doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com WW Greener recoil pad question

I'm close to purchasing a WW Greener FH25 , my question is ...does the fact that a recoil pad has been installed affect its value and if so how much.........additionally there appears to be a small crack in front of the safety button between it and the receiver.

thanks in advance.

TT

A lot depends on the recoil pad, although any pad on a Brit gun (except maybe a heavy fowler) is almost always an aftermarket modification, probably by a boorish American , and seen as an unfortunate choice that detracts from aesthetics and value -- especially if the stock has been cut, as will almost always be the case. The only exception may be a nice leather-covered pad, which I've always thought was both handsome and practical. However, I think a hard rubber buttplate is almost certainly how a fairly modest Greener would have left the shop. Valuation-wise, I'd consider a leather-covered pad as having no affect on value, a solid red Silvers-type as being worth a $100-200 discount, and any other kind of pad as a $300 discount, because that's about what a leather-covered replacement will cost, which is what it needs.

As to the crack, any crack in the wood is worth looking at, although not all are really a problem ... some are structural and others only superficial. Does it look old and stable? Can you get it to open at all if you carefully flex the stock? If structural, it will need to be repaired, and you'll want it done right by someone with a lot of experience, which will cost at least $100, especially if you have to ship the gun.

Neither of these issues alone or together are cause to pass on the gun, but they are definitely negotiating points. Of course, the dealer may claim he's already discounted the gun accordingly, and perhaps he has. Good luck. TT

More than likely...that Greener would have left the shop with a checkered rear end. If the pad is a high quality pad like a Silvers, Pachmayr "old english", etc, and properly installed, I see no reason that should detract from the value. Noticed I said "properly" installed.

The FH25 is a sweet gun, the facile princeps is arguably the nicest boxlock action to come out of Britain, certainly one of the most attractive. When I had mine FH25 restocked, the stocker called to tell me how impressed he was with the "guts" of the gun, every single part was polished like the insides of a best gun. Greener took pride in building every gun that left the factory and its these "little" details that set Greeners apart from many other makers.
Many quality woodsmiths out there who can fix the crack, check or whatever it is.
How much is the FH25 you are looking at buying? What gauge is it?

My go to bird gun




The receiver shape....very attractive

I have a forester model and it has a metal plate.

I'm seeing very few Greeners leaving the factory with nAked checkered butts.....bUtt I could be wrong.

I see most Greeners as work guns with very awkward safeties.

TT...Me...I'd keep looking there 1000's of Greeners out there.

The Greener safety is about as awkward as milk and cookies. For a southpaw, it works even better...walk up on pointed bird, trigger finger on the safety, bird flushes, flick safety off (forward), mount gun and pull trigger. Easy peezy lemon squeezy. For right handed shooters....lets say your sitting at your "peg" waiting for the next flight of driven birds to come your way..holding your Greener at the wrist.. in your right hand with the buttstock resting on your thigh, thumb on the safety, birds come over the trees, flick the safety off with your thumb, mount the gun and shoot....See there, not very awkward at all :-)

As for the safety, it wasn't built for American shooting, it was built for the European style of shooting, mainly pass shooting where you had the gun handed to you and prior to bringing it up you pushed the safety to on.

I have used mine, I don't know the model but it is an 1892 with Patent Treble Wedge Fast. in an oval and on rib, St. Mary's Square,Birmingham, England Winner at all Gun Trials 1875-1891
Gun does have a checkered butt and weighs 6 lbs. even. A pleassure to carry and shoot low pressure loads.
Water table marked 13 and someone had said it was for a .710 bore which I thought was kind of small for 12 ga. Bore now is .727 &.728 with chokes of .009 and .034

I am not sure I agree as to any potential loss of value due to a well installed pad, depending on where your potential market for the resale of the gun might be:

If you are forced to only sell the gun in the UK, I would agree. That's unlikely, however. If your potential resell market is in the US, a well installed pad seems to be not only well accepted here, but actually desired in many cases, and the value would tend to be undiminished.

The key to valuation estimation (appraising), whether it be nice old guns, real estate, collector cars, or whatever, is market acceptance of the particular feature and RECENT prior market reaction to the same or similar feature. It's been my field for 42 years. Not to say I am a gun appraiser by trade, but the principles of valuation are the same whatever the field.

Therefore, an answer to whether a well installed recoil pad installation detracts or adds to value on a Greener, or on a Purdey, or on a Parker or a Crescent, could be found by researching a well maintained database of prior sales, and, within that, enough sales of a certain or similar model that would distinguish between sales with a pad and sales without a pad. I do not have such a well ordered database, alas, and my answer is only my opinion, as are those opinions above. I have managed to keep many sales data stored over the years, the basic problem with many of the data points is that they are not detailed enough to indicate whether a pad was on the gun at sale or not. As in any database storage example, the old computer addage applies, GIGA (garbage in/garbage out.)

Bottom Line: I tend to believe, based on simply observing many prior sales of nice old guns over a long period, that many potential buyers in the US like a well fitting and installed recoil pad on their shotguns, and that such a pad would likely not lower the value in the US market. My opinion only.

I'll take a contrary position. I prefer a hard butt plate. It's lighter, easier to shoulder, and generally looks better. I only put pads on guns that need more LOP, snd then try to do it without squaring up the butt, so that the plate can be reinstalled later. So, a gun with a pad is worth less to ME, but I'm only one potential buyer.

Chief, what you say is probably true with a Remington Model 11, and maybe even a Parker, but a Pachmayr White Line pad on a Greener "just ain't right" and is going to lower value, or at least decrease the number of potential buyers. My two cents. TT