Custom ZR style wooden stocks

[Fire Dog]

Does anyone else besides Cerus do custom built stocks that feature the ZR style front end on an F-Open stock?
The drop Z metal piece that the Kestros ZR pioneered.
I have found it impossible to get a response from Cerus and though the website is still up is it possible that he did not make it through C-19...?? I know a couple of folks that have one of his stocks but even they have failed recently to be able to get any reply and give an order for another one... Usually waiting time is one year and perhaps he is just not accepting any orders at this time till caught up...??
I have a McMillan ZR Kestros but always wanted one such as Cerus offers and wondered if any other stock makers have taken up the challenge for if they answer their email queries they would be flooded with buyers...

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Dima has something like that. But I would just find the stock you like and have your smith fab up that z rail. Personally Im not a huge fan of them. You may want to shoot one first. They are really really long. Feedback I get from my customers is the majority prefer the McMillan R over the ZR. One aspect of a longer stock is that it transfers for weight to the rear bag. The rear bag does not fight the torque of the rifle the front bag does. This is offset by the zr being lower, which helps.

 

[Jason Avila]

I’ll have that style available in a few months. It’s already in the works.

 

[Fire Dog]

Dima has something like that. But I would just find the stock you like and have your smith fab up that z rail. Personally Im not a huge fan of them. You may want to shoot one first. They are really really long. Feedback I get from my customers is the majority prefer the McMillan R over the ZR. One aspect of a longer stock is that it transfers for weight to the rear bag. The rear bag does not fight the torque of the rifle the front bag does. This is offset by the zr being lower, which helps.

Alex, I do have one already from McMillan, and yes, they are long but I really like the lower centre of gravity and first became acquainted with the lower position with my Eliseo R5 chassis on my 6BR.
The R5 is a "Tube Gun" style and with the side rails that attach to the sides of the barrel shroud it works a treat.
The only problem I had originally was that the barrel shroud had to be behind my front rest or it would ride on the bottom of the bag but once I got a Rodzilla with the two small side rests that allowed for clearance to the shroud, and, being able to bring the rifle forward.
Still a bit of a reach but worth it to me as I feel that it has improved my scores, at least enough to take out our local club F-Open...
The McMillan has a 32" Truck Axel barrel in it so there is still a fair amount of weight on the front rest and plenty of talc on the rear bag.
The Kestros style does add length but I am tall enough to have the reach and a longer joy stick on the rest...
That being said, I am thinking of perhaps a modified system that would put offset rails to the side with the fore end perhaps shortened to allow the rifle to set low and still be able to be set more forward like the R5 chassis... Need to get busy with some paper and draw up a few prototypes.
I have an old stock that can be cut up to trial a few ideas that I have.
Just have to get the machine work for the metal rails lined up. {:~)
I have checked the Dima stocks but currently with the war in Ukraine going on their availability has ceased, at least that is what I was told by a European distributor.