If the wood is mushroomed up or chipped out behind the tang, then it is caused by recoil. Which usually will not be common unless there is poor wood to metal fit at the front of the stock. If it is a single crack, going back from the tang, it could be something as minor as a surface crack that just opened up over time with swelling and shrinking of the wood. Ot t could be the end of a larger crack that is inside the head. As in the head of the stock may be split and spreading.
Is there any sign of the head spreading? Such as gaps between the wood an metal along the tang up near the frame? Or is any movement evident side to side between the action and the stock?
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B. Dudley
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