finishing this gun. The burs I use have been back ordered for the past three weeks.  Pictures will be put on here either Monday or Tuesday. Thanks for waiting so patiently!

 Today I have started another gun. It is a Ruger .243 Model M77. This Ruger gunstock carving has been inspired after finding a mount from a taxidermist. It is of a mountain lion attacking a mule deer. The image that formed in my mind helped me develop this custom carving on this gunstock. (Pictures will be forth coming). To bring some of the old west into this century has been a wonderful experience. This gun has been carved and painted to show the detail even more.

Just a little history of the M77 Ruger rifles. They where first produced in 1968.

Design details

From the beginning, the Ruger M77 was intended as a modernized Mauser 98, though numerous changes were made. Bill Ruger wanted to use investment casting in place of a forged receiver. The Sullivan-designed bolt dispensed with controlled-round feeding and instead used the simpler plunger style of ejector. A two-position tang safety and redesigned trigger system were also designed from scratch.

Perhaps the most novel feature of the M77 is the only one that has not been redesigned, the angled action screw. The front action screw of traditional bolt-action rifles draws the receiver directly down against the stock. The M77 uses an angled screw that draws the action down and to the rear, tightly bedding it against the stock.

Variants

The M77 has undergone one minor and two major redesigns. The first change involved incorporating a proprietary scope mount milled integral with the receiver. The first rifles had simple rounded-top receivers drilled and tapped for separate scope mounts.

M77 Mark II

The M77 was retooled almost entirely and reintroduced in 1991 as the Mark II. The safety, bolt, and trigger were completely redesigned. The claw extractor was retained, but the bolt face was opened up to allow controlled-round feeding. The plunger ejector was replaced with a Mauser style blade ejector. Finally, a three-position safety allowed the bolt to be operated while the gun was still on safe, making unloading of the rifle less hazardous. Ruger also eliminated the adjustable trigger that came stock on the original M77.

Hawkeye

In 2006, Ruger introduced new features and a new name for their rifle, the Hawkeye. Major changes were made to the trigger system and the stock was recontoured, but otherwise the rifle remained unchanged.^{[citation needed]} The LC6 trigger addressed complaints from consumers that the Mark II trigger, though safer than the earlier one, was poorly designed for accurate shooting.^{[citation needed]} The LC6 trigger is lighter and smoother. Despite the listed improvements of the LC-6 trigger there still seems to be nagging complaints about it