My gunstock came last Friday as expected. Today I will talk about my first impressions and thoughts of the Boyd’s At-One gun stock. My son will get fitted on Sunday with the first trap practice starting. Mine is made of solid walnut (which I had to pay more for) in an attempt to not have to also swap out the fore end.

First, I will talk about cost. I paid $160 for this shotgun in 1992. Before Remington went out of business, I think the 870 Express was going for $300 – $350 new. My lightly used 20 gauge I paid $200 in 2020. This stock cost $220. What I am trying to say is that this is a significant upgrade relative to the overall cost of the firearm.

I don’t know this for sure, but I suspect that all of these are the same for whatever shotguns they fit. They use an aluminum block to connect the firearm to the stock. So, the stock can fit a number of models, the aluminum block is the part that is specific to mating to a shotgun.

At first blush, the thing is ugly. It is angular and chunky. It is certainly no upgrade in the looks department. The fit an finish is OK. It is clear that this is made in a mechanized way, like CNC. The fitment of the rubber/plastic to the wood is a little sloppy particularly around the palm swell. It looks like the wood was dipped in water based polyurethane and there is some bubbles in the finish as well.

Despite reading the instructions, I didn’t know what I was doing when I was trying to mate the wood to the block. I say that because the bolt and washers fell out when I tried to put the bolt back in, I didn’t realize that the palm swell cross bolt was blocking the reinsertion. I lightly tapped on the bolt because the hole is curved, I thought it was getting hung up trying to make the angle. The tapping wedged the hex key into the wood and broke a chip out. I was trying to be gentle but I was looking at the hole for the bolt exit, not the entry when it happened.

Knowing what I know now, this would never happen again. None of that was in the manual. I think I would have shipped it without the grip swell on the stock to eliminate this potential.

End Your Programming Routine: This is an American small business. The materials appear to be quality, it is just that that the execution was poorer than I would have liked for a $200 item. The truth is, none of this really matters. What is important is how it works in fitting to the shooter. Trap guns are in general ugly I think. The high rib is meant to help with aiming and getting the target in the middle of the pattern. So, this is just another variation in the group.