New Samson stock

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

I recently got one of the Samson A team stocks for a 181 series SS mini I got myself as a Xmas gift. I always loved the look of the old factory folder and was so happy to see that these were available but I am a bit disappointed… the quality of the stock is excellent and it’s very solid but the stock I received is a matte finish dark walnut, looks like an old surplus garand stock, with a matte black pistol grip vs the old shiny plastic on the originals. I am not crazy about how it looks and I want to refinish it to look more like the old OEM polished Ruger side folder. I’ve seen photos of Samson A team stocks online that have wood that’s more like the original Ruger stocks but this one looks nothing like that. Did they make different runs of these stocks with different wood/finishes? Anybody know where I can find an actual factory Ruger folder with the lighter polished wood or an earlier Samson that has that look? The dark satin walnut doesn’t look good with the stainless rifle IMO. I am wondering if I can sand and refinish the Samson stock, it looks like it might be stained and could maybe be remedied by sanding it down and hitting it with some clear poly, along with the pistol grip to give it that shiny retro look but I’d love to just find an original or a Samson that has a bit more of that classic polished Ruger stock look.

Edit: did a little research, turns out the original factory folder was birch, Samson is walnut. Early Samson stocks did not have the dark stain and look much better on the SS gun, would love to find an early one. I found a factory vintage blue steel folder, I am wondering if the stainless folding arm on my Samson would swap onto the vintage factory blue folder…

 

[theduke]

I got a pair of the OG SS folders....1 NIB still.

They are not walnut.....they ding easy.

The Birch sounds right.......look mostly like the 10/22 stocks of that era.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Update:

The Samson stock got a little bit of a make over.

I found an original shiny Bakelite Ruger factory pistol grip, and refinished the Samson walnut with a high gloss clear coat. It seems that the dark color walnut itself wasn’t what was taking away from the old school factory folder look, but the fact that it was a satin oiled military style finish, and the OG birch stocks had a polished clear coat more like a sporting rifle. After applying a clear coat it now looks way more like the originals. I have seen original factory folders with drastically different wood grains and colors, everything from light light almost maple color to shades just as dark as this walnut Samson. The clear coat really did the trick and saved me the cost and headache of sourcing an original Ruger stock (although I’d still love to find one of the old birch folders with a nice figured looking wood grain)


This is my 181 series SS mini, I cut the barrel down to 16” and reinstalled the slip over FH for a total of 18”, like the GB model. The 18” bbl plus the FH was just too long, the gun is much more aesthetically pleasing to me now in every way. Amazing how much a shiny plastic grip and some polished wood can change the look of the gun so drastically!

 

[KickStand]

It looks better with the original grip, that’s for sure. I might try something different than the gloss but thats just me.

Since it’s not a GB model, why not SBR it and make it a (semi) clone of the KAC-556K?
Samson makes a front gas block sight for them now. They’re not true to the original but close. They incorporated the side sling swivel with it too.

It took me year to find a real K gas block sight. Here’s mine

 

[Hey...]

I love it when a plan comes together.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

It looks better with the original grip, that’s for sure. I might try something different than the gloss but thats just me.

Since it’s not a GB model, why not SBR it and make it a (semi) clone of the KAC-556K?
Samson makes a front gas block sight for them now. They’re not true to the original but close. They incorporated the side sling swivel with it too.

It took me year to find a real K gas block sight. Here’s mine

I saw those Samson AC556 gas blocks when shopping for parts and I actually had been considering this idea, it seems that finding the original factory flash hiders in stainless steel is a bit difficult… I used to have a few of them decades ago and now I wish I still had them. There are new ones for sale from Ruger, not sure if they sell the stainless units but they are threaded 1/2x28 now instead of the old obsolete GB thread pitch, and they have wrench flats that look a little different than the OG flash hiders, maybe even a little bit shorter too?

Here’s the look I was going for with the stock, obviously I can’t replicate that birch wood grain but the polished high gloss finish seems to be pretty authentic looking.

 

[KickStand]

I’ve got an OG Kac-556K front gas block sight. In the years it took me to find a blued one, I happened to stumble on a stainless one. I bought it because I’d like to do a stainless K sbr one day. I have a GB LEO marked side folder and I want to keep that original but if I ever find an 80’s era stainless (non ranch model) for the right price, I’ll SBR it.

As for the flash hider’s, Ruger recently came out with real GB mini-14’s they’re actually GB guns and not the faux ones. I think their flash hider is the closest you’ll ever get with buying it from somewhere. Call them and tell them the model number of their stainless GB and they’ll sell you the stainless FH. Yes, it does have wrench flats but thats better than trying to weld and retread and old one. They might be a hair shorter. The one I bought from them is likely not their newest one.


Every year or two someone on here will post about a cool Ruger project, thanks for posting.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

I’ve got an OG Kac-556K front gas block sight. In the years it took me to find a blued one, I happened to stumble on a stainless one. I bought it because I’d like to do a stainless K sbr one day. I have a GB LEO marked side folder and I want to keep that original but if I ever find an 80’s era stainless (non ranch model) for the right price, I’ll SBR it.

As for the flash hider’s, Ruger recently came out with real GB mini-14’s they’re actually GB guns and not the faux ones. I think their flash hider is the closest you’ll ever get with buying it from somewhere. Call them and tell them the model number of their stainless GB and they’ll sell you the stainless FH. Yes, it does have wrench flats but thats better than trying to weld and retread and old one. They might be a hair shorter. The one I bought from them is likely not their newest one.


Every year or two someone on here will post about a cool Ruger project, thanks for posting.

I’ve seen the new GB guns, I think they use the same FH as all of the others now, which is the same FH that they use on the Ruger AR rifle as well. It is basically the same as the old style GB birdcage but the earlier guns had polished stainless FH to match the polished stainless finish, now they have a matte stainless FH to match the matte stainless guns. Mine is an early gun (1980) so it has the bright shiny polished stainless finish on the barrel, I’d love to find one of the old GB flash hiders with the longer butt end with no wrench flats on it, polished stainless… I’d settle for one of the newer style though, they look very similar.

I’ve looked at lots of GBs from over the years and I see they have used at least 3 different variations of the factory flash hiders. One with a solid cylindrical butt end, one that has a rib cut into it and then the one with the wrench flats… there may even be more.

Someone just listed an early Samson stock on GB. Looks like the early ones had a polished and lacquered blonde wood much more similar to the old factory folder, I think it looks better than the newer examples with the satin walnut personally… but I like the darker walnut with the high gloss finish that I achieved on my stock a bit more than the early blonde polished wood.

It’s almost like they cheaped out on the finishing process when Ruger decided to start using the Samson stocks on the new factory folder rifles. Production numbers went way up so they made the cost and manufacturing time go way down by using a cheaper simplified finishing process. Just some speculation…

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Scored one of the early Samson stocks with the blonde wood. These are much more like the OEM factory Ruger stocks in appearance and finish. I prefer this lighter look to the darker stained walnut. Grip has been swapped out for a factory shiny Ruger grip. I’ve also got an original factory birch folder on the way. I am going to take comparison pictures of the three for reference purposes, pick my fav of the bunch and then sell the other 2.

So far this light one is the keeper but I’ll see how I feel when the OEM stock shows up.. the lighter wood just looks better on the stainless gun IMO, nice contrast. Not sure if this is walnut that simply hasn’t been stained or what, but these early Samson stocks were much nicer looking than the newer ones. The stock is also flush with the heatshield on the left side, like the original fixed stock that came with the rifle, the newer Samson was not flush fitting, the heatshield hung over the edge of the stock by a few mms and it was driving me nuts.