We started the season with one rifle to share between us, this was a 1981  Barnard (possibly the first of its kind or even a prototype!) with a stuffed barrel on an old timber stock. We picked it up for $350 and by the time we had a new barrel fitted it had cost us around $1400. Later in the season with the buildup to the Nationals, we picked up a Neilson with a barrel count around the 800 mark for $1200.  The Neilson was to be Jared’s rifle and Vic would keep the Barnard. These two rifles got us through the year, until the Neilson had a softening of the firing spring, and suddenly the short comings became obvious – no support or spare parts. Vic was also having problems – the bedding was rooted and she was struggling to get the stock to fit her so she could start building her position.

So what to do for the new season? We had a think about our options. We could have picked up a couple of Milleniums but we were put off by the same issue we were having with the Neilson – It is just too hard to get spare parts. In the end, we knew we would go the Barnard route. Lets face it – they are one of the top actions and they still make them here in New Zealand. The added advantage is that Vic already has a Barnard action.  It is a few years older than Vic but is still going strong (unlike Vic who is starting to fall apart from old age).

But what stock do you put your Barnard into? Having used the Flexi-bed stock, we had decided they were too uncomfortable and too expensive, traditional stocks are difficult to fine tune for adjustments (especially for a couple of beginner shooters who haven’t had a chance to build a solid position yet!) but we also wanted to get away from conventional bedding,  so we started our search.

All the good stocks were very expensive but one of the members of our club had a brand new rig with a Barnard action and a sexy ninja-black cast aluminium NF stock. He was kind enough to let us both have a shoot on it (what a legend Steve Livingston!).  What a comfortable stock! We had found a winner! The down side is that its conventional bedded  (not good for rain) but the upside is that once again, it is made in New Zealand by a craftsman who can work with us to build stocks that will suit our needs.

Our next problem was finance.  Two brand new Barnard actions at once is a little out of our reach,  so we opted to get Vic’s rifle bedded into a new stock and Jared would buy a second-hand Barnard at some point.

We had a plan but there were still a few problems to overcome.

One of the big problems we were going to face was that Vic is pretty small which makes it difficult to find a stock that could adjust short enough for her. After talking to Nigel he was more than happy to shorten a stock to suit Vic (which required a little bit of a redesign!). We can’t wait to see the result!

The second problem is  that Nigel usually uses a conventional bedding whereas we would like a “V” bedding. After a chat with Nigel, he agreed to have a go at installing a “V” bedding in the into one of the stocks. Barnard changed the design of their action around 1990 and their “V” bedding is designed to work with these actions. We planned to get Jared a post-1990 action so bought a bedding block in anticipation. We were pleasantly surprised when we received the block, we found that Vic’s old Barnard fitted the block perfectly, so now Vic is also going to have a V bedding!  This would also mean that Jared did not need a modern Barnard, so our options for a second hand Barnard have increased.

Now the wait is on for the stocks to be finished. The support from Nigel has been fantastic and we cannot recommend him enough. We will fill you in on how it works when we have them. The other big bonus is when we do eventually upgrade to new Barnard actions it will drop straight into our new stocks (with a slight modification to fit the bolt handle). This means these are the stocks we will use for the next 10 years. We have asked for the stocks to be left as raw aluminium so Vic can custom-paint them…