doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com SKB beavertail conversion to splinter or semi-BT?

10-4 Bobby

Dave, you hit the jackpot with one of those very late 385 splinters! Congratulations.

Followup on the beavertail to splinter switch. The new 385 splinter was both a good match and fit. The gun weighed 7 lbs 2 oz when I bought it with a large with a large Kick Eze pad installed. I took that "wheel chock" off and replaced it with a microcell pad and 1/4"spacer. That along with the new splinter forend brought the weight down to just under 6 1/2 pounds. Looking forward to taking some roosters with this shotgun! (My wife's a puzzle nut.)

That looks amazingly nice. Looks like an easy carrying nice fitting hard hitting 12 gauge.

Dave, where does it balance now? Likely the change in the pad and the forend should more or less offset each other. Looks very nice now!

The balance point is about a half inch in front of the hinge pin. Couldn't be more pleased with how this came out! Thanks for the suggestion of contacting SKB!

Well played! The colors are a good match, or did you re-finish? Always great when a plan comes together. Mark

Thanks, Tut, Larry, and Mark.

The forend color was close, so my wood guy refinished to get it as close as he could to the high-gloss finish of the buttstock. He admittedly couldn't get it quite as shiny, but that's OK. The stock head finish is crazing with a spiderweb pattern on the finish lightly cracking on both sides. You can't see it in the pictures or even in bad light, but it's there and won't heal by itself. So after I do a little clay shooting we're going to refinish the buttstock to match the satin finish of the forend.

The previous owner had the stock head glass bedded, so she's ready to rock and roll.

Always like to see projects like that work out. Pheasants are already alarmed about next season, Dave!