doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ever buy a gun because it is ugly or messed up?

Im looking at a 1964 Beretta 12ga silverhawk,the old original one,thats in mint condition 30"bbl PG DT,with a cracked toe that may barely clean up after shorteneing the butt and putting on a pad,also has a nice gouge in the wood that needs filling,all for 550.
but thats book price for mint condition.would make a great spoting clays gun I think.

I'm with Greg and others--ofen buy guns that need to be fixed. Three reasons at least--I'm cheap and so are they; I love the hunt for parts and services needed to bring them back to whatever they were before the neglect, and I just love putting one more gun back into service.

(My wife would call this spending $2500 on a $750 gun. That of course doesn't count the time--she knows what my time is worth--and the gas and phone calls.....).

Done this since I was eight years old--that's 58 years of rust, poking into odd corners of old gunshops, and returning the wrong parts to various parts merchants. And meeting some very fine folks in the process.

Well said Mike, I don't have the years of expirience as you do, but I do know that I have met some amazing people in the relatively short time I have been tinkering with guns. I would say I am on my 50th project in 15 or so years of messing with this stuff. This could quite possibly be the best "fraternity" in the world with "class" bird dog people coming in a very very close second. I am planning on posting before/after pictures of the Iver Johnson Skeet-er .410 I am currently working on....

My project guns are all wonderful examples of what can be done with patience and a little, or a lot, of money. I wouldn't give them up for anything. They are the keepers.

I got a 1910 LC Smith for $180.00 with a "broken safety" and "loose forend." It took about 5 minutes to fix the both of them. Otherwise the gun was great with age appropriate wear. Best gun deal of my life. The pictures were grainy and I was sure I bought a lemon. I hoped I could part it out if needed. Somewhere, someone is kicking themself.

Rob.

The browning would have been the easiest project gun to improve in my gun room. Just remove the home made cutts and get rid of the cheek piece. If it had two triggers it would be n my gun room tonight and I would be putting a little finish on the stock tonight. The Cutts would have been a paper weight.

I'll certainly buy a high grade gun that needs to be restocked but otherwise in good condition. I'm a left handed shooter that needs a long LOP. That's not easy to find, especially with vintage guns.

I don't like modifying old guns in pristine or original condition. But I'll gladly have a good gun restocked to my dimensions when the old stock needs replacing.

I'm impressed. That gun seems to have had some very good workmanship. That "homemade Cutts" is a pretty nice piece of design and execution...not that it's pretty. But that it is well made and appears to be completely removeable without any residual damage to the original gun. $750 is cheap for a gun of that quality, if you wanted a 12g o/u.

I guess I am a bit more emotional about this kind of thing but I have been known to take a sad shape gun or critter home "because it needed me". The results very often have been expensive but there have been compensations, too.

Yes - late Remington Parker VHE (ejector) 28" 20ga with stock cut down for 12 year old and bright Weatherby like blued receiver. Gun was hardly used but distastefully modified. Friend had to have that gun (sold it) and he in turn "restored" it by adding a poorly matched piece of wood to extend stock & repro BP. Really ugly at this point. Crazy, but I hope to buy it back soon.