doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Question for Brian Dudley or other stockmakers

I'm looking at a nice English sidelock at a good price. Typical straight grip but someone has cut it off so that, even with a pad the lop is only 13 1/2 inches. I think I can have a new stock made and still not be wildly upside down in the gun. Here's my question: I really prefer a Prince of Wales or semi-pistol grip instead of a straight grip. Is that feasible? Or will the bottom tang be too much of an issue? Should I just give it up and buy a gun that has the features and dimensions the I like and that fit?

I would think that having a stock made in any grip style you wish would not be an issue.
Onviously, cost investment would favor you looking for a gun thatyou like as is.
Unless you require some special dimensions that you will never find out there.

Add three grand, plus the cost of your blank, to the gun price. Still a good value? As the the trigger guard needing to be shorter look at the holes in it. Can rework the guard or will a new one need to be made? The lower tang might need to be bent upwards or if short enough you might be able to only need a slight alteration. Your stock maker will know based on what your final stock dimension are going to be. A good restock will cast about three grand, some will do it for two plus, but the wait for a top stock maker might be a year or two. One fellow I knew stopped taking jobs because he was over two years behind already. Allowed him to pick and choose both jobs and people he work with. I suspect he did squeeze on a few jobs for regulars even with a long waiting list.

If you were just going to make it longer you could think about a butt splice stock job. If in doubt do a search on this site but to be short you cut the stock off just behind the checkering, add a spline to reinforce the glue joint and epoxy a rear blank onto the grip portion of the old stock. Saves all the in-letting and gives you a very large rear stock to make fit as you want.

There was an aftermarket POW add-on that could be used to give a straight grip gun a POW grip. Looked like hell but did the job. But other than a wood extension or one of those hideous two inch thick red rubber recoil pads a short stock is a pain.

It may be possible to do a butt transplant. That would save the cost of heading-up a new stock, that would be a significant savings.

I bought a Boss at the last Southern and with the leather pad is was only a little over 14". I heard good things about Dennis Smith ,AKA "The Stock Doctor". So I decided to send to him for an extension out to 15" and have a nice English style leather pad added. What I got back from Mr. Smith was simply FANTASTIC!. You can't even see the extension and he did a fantastic job of blending the whole thing together. Re-finished the entire stock and forearm, reworked all checkering and install a beautiful leather pad.
He also stands behind his work at his expense. A very delightful person and wonderful to converse with. If I get another project no doubt I would look to him for the same work again.