doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Upgrading plain jane field grade guns

No that thump, thump, wasn't someone at the door, it was my heart jumpin around.

Nice part Doug.

Well! If Doug's great upgrade does not give you reason to want to do an upgrade...head to the funeral home YOU ARE DEAD!

Jim

Sorry; if you don't understand already, you never will. To each his own, and peace on ya.

Damn, that Jimmy Nixon does nice work! But the value of the gun will never be like an original even knowing that is a better piece of work that they did in Philly. It is a sad fact that it will be tough to recover your investment in upgradeing.
bill

All for them as long as they aren't trying to be passed off as originals. I have somethings I would like to get done, but it will have to wait until after College. I would really like to have a pair of Fox SW's in 16 and 20 ga. I have the 16, still need to get the 20. After that I would put an engraving of my dog on point, on the bottom of one. And an engraving of my Grandfather that I never met, but who I am supposedly a lot like, on the bottom of the other guns reciever. The guns would be stocked in matching Walnut. Not sure what kind. The engraving on the sides of the action and on the barrels would be the same on both guns.

A dream that will have to wait.

I'm with Doug. I don't find that offensive. These are guns not children, to each his own.

I'm in the process of having a H grade Lefever redone. I feel the only mistake I made in doing this is that I did not take a before and after picture when I get the gun.
Also since I am tall and left handed it helps to have a gun built for me. I found this out last week shooting a fitted gun for the first time. For you average size guys restocking does not make sence, but for us freeks of nature - it does.
jas :p

Well I recently redid my old Lefever Nitro. It was far from a perfect gun to start with. So I "pimped" my Nitro. Upgraded the wood, English stock, checkered it myself (not perfect but I did it myself) rerusted the barrels, and left the receiver alone as it was totally white already. Ok so did I ruin the gun? In my mind, only if I sell it. Am I happy enough with my work and the memories of the many hours in my workshop, dog by my side to make it priceless? Yes. Wiil my kids cherish it when I'm gone because my soul is in it? I hope so. Can anybody else appreciate that? I doubt it, but then I don't care.

I have done it all, or it seems like I have. I have just cleaned old guns and left them with their warts and wrinkles. I have partially or fully restored them as their condition and value merits. I have restored them far beyond their value for personal reasons. And I have restocked, refinished, customized, altered, opened chokes, added second and third sets of barrels, ect... ect... . I have never taken a hacksaw to shorten a set of barrels. Never ported any gun that I have owned, although I have several that other idiots did before I bought them. Wish that had never been done.

Upgrading is a slippery slope that you fall down before you know what you have done. Trust me. Most custom jobs start out as just a minor change that got out of hand. A few of us are looking for just the right gun to upgrade but most of us just have it happen.

It almost always starts out on one end or the other. Poor butt stock that needs attention. Cracked, oil soaked, short, low, ect... If you have to restock a gun you might as well use a nice looking blank. Even the fanciest blanks are not that much money and they do dress up a gun. So I use a $100.00 +/- blank, (sometimes a lot more), instead of a $25.00 blank. Crotch walnut always looks nice on a gun. If I have to spend all that time doing the work it might as well look great when done.

Then after you restock the gun you see that the barrels need a little draw filing and rust blueing. Well the should be protected, and they do look ratty so you do it.

Then you look at the reciever and see that it needs a little attention as well. Like a Parker I bought with SS# on both sides, engraved with a hand engraver pen. What an idiot. Well a little fill time and a ton of hand sanding and polishing to get it perfect again. But you lost the little bit of hand engraving that was from the factory. No big deal, send it out and have it redone. But first, talk with the engraver and find out that engraving it two grades higher is only $250.00 more than the plain factory style and you upgrade.

Now you have a great looking gun, with a nice stock, great barrels and new scratching, but it looks too shinny. So off to the case coloring place it goes. In two weeks it is back and looks like a mint.

Good color, nice wood, nice barrels, prety to look at and shoot. But you know it is missing something. Read a few post here and learn that it needs a leather covered recoil pad. Third attempt it is perfect. But it now needs a case to travel in. Buy a few on Ebay, buy a few at gun shows, try to customize one yourself and then splurge and have one custom case made for your gun.

Sounds out of the question. Well let me sell you my Parker. If you think that you were ever upside down in a car you have no clue how bad it can get. I have a $1,500.00-2,000.00 gun that I have at least $4,000.00 in and that does not include my labor. Real investment is about twice that much if I count my own time and labor. Perfect looking 20 Parker, it does look like a much higher grade but it is not. I would do it again but might have to make it an even higher grade. After all, they may make B cup implants but I bet they sell more D cups so if you have to lie, lie large. AA grade here I come.

John you said it ALL. Especially that B cup D cup thing. There are a lot of "upgraded" women out there and I'm not complaining.