doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com to restore or not

Hi.
I am new to this forum and am seeking advice. I have been made a gift of a 20 gauge gun marked Western arms long range. It locks up tight even though it has been through a Boy Scout troup. The stock has been cutoff and it has been banged around. I would like to return it to its original condition as I realy like the gun and the person who gave it to me. The stock is the first thing I need to replace. Thanks ahead of time for your help.
Tom

Welcome to you,
No, just add a spacer and put rubber or leather slip on pad over the butt. If you're lucky you can an extesion plus a perm pad w/o having to do any pad grinding which is a PIA. I would pick modern pad with smooth plastic insert at the heel that way that stupid thing will not hang on clothing during mounting.

I've already done that. would like to restore gun. shoots great pattern.
Tom

Here ya go call them up.

http://www.turnbullrestoration.com/

I agree with the others above. You can get a new stock from Boydboys, probably. Restoring will likely cost way more than the gun will be worth after.

I sometimes get caught up in what makes a gun valuable and not on what makes the gun enjoyable. From my perspective, if you do not enjoy using the gun then it is of no value. Turnbull is fantastic, another option would be to contact Galazan / CSMC out of Connecticut - pricy but good as well.

tomc, if it makes you happy, restore it. If you think you will make it appreciate in value, forget it.

Tomc,

Welcome to the Board. We learn a lot here and share a lot. We hope you will be able to join us in both endeavors. Restoration is fun, but can be expensive. If you feel handy you can do much of the work yourself. Somethings are best left to professionals however. If are you confident in disassembly you may want to start by ensuring all parts are in good order. Then you can have a stock made or buy a partially inletted one. Try Great American Gunstocks for a turned, semi-inletted one (http://www.gunstocks.com/). Feel free to ask questions along the way. We have had threads on almost every subject from blueing to case color to stock work.

Jim

Jim's statements are spot on in my book. I agree that if you are doing thinking it will increase the value, that value will only be to you for the sentimental connections.

Tom: you might discuss your options with Jack Haugh in Milan, 812-654-3209. A refurbish/clean up may not be terribly expensive.

tomc,
If you are contemplating doing the work yourself, this may be a fun project. If the dimensions with the added on spacer make the stock fit you, you can use the stock for a pattern to have a buttstock replicated. This would cost you about $125 or so for the machining plus the cost of the wood. The wood could be pretty cheap, maybe $25-50. Then you would need to do some fitting of the wood to the metal and sanding and finishing of the outside. The barrels would be rust blued, which you can learn to do with only a stainless tank and a stovetop along with some sandpaper and elbow grease. Refinishing the reciever is a bit more involved but you can prep the metal and send it for color casehardening for not much money. I think a $500 budget for the materials and outside work would be do-able. You may be able to beat that if you can scrounge up a suitable boiling tank for the rustblueing. I had a friend with a fabrication shop build mine. But other than the tank, there's not much you can save on.

Try buying a replacement (used) stock from Gunparts. Your gun was made by Ithaca using the design from an Ithaca Lefever Nitro Special. It's a hardy work horse and if still tight it'll be worth the price of a used stock.

The value of your gun on the open market should be of only passing concern in deciding whether to restore or not. If I like a gun I really don't care. Its my mind's eye view of what I will have after restoration that makes the decision for me. I'm not always 100% happy with my finished projects but I've gotten much better at the decisions over the years. Hey........what would you spend your money on otherwise?

What would I spend my money on otherwise? At this point in what's left of my life, Doctor's Bills!

THANKS ALL
A GOOD USED STOCK WOULD HELP. I SHOT THIS GUN FOR FIRST TIME THE OTHER DAY. MY CONVICTIONS ARE STRONGER. AS FOR WHAT ELSE TO SPEND MONEY ON I HAVE A NEW HOUSE AND BRIDE IN MIDDLE OF INDIANA. OTHER HOBBIES INCLUDE OLD MODEL AIRPLANE ENGINES AND OLD BMW MOTORCYCLE. i RETIRED FROM A MACHINING JOB AND UNDERSTAND WHAT I NEED TO DO BUT WILL PROBABLY HAVE IT DONE BY A PROFESSIONAL. I GUESS I AM TRYING TO FIND OUT JUST WHAT IT IS I'VE BEEN BLESSED WITH.
TOM

tomc,

As you can, every one has an opinion here.

What you have is a piece of Americana. There was a surge of shotguns being produced circa 1900. The market was highly competitive. Makers often times marketed their wares to hardware stores, sometimes to catalog houses. Most were priced so the average American could afford to them. Hence the moniker hardware guns. Usually, a person had a single shotgun. They used it for everything from rabbits to ducks with an occasional deer for good measure.

Most of these guns were good solid shooters that could put food on the table. Yours is such a gun. It will not hang in a world class museum. It will not inspire lust and envy in those that see it. However, it will be a treasure to those fortunate enough to use it.

Take it to a good smith and have him look it over. Start with the stock. You can pick up decent wood on eBay for under $100 or if you want something special just ask here. You will get a lot of referrals. You can have the existing stock duplicated for about $125. It will still need a final fitting, finished, checkered. If you can do any of that yourself, so much the better. After that then you can decide if needs some more touching up.

Pete

Thanks Pete
I think the majority of the work will involve the wood. I already have a nice peice of walnut I was saving for someday which is here now. A new set of screws will solve the metalwork. The bluing is good the receiver is brown. there is some light engraving on the receiver a bird dog pointing on both sides. Is that normal?
Thanks again,
Tom

Very good. Sounds like a fun project. As for the engraving, I do not know. Perhaps some one else will be able to give you an answer.

Pete

I just finished a full restor on a Western arms 20ga and I also just learned to post photos so here goes.

before




after





Now if I can only learn to type and spell.

Welcome to the board, Tom. The decision will have to be yours to make. I was also wondering when you said it was used by a Boy Scout troup, that maybe you could save it the way it is and use it for a small kid learning to shoot. You could do something temporarily as someone mentioned and always have a gun with a short stock to teach a youngster with. Or you could redo it. You'll just have to decide........And mark, I had to laugh at myself when I was looking at the gun you redid. I didn't see the word "before" above the top picture and as I was looking at your gun, I wondered how bad did it look before you redid it. (I thought the top two pictures were after you overhauled it.) Then the bottom two pictures popped up and was I shocked. You really did a great job on this, guy. It probably looks better now than the day it was shipped. Good job!

Mark:

You've done a fine job of bringing an old work horse back into the stable. As I grow older, I find myself less enamored of fine guns and more drawn to the guns of our grand fathers although I certainly understand the draw of fine engraving and beautiful wood. I've been lusting after a Stevens 235 for a while now. Hopefully, if I find one, I can do as well by it as you have.

Cary

Boy, now I can't wait to get my New Baker back from Mark that he's sprucing up! Might have to talk with him about my old 311 that I've been shooting since high school.

Robert Krull

Mark
Did you have the frame recased or is that some home brew (chemicals and a Q-tip sorta thing) that I'm not aware of. It certainly looks really very nice.
Steve

Thanks to all for the kind words.

Steve I had the frame recased by Color Case Co (Don Menk). I have been very happy with his work.

That last one is gorgeous. What a difference in the wood. Who did your stock work?

Ed, I did complete restores on both Parkers for the same client. Alot of oil came out of the DHE!