so destroying hundreds of dollars of beautiful walnut
Just so you don't feel bad....
A friend just recently had a custom walnut (burl) stock made.
The wood alone was $6000; the actual making to his specs, checkering, fitting and finishing doubled the price. WAY out of my league, but it sure is purrrrrty.............
Something about that burl marblecake wood is just a sight to behold!
Since you mentioned hard use - a gunwriter friend of mine has a fellow attorney buddy who grew up and hunts grouse in New England. When this gent retired, he had a bespoke (custom) made David MacKay Brown SxS made with the Celtic engraving. Took over a year to be handmade; cost about as much as my house, and this gent takes it into the coverts every chance he gets.
He was asked about being worried over scratches, etc., and his reply was absolutely not - "I earned it, and I am going to enjoy it as long as I can".
I put those words in quotes, because I'll never forget that view of things. Life's too short to worry about that - buy what you can afford, enjoy it to the max, and don't sweat the small stuff..................