doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The $80 restock.

My Dad bought a Beretta Silver Snipe in 1964. Because he was Dad, and put recoil pads on all his guns, he dutifully dropped it off at a forgotten gunsmith in Maryland, had the stock cut, and put a Pachmeyer white line pad on it. The deed was done before I was five years old.

I hate Pachmeyer white line pads. But, I digress. Dad never really warmed up to the Snipe, and it was used very little, until I got older.

Dad was built a bit like Popeye, and had a short LOP. The stock is really short. I have used it, successfully, bundled up late in the season, but, it is too short for anything else. The pad was a bit squishy when it was new, and caused some trouble with the Snipes inertia trigger, but, the thing is hard as a rock, now, and that hasn’t been a problem for years.

Recently, I was hunting about the sites and an uncut Silver Snipe stock was on the ‘bay, but, at an eye watering $225. That is about half of what a used but not abused Snipe is worth, in my opinion. But, looking further, I turned up a never installed stock in Canada for $80. So, technically, it was $100 with $20 shipping, but, getting something shipped from western AB for $20 seems like a steal.

It mostly fits. It was advertised as being for an S57 (same gun, mostly) and the wood is just a bit high on the side the lever opens to. When installed it has a nice, long LOP. I have the original butt plate off the Snipe, and the new stock (it was advertised as NOS and I believe it) has later version of the Beretta grip cap and butt plates. I can decide which I prefer, down the road.

No, it won’t be getting a pad.

No it doesn’t match the front wood. Not yet, anyway. It is finished in satin something, and the Snipe is shiny varnish. I’ll get there. For now, I’m just going to get it on, and get busy breaking a few clay targets with it, until I figure out this shooting off the right shoulder a bit more.





Best,
Ted

Nice, I used a Silver Snipe while stationed over seas. Used it for everything, quail, ducks, geese, etc

Nice story Ted, enjoy it in good health with fine memories of your father.

You can make that fore end match the butt stock very closely by stripping the f/e finish and playing around with various shades of stain. I have done that several times with mis-matched gun wood.

Go for it!

Ted,
Great project, considering it was your Dad's gun. You'll get there, best wishes on the project!
Karl

That was a great find Ted. And pretty cheap money to make a gun that doesn't fit usable again.

Nice wood on Snipes back n 64....

Wish Dad hadn’t cut it….

Best,
Ted

Re: The $̶8̶0̶ $130 restock.

It continues.




Bought some stripper, kerosene to fill my smoke can, a scraper, and a turkey tray. Still have some finish and Jerry Fisher scrapers coming from Brownell’s.

I had a real nice conversation with James Flynn about replacement stocks and fitting of same. I did consider dumping the whole project in his lap, but, it is just a Silver Snipe, and he is, well, James Flynn. I refinished the stock and serviced the gun when my dad was still alive, and since it will end up with my son, hopefully later, rather than sooner, I am going to do the work.



Best,
Ted

I hope you enjoy the process as much as I do, Ted. A good while back I acquired a FAIR Verona 692 LX Gold E Combo, in 28 ga. and .410, both with 30" barrels. Price was very reasonable and it wan't hurt, except that it had a trap style buttstock with an aluminum adjustable butt plate. Yuuuck! The comb was also too high for me to shoot well in sub-gauge sporting events, so I set out to find a replacement buttstock. A call to Basil Slaughter in Nevada yielded a cracked one that he had pulled off and replaced, for the customer.

He sent me pics and a price of $50. The wood was beautiful and I knew I could repair that crack. The resulting project was great fun and yielded a very nice gun that is now great for sub-gauge events and for doves and quail. I had to stain it to more closely match the fore-end, and it turned out good enough that no one has ever noticed the crack (I honestly can't see it myself, and I know where it was), or that it wasn't the original buttstock.

Another buttstock replacement that I did was on a 12 ga. Philly Fox SWE. I wanted to save the original f/e so I had to match the color of the new buttstock to the old wood on the f/e. Here's before and after pics.





You can do it, playing around with multiple layers of different shades of stain.