Only tried stock making once back in 1961 when I was 15 yo. Our neighbor had a Winchester model 1897 that I thought was cool, and he let me have it if I would shovel his coal when he brought a truck load home. It was in pretty bad shape. A hose had come off a paint gun and totally filled the action and the stock was busted. I just tried to copy what I thought the original profile was and went from there. The wood was a piece of birdeye maple that my dad had. Had to be careful not to pop one of the eyes out. I tried to checker it with one of the little checkering tools. I turned the fore end in my dads wood lathe. The finish had ambered a lot over the years, but I still like it.
I shot trap as a 16 yo junior with it and used it for about 4 years. The barrel appears to bent upwards a slight amount. I would always get people on the line say "hey do you know your barrel is bent". I was just a kid and it was the only shotgun I had. Plus, it shot some great scores. The 4th round I shot with it was a 25 and I started the next round breaking the first 21 targets and the thought came to me "that maybe you'll get a 50 straight". I missed the last 4 targets. That '97 would sure smack primers hard. Maybe that is why the gangsters liked them so much. Never a misfire.
Gosh I'll have had this gun 60 years next year.