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

Lets get back to the D cup. If I can touch it, it's real.

With some skill that above pictured stock could be duplicated as a popsicle, creamsicle, or fudgesicle using premium quality goods and hand lacing the compoents together as they set up in the mold.

Gawd! Brilliant divine illumination is upon me! That pictured stock looks like a poundcake mix in butterscotch tones with the usual marble lacing. Should be easy to finely execute as a large handmade cookie. And as well a molded butt cake (I think this term could require explanation to someone hearing it the first time) properly toned and laced in with streaking. This is one place where "marblecake" has a double meaning. A "cakestock" could be made in several traditional forms in a clamshell mold. Just the sort of thing for fundraising, gunshows, mail orders, truck stops, etc. Someone with the time should look into this as a hobby commercial endeavor.

I have had three L.C. Smiths done,all have 30" bbls,ejectors,and are Ideal grades.
12,16 and 20 ga all restocked by Wenig with english straight stocks and checkered by a local guy,recolor case colored and barrels reblued.
I shoot them all the time, you might ask if it makes sense to put 1200 dollars in to a 1000 dollar gun. To me it was worth it.
Im planning on having a field grade restocked and engraved with something that pleases me,Almost like a custom gun.Cases by Jeff (old Cape Outfitters)oil bottles,rods,brushes finishes it all off
Hampton

Interesting. I posted this topic to see what the prevailing opinion is on upgrading field grade guns, and I'm somewhat surprised to find there isn't one. It seems to be a roughly 50/50 split for/against.

I can see validity in the arguments on both sides. Putting "1200 dollars into a 1000 dollar gun" probably isn't the best thing to do with our $, but almost all of us use our guns, and almost no one finds enjoyment in using an ugly gun. We all appreciate fine things, or we wouldn't be here on this site. And, since field grade guns are within the reach of most of us, it's only natural to want to spruce them up, either through upgrades or refinishing. I fail to see the harm in that.

More power to us I say.

I had a friend who said he liked my work and nice wood But, he thought it foolish to pay for decorations that cost more than the gun. I thought about it for a minute and realized he had about a doz. nice prints around his house that were signed & with re-marks included. These were prints he found at a sporting art on line store and cost were in the $400. - $500. range (he proudly said). He was somewhat taken back when I brought the fact out that the paper the prints were printed on was only about $1.25 a sheet and they were wearing $400-$500. art that wasn't original but 1/1000. Guess he didn't know what to say because he never mentioned that argument again. Just an amusing FWIW, Ken

"A proven factory up-grade, or a famous 'smith's work. . ." Sounds like chasing the high-performance mutual fund. Mr. Ken might be the hot property tomorrow. I don't know much about art but if I could afford it, I'd take even the the minimum of his work over Winchester pattern no. 5.

jack

Let's get down to the common sense bottom of this issue. If you have an ol' crotch gun of ordinary good quality type for the period and it otherwise has no esthetic or historial or even dollar value to anyone except a predator at a gun show, then do indeed commission a proper period enhancement for it. I have some older semi-auto spring pumps and a couple shuckers which go back a good way into the Old Days of Great American cornfield hunting. These guns will have a second set of stocks made from English walnut, perhaps checkered or left plain. They may get ebony or skeleton buttplates or a combination of both. The metal will be redone in a proper period rust blue. With additional internal mods they should function as well as the high-priced spread. There is no issue of money as the "art" is what has the value to those who appreciate the particulars.

Forget the issue of money unless you don't have it (which is just one of those things) and forgo the matter of everything "increasing in value" with the passage of time. Indeed certain things do increase in value because of demand but I would not want to be seen as some kind of a greedy crotch with his knees knocking together, crisply and loudly declaiming the vitrues of his old gun, and salivating while nodding to the posted price on a tag and then peeing in his pants at the slightest indication his price is being considered.

Obviously older American (and some other) guns prettied up as scarlet harlots are not expected to have the particular lockwork or ol' timey bore lapping on a breast drill which went into old British Best guns. The action work can be done by skilled people who do competition guns (of the newer type) and who could likely do as much for solid old reliable American guns. And there are always Baikals which may be regarded as raw materials for study. In fact, there is someone who does trigger work for the Baikal hammer version used in Cowboy shoots. If American walnut was used on old Parkers, then have the stock duplicated in the best quality obtainable for a gun which might have had it ordered originally.

No gun of good solid ol' timey American manufacture (I'm speaking of the shuckers and others) is NOT worth enhancing with period style high quality work. That applies to the innards of the action regardless of type. If something should be kept absolutely original, then so be it as regards the visible aspects. Remember, as the old saying goes, they all go BANG when you pull the trigger (and do much the same work).

There is a lot of talk of value and art, and time and money.

There is a very good reason to have significant work done on any worthy gun... to make it right for you.

Shootability - reliability, balance and handling, fit and beauty - is the biggest single reason to have work done on a gun. If you are thinking of cost vs. 'value' then stop there. You may or may not ever get your money back in increased cash value. But if you want a gun that is perfect for you, it makes great sense to start with a plan and a suitable candidate gun and invest in a little personal perfection. I doubt that you will be sorry that you did.

Rabbit, these rules have been set in place by the All-American Collectors. The English shooters have been happy with the house style, without the Sherlockian study or DNA testing.
Tell the PGCA you've bought an up-grade, and they won't sell you raffle tickets anymore.

As an aside regarding art, if you are putting a frame on art that costs more than the art, then that isn't saying much for the art. Conversely, I've had to put $1,200 frames on large $10k paintings because anything less doesn't do justice to the art. I think a similar parallel can be drawn for guns. If you're going to upgrade, do it right.