That is quite a striking piece of walnut Daryl.

Checkering is not someting I have been able to master and the cost to get someone else here to do it is much higher than I am willing to meet. I have never had any trouble with lack of grip on a propperly shaped stock so that consideration was off the table and having one rifle that had checkering damage from a short trip to the range in a padded carry bag that marred an otherwise nlemish free stock, made me less likely to want it on this one (or any of the other rifles I have built for myself over the years).