doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Which is less ugly, wood extension or spacer.

I would like opinions. I have read some people say they think that wood extensions to lengthen a LOP are always unsightly, others who feel that a plastic spacer and a recoil pad are ugly. I have a Webley Scott 700 16g with a 13" lop to wood. I added a black plastic spacer and an Olde English pad to bring the LOP to 14.5". I'm not a fan of recoil pads because I don't find them necessary but it would be a bit of work to replace the pad and spacer with walnut. I don't hate the pad but think wood looks slightly better and may balance better. I want to keep my options for an easy resale of the gun though if I ever decide to move it on. What is the preferred way to lengthen a lop?

Contact Mark Larson:

https://www.marklarsongunart.com/

I recommend Dennis Smith, "The Stock Doctor". He did two for me, one on a Boss and one on my Purdey 20 bore. You can not see the line where the extension meets the original stock.

Unless a wood extension is exceptionally well done, I prefer a spacer...but there's limits.

IMO, a 1" spacer plus a pad is about my limit.

This is OK, IMO:

A restock.

Best,
Ted

Wood extensions I have found that the more you pay the less ugly they become. The one extension up to 11/2" in my experience that does not shout at you is the black hard Vulcanised rubber sometimes called gutta-percha because they can be shaped and highly polished and tapered towards the stock edges while having the correct depth in the centre of the stock plate. As it is not possible for me to post pictures from my image hosting site. Thake a look at my posting on DIY gunsmithing "RE fitting a tradition gun case" in one of the pictures is a Webley & Scott 700 having a hard polished rubber 13/8"extension as the extension is tapered out at the sides it does not look as thick as it really is. You where able to purchase these hard rubber extensions in various thicknesses though they may now be to old school nowadays to find.

I am with Geoff on this one. I much prefer a nicely ground recoil pad and a spacer, to a wood extension where the wood grain doesn't match, and can't unless the stock was shortened from the original length and the piece was saved. Even then it takes an expert stockman to completely hide the joint line. Like them or not, and I do,
recoil pads look much more original than a joint line around the butt. Many thousands of vintage doubleguns were supplied (new) with recoil pads. I've never heard of one being shipped to the original consignor with a wood extension.

The only way I would consider a wood extension would be if Mark Larson did it.

At what'd likely be $3K+ for a good restock, I think that's going to be a distant 3rd on most folks' menus.

He said preferred.

I’m not wrong.

Best,
Ted

Ted's got a point, the OP was asking for our personal opinions on what we each prefer (what is the preferred?). Ted prefers a restock. He doesn't like recoil pads, original to the gun or not.

I prefer the right LOP in a way that is low cost and often reversible. A recoil pad can be removed and the original buttplate reinstalled (if no wood is cut). My preference is getting those requirements I want with the remaining $2940 in my pocket.

a well done wood extension is a display of craftsmanship, which is to be admired...

plus a wood extension is least likely to affect the delicate shooting dynamics of a fine gun...

I would rather have a wood extension if you have to have a spacer over 1/2" and a pad also. I am even ok with a wood extension that is obvious, as long as it is done well. My gunsmith keeps so many cut butt ends that when I asked for an extension he found a pretty good match with perfectly checkered butt.

I like a well done wood extension.

A polished black horn spacer or spacers with an original buttplate mounted at the end. Now the trick is to find someone who can perfectly fit and polish the horn spacers.

Over in the UK they just slap on a piece of wood. Don't really care how it matches.

Bottom line for me is if the gun doesn't fit & hit correctly for POI, what good is it. Basically, it comes down to you need to do, what you need to do to get the gun to work for you. Another option not discussed is to leave the gun the way it is and use a slip-on pad to extend the LOP.

As far as extensions goes it wouldn't make a difference to me one way or another, either direction you go, it will always be seen and if you decide to sell the gun in the future an extension could be a deal breaker to a potential buyer. I know it would be for me!

Try as I might, I can't fully warm up to the extensions on more stylish guns. If it's even remotely art or a collectable of some form then it's a turn-off. I don't mind slip-ons and artfully executed spacers, but there is a limit.

I know some talented people can hide the extension and maybe I'd be ok at that point...but I'd have to see it.

If I had a gun with a 13" LOP I would have put a 1" KICK-EEZ pad and a leather cover and let it go. That would have given me a hair over 14". If you can shoot with a 14.5" LOP, 14 inches shouldn't make any difference in performance. And a leather covered pad on a Webley Scott would really look nice. But that's just me. Here's a Beretta Silver Pigeon ll I bought a couple months ago. You can easily see that someone lopped off the butt stock. They had a small Pachmayr pad on it, too. For $1500.00 it was like new, so I jumped on it. Now it's about 14 3/8 LOP. I just had the auto safety removed and now it's a great skeet and sporting clays gun.You have to remember too, what is the gun going to be used for? You'll probably shoot a gun with a shorter LOP in the winter because you'll have more clothes on.

I do not even consider firearms that are too short that I cannot make them work with a pad, one inch or less.

If a 1inch or less pad won’t get it. I pass.

I agree with Ted. Or you could just sell the gun and replace it with one that has the correct LOP. A well done recoil pad of 1" or less is fine. But anything longer than that just doesn't look right at all. If the gun has some sentimental value, a good lace-on leather pad looks better than an ugly pile of pad and spacers, and is easily reversible.

A wood extension is a total non-starter for me. The joint line might be perfect when complete, but just give two pieces of wood that have been butt-glued together a few years of expansion and contraction from humidity, and the joint line will almost certainly become visible. And as I understand it, the going prices for a wood extension and fake grain painting to hide it start at around $800.00. That's going to equal or exceed the value of a lot of field grade guns. So you'd probably be better off to sell the gun to someone who needs a short LOP, and use the cost savings to buy a nicer gun that fits.

Sometimes it is hard to "pass" on a short stocked gun. I have a pair of 20 gauge Titanic Steel DHE Parkers with less than 13" LOP. I have less than $2000 in the pair, hard to say no to that purchase. One has the horn spacers to 14" with the rearmost spacer nicely grooved. The second gun is awaiting a similar treatment. One is bored IC and MOD, and the other is MOD and FULL. I'm not really concerned about their resale value.

I am the same way, eightbore. The first issue is the quality of the gun and it's price. If I really like the gun and no one wants to buy it just because it has a short stock, I'd buy it and adapt to shooting with the short stock. Or do something about it. Somebody spends $4000.00 on a gun and in a month or two puts it on consignment for half of that, I'm interested. I always could adapt to just about any gun. I am presently hearing a lot of people wanting guns with longer barrels, too. That appears to be the fad at the moment. Shorter barreled double guns suit me just fine for what I do. I have longer barreled guns for shooting events that need longer barrels.