We’re excited to give you the world’s first in-depth look at Foundation’s new lightweight hunting stock—Gideon.
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About the Foundation Gideon
Gideon marks new materials, new construction, and new manufacturing methods for Foundation. Foundation’s founder John-Kyle Truitt.
Now that he’s here to go through it with me in person, this stock is even more impressive than I had expected.
While Foundation Stocks has been the winningest stock in the Precision Rifle Series, the company has been working on developing a hunting stock line for some time.
Consumers loved the Micarta stocks for competition shooting, but many reported they were too heavy to take hunting. Gideon is the first model of Foundation’s new lightweight Hybrid series, weighing approximately two pounds.
Gideon is available in a variety of inlets in both short and long action. It is a Rem700 footprint, but not all Rem700 clones are exactly the same — critical seating surface area is important.
Foundation also offers different bottom metal cuts, but they primarily cut for Hawkins Precision because Hawkins Precision has many options that fit in the same inlet.
John-Kyle expressed that maintaining the Foundation feel in a lighter stock was critical. The Hybrid line uses micarta around the action and bottom metal at the heart of the rifle.
This eliminates the need for pillars as micarta has compression strength close to that of aluminum. It also allows Foundation to cut the precise inlets the company is known for. While customers may choose to bed their stock, John-Kyle said they haven’t observed any positive benefit to doing so. The International Precision Rifle Federation (IPRF) world championship was just won with a dropped-in Foundation Stock, as was second place.
The micarta center is made through a two mold process. The core mold allows the micarta to chemically bond with a closed cell foam, forming the shape of the stock. (Foundation Stocks actually has a utility patent on this process.)
Next, the stock is wrapped with a Kevlar carbon fiber weave. (In certain locations, the Kevlar carbon fiber is unidirectional.) All is rewrapped in a seamless carbon fiber weave before being put into the second mold, where resin is injected and the mold is heated in a vacuum to form a flat-top stock. A machine shop cuts the precise inlets to finish out the construction.
Kevlar (aramid) is an interesting choice as it is designed to be hard to cut, but it also has a dampening characteristic. The carbon fiber provides a resistance to bending while Kevlar offers high torsion strength and impact resistance.
The final touch is a finish of high-quality soft-touch paint. The three-paint process is extremely durable and results in an easily-recognizable piece that doesn’t scuff easily. It also has a grippy texture.
Shooting
To test the Gideon, I dropped in my 6 GT Pristine barreled action with Carbon Six barrel.
This was my second build with a Carbon Six barrel and I have been very impressed with their performance. John-Kyle was also impressed as carbon barrels aren’t known for performance over long strings of fire.
It’s important to note that my Gideon wasn’t exactly inletted for a Pristine action so the ejection port doesn’t line up perfectly, but it still functioned.
Our best groups measured approximately 0.5 MOA at 100 yards with no cool-down time between strings.
We also had great success on D-M targets’ steel rock chucks out to 700 yards.
We shot off a tripod and from a variety of improvised positions.
The low-profile hunter mag made it easy to build a stable platform, though a traditional AICS magazine will also work with the DBM bottom metal.
Conclusion
Foundation Stocks has always impressed me with their forward-thinking and unique craftsmanship. The Gideon is only an extension of this, combining micarta and technology into a lightweight stock designed for hunters.
I was especially excited by the performance we observed with a Carbon Six barrel. Combining it with the Gideon stock resulted in a super lightweight hunting rifle.
If you’re interested in building your own lightweight hunting rifle, consider attending the Colorado School of Trades! Also watch for our upcoming Samson build!
Get the Gear
Foundation Stocks (The Gideon will be available online soon!)
Hawkins Precision DBM and Hunter Mag
Caldwell Velociradar at Midsouth Shooters Supply
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Gavin Gear
