doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stock conversion

This is on the subject of making old doubles more user friendly with modern stock dimensions.

I am somewhat new to this group and to collecting old doubles, though I have collected fine trapshooting shotguns for many years. It seems one of the real issues is getting these wonderful old guns with their 2.5 and 3" drops to shoulder,line up and shoot like a more modern gun.

Obviously, one can have a new 2,000 - 3,000 stock custom made. I have heard some discussion of bending though that obviously has its own issues.

What about having one of the many guys who work on trap and skeet stocks saw off the comb reattach it with adjustable hardware. (I know, I know, esthetics and all. Who wants a classic graded Parker or Lefever with a sawed off adjustable comb.) But why not take a solid but well used SW, for example, and make it the ultimate in shooter friendly, fully adjustable. Can have that work done for a few hundred and have a gun that shoulders and sets up perfectly.

When you get it just perfect, it would make it easy to measure what dimensions you want to order for your $3,000 stock on that special one?

Thoughts? Jake (Craig)

Jake,
Many of us know our dimensions pretty closely. I can pretty much modify and measure a stock like in the thread on stockfitting, using bondo and wood blocks, and have it fit me with a almost no experimentation. http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...age=1#Post19389

When you're done with a bondo'd stock, it becomes the pattern by which a stock machine duplicator will copy. You get the benefit of shaping suttleties to suit you, such as grip shape, comb radius, or even a conversion to straight or pistol grip.

Seems like a good idea for a hunter/shooter SxS that isn't a collector gun. My hunting partner has had this done to several of his modern semi-autos, and he regularly outshoots me.

HOWEVER, he is such a good shot that he would probably also outshoot me even if he was using a Mossberg pump from WAL-MART!

Many of us "were beaten badly" at FLATWATER by a fellow using an old Remington 31 pumpgun. As someone else previously noted, "Its the Indian, not the arrow." But a higher comb might help.

Then there's always one of David T's solutions.

Now that is cool. I could get into a project like that, blending the walnut figure into the wrist with oil paint mixed with tru oil, blending it in with the grain, etc...

Not to steal this thread, but I'm intersted in another American classic 20ga. thats been restored by a reputable smith. However the gun has 3 1/4" drop at heel. I have measured most of my guns, and the most I can get by with is almost 3". I'm 6'2" 210#. My question is.......could this stock be bent 3/4" to better fit me?
Thanks.......take care,

Battle,
You should get ahold of Mike Orlen and see what he can do for you.

All depends on the gun and the smith. I had an early Fox SW 12 with PG bent up almost 3/4" and it seems to have held. If I were doing it again, I'd specify 1/2" to try to avoid the slight bit of splintering around the top tang caused by the wood compressing against the back of the tang. Now requires a tiny wood inlay and stock refinishing, but it does have good dimensions.

How does changing a stock from PG to Straight effect the handling charistics of the gun?