For organic kinds of models - figures, animals, etc. - there's nothing better than the Geomagic line of haptic-enabled sculpting tools: Sculpt, Freeform, and Freeform Modeling Plus. It's a hardware/software system that gives you touch feedback, so you can actually feel what you're doing, as you're doing it. There's really nothing else like it, and we sell it all at a substantial discount. Gun stocks and vases range between the organic and semi-organic; these tools will work for making this sort of thing, but other modeling software, like Rhino for example, may also perform well.

3D scanners are a good way to get existing physical objects into a virtual modeling environment, but all scanners, as you've learned, are not created equal. You'll still have to pay a considerable amount to get highly detailed and accurate scans.

Andrew Werby
computersculpture.com