Abstract: A machine tool having a stock holding and supporting grip which is spaced from the stock clamping chuck and which provides an equally applied gripping pressure at circumferentially spaced locations about the stock, preferably applied by hydraulic gripping elements. The grip accommodates eccentricities and deviations in the stock, and prevents increase in such eccentricities during rotation of the stock during machining which would otherwise arise due to centrified forces acting on the protruding tail of the stock, thus preventing bowing and whipping of the unworked tail and of the stock while machining.