Pre-64 - Bull Gun Marksman Stock Information|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

Hi sowinskiaaron-

Rule’s book is the best information available on the topic.

The internal differences include, as you said, the barrel channel and in the case of 300 H&H MAGNUM the length of the magazine well opening.  The H&H magazine box is about 3/16″ longer than any of the standards.  So to adapt, say, a Target rifle stock to fit a 300 H&H Bull Gun you’d need to remove about that much wood from the front of the magazine well opening in the stock as well as change the barrel channel.

As far as external dimensions, there are some differences related to period of manufacture, but at any given point in time the National Match, Target, and Bull Gun stocks were the same.  Rule does a fairly good job showing the period differences except in the case of the very early Marksman #1 and #2 versus #3 stocks (#1, #2, #3 are pretty much pre-war cloverleaf tang stocks).  If you are looking at a very early Bull Gun I can post some pictures that may show the differences in a little better than Rule.  

One thing to note with these is that the #2 (with the very rounded fore end) is actually slightly shorter than the #3.  Note in the attached photo that the action screws on the two Marksman stocks (#2 left, #3 right) are at the same level.  The difference is in the length of the fore end itself:

Hope this helps…

Lou