doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com I need help from a stock expert (Pictures added)

I bought a J. P. Sauer 16 gauge sidelock hammergun from a man in NH. It arrived at the dealers today. It is beautiful. English stock, splinter forend. Great wood, double triggers 28.?" barrels IC/ IM chokes. It is super slim, weighs 5 1/2 pounds. The barrels are Krupp steel and ring like crystal. There are no dents. Action is on face, and very tight.
The dealer did a terrible packing job. The gun was in an old vinyl case. The case was in a 6" X 6" single layer cardboard box. There was one piece of bubble wrap around the case. There was at least 3 " of space around the bubble wrap inside the box for the case to slam around in. Then He shipped it UPS. The stock is cracked completely through at the wrist. this gun is everything I hoped for, The checkering is still nice and sharp and the engraving on the locks is very nice. My dealer is livid. He said this should have been the best gun in his shop, but it is ruined now. I know there are guys here that can repair anything. There are no pieces missing or splintered out. The stock is just broken. The crack runs through the checkering and looks like it should be invisible when glued or however it can be repaired. I am in the office now, and can't post any pictures till I get home. Any ideas what a repair like this will cost? I have to make up my mind what to do by Monday. If this is a reasonable repair, I will go for it. I was planning on re-coloring the receiver and locks anyway. This old girl deserves to be used again. HELP ME PLEASE.

Bill

Bummer Bill:
How far are you from Craig Libhart?
Susquehanna Stockworks
Bainbridge, PA (717) 367-3414
http://susquehannastockworks.com/about.htm

You might send a pic to one of these repair experts (and David's and Bob's amazing 'cures' are on the PictureTrail):

David Trevallion Maine dtrevallion@maine.rr.com

Robert Fulton
307-436-5561
stocks@highstream.net
Glenrock, WY

Dennis Smith
The Stock Doctor
Tygh Valley, OR 97063-9797
(541) 483-2182
thestockdr@riflemag.com

Thanks Revdocdrew,
I know about these men from reading this site. This break is nice and clean, not any where near the disasters on the picture trail. The problem is I have to to have some idea of price by Monday. I was hoping someone here had this type of repair done before and could give me some idea of the cost. If the seller will split the cost with me I will proceed. If not, the gun will go back as much as I would love to keep it. I am probably going to have a hard time getting a refund. The shipper should be responible, and I have never heard of anyone having any luck with UPS, if the shipper even insured the gun.

Bill

Was the gun shipped whole? (not taken apart). This is a major cause of broken stocks, in my experience. Even with a good packaging job, inertia (when they throw the box into the UPS truck and it hits the wall) can cause a broken stock. All guns should be shipped barrels-off the action, if possible. Your shipper is at fault if he did not take the gun down before shipping.

Dennis Smith can fix the stock among others as noted. It will probably cost at least $500.

One other note; re-case coloring a nice old gun is not without risk either.

Good luck,

C. Kofoed

Call Dennis and discuss the break with him in as much detail as possible. He can and usually will give you a cost range for the repair, subject to inspection. If the packaging was as bad as you have described, the seller should bear some responsibility, and I would hold his feet to the fire, especailly if a "professional" dealer.

Replacement,
The seller paid a professional dealer to handle the transfer. The dealer shipped the package. My dealer called him, and he said he had been especially careful with this gun. He also said he did not notice any damage when he packaged the gun. As far as i am concerned the dealer that shipped the item should be held accountable. I have never seen packaging as bad as this. I wouldn't ship a ball bat in packsging this poor.

Bill

Who was the dealer he paid to "handle the transfer"? Once agian UPS destroys its package,guess you should feel lucky it showed up at all,a dealer is brought in for no reason and the end result is a disaster.Why in the world did he not take the gun down,as suggested by CKofoed package it correctly and go to the USPS for a registered mail like he should have?Bloody shame

If you ship any gun by UPS, use NOTHING but overnight delivery and insure the gun for full value.

Take pictures of it before you ship it too.

RGS:

I just had one repaired by Dave VanDenbrand (sp?), nice clean break right behind safety. His phone number is 616-399-6767. I want to say it was about $450 to $500. You can not see repair except for tiny lines at bottom of safety.

Other fellows are:
Toby Leeds - 920-921-9199 (not sure if he does stock repairs - he makes them.)

Mike Orlen - 413-256-1630

J. David Yale - 970-562-4225

JJ Perodeau (sp?) 580-237-7388

For what it's worth my understanding is that even a well repaired brokenwrist greatly reduces the value of a gun. Ohter's maybe able to give a ballpark of how much.

If I do decide to fix this stock, the gun will be a keeper. I really don't care about resale value, I just don't want to tie up a ton of cash in it. I'm sure I will never collect a dime from UPS, and I don't even know if the dealer bought any insurance. I'm sure the seller will not refund my money, he will tell me to collect from the dealer or UPS. A loser all the way around.

Bill