Need Stock Help

[Gerry Addison]

Well, I really did it this time. Went Grouse hunting here in Ohio yesterday and my dog pointed a bird which I was lucky enough to bag with my straight grip 28 gauge Repro. Broke the gun open, set it on my shoulder to admire the bird and the gun slid off and fell to the ground. Didn't think much of it since the ground was soft and it was in thick leaves. Didn't really fall hard at all, but when I picked it up the stock was broken in half through the wrist at the end of the top trigger tang. Called Dave Wolf who has done a lot of stock work for me and is a magician when it comes to repairs and he said he could make a living repairing nothing but Parker Repros and LC Smiths. Said he had three in the shop right now with the same kind of break. He said he can repair it but after being broken they tend to break again either above or below the repair. My question is, have any of you had luck with this type of repair, or have any of you had stocks replaced and what did that cost you? I'm going to call Wenig and see what they charge. Appreciate any help, or suggestions you might have other than don't set the gun on your shoulder, I already figured that out myself.

[John Dallas]

O/T - Ever notice how we always stop to admire a grouse - much more than we do for a duck or pheasant?

[Robin Lewis]

I had one fix years ago and the person that did the work made it stronger than new. After he fixed the break (almost invisible) he milled a slot in the trigger guard inlet and glued in a "biscuit" with it's wood grain going 90 degrees to the grain in the stock.

[edgarspencer]

Did you ever notice that you see more broken 'high grade' stocks, than plain old working guns? The more wild the grain, the more likely it isn't gonna go fore and aft at the weaker wrist area.
A proper repair with wood like that is an inletted spline, nice straight grain and running in line with the wrist. Lucky for you, a straight stock can have a larger, longer, and stronger spline and still be completely hidden beneath the trigger guard. I am not a stock man, but some who are prefer dowelling, but it seems to me a milled slot is more easily done than deep drilling and running the risk of getting off center.

[Rich Anderson]

If it's a clean break I would think a proper fix would hold it. The only gun I ever had break at the wrist is a custom 416 Taylor. The smith put a dowell through it and it has taken the recoil without a problem ever since. I'd try a proper repair first as a new custom stock will set you back several thousand dollars.

[Chuck Heald]

Gerry,
The guys on the DG site think highly of DES "The Stock Doctor".

[Gerry Addison]

I called the stockfixr and they are at least 18 months wait right now so I'm not willing to wait that long. May have to go with the new stock. I think I'm going to send it to Dave Wolf and let him look at it. If anyone has had a repro stock made let me know what it cost you and who did the work. Thanks for all the help, and Big D you are correct, I always stop, stroke, and look at a grouse. They are the king of upland birds.

[Rich Anderson]

Repo or original I doubt it would make a difference. I have had a couple Parkers restocked and am currently doing a custom VH 20. The stock work was $2K+ not counting the cost of the blank.

[edgarspencer]

Called Dave Wolf who has done a lot of stock work for me and is a magician when it comes to repairs and he said he could make a living repairing nothing but Parker Repros and LC Smiths. Said he had three in the shop right now with the same kind of break. He said he can repair it but after being broken they tend to break again either above or below the repair.
I don't know Dave Wolf, but I'm sure he does fine work, especially if he has that much Parker experience. My only concern would be if he sees so many re-break at the repair, is he putting in a spline when doing the repair. I've never seen a gun break after a spline was inletted into the stock. Generally these breaks in very highly figured walnut reveal a crossgrain running as much as 45 degrees off the axis, but a spline would be stronger than the original, unbroken stock. Just my two cents.

[Dave Fuller]

American black walnut on a repro might be really nice... But I'm not writing the check.

[Gerry Addison]

Dave told me he is actually using carbon fiber and epoxy in some form. Said they never break at the repair, but he has had a couple come back with a break above or below the repair. Said it is usually because the grain does run the wrong direction in the highly figured guns through the entire length of the wrist.

[Joe Bernfeld]

The bottom gun in this pic is my 28 ga Repro that I repaired. It broke completely in half right behind the tangs when I fell down carrying it. A good break with all the pieces saved, and some strong epoxy, and it's held for about 5 years so far. Pretty hard to see the repair. I had to refinish the stock and clean up the checkering after the repair, but I much prefer oil finish anyway :). I would certainly repair the stock before I had a new one made.

[Gerry Addison]

Thanks Joe, that is great information and three very pretty guns.

[Sam Casey]

Gerry - Hope that was not your "new" ideally optioned grouse gun. I had one break at wrist. Would have happened to any gun I might have been carrying at the time as I fell on gun that happened to be over small ground depression. Mine was repaired and the job was excellent; almost invisable and never showed any sign of further weakness. Now (winter months) is the high season for gun repair. My guy here in MI is running about 6+ mos wait for new stock after he gets it back from shaper and almost as long for serious repair.

[Gerry Addison]

Sam, no luckily it was my older gun that I have been hunting with for about 10 years off and on. It is a straight grip, splinter, single trigger gun so it is not a "special" repro from a configuration stand point. Dave Wolf will get it back very, very, quickly and it will be done perfectly, just want to hear about the longevity of all the repairs. Thanks for telling me about your gun, that makes me feel better.

[Marvin Kells]

Gerry,

Be sure to come back to this post and upload some pictures when its done. Lots of us with 28 gauge Repros, and it never hurts to have a list of recommended stock guys on hand! Especially one with very reasonable turn around times.

[Gerry Addison]

Will do. Dave has done a number of guns for me with cracks, chips, missing pieces of wood, and he has never had one of my guns longer than 2 weeks. Very nice guy to work with as well. But, he has never done a gun that was completely broken in half for me. I totally trust him though, so if he says it will hold I will go for it. It's in UPS's hands now.

[Tommy Neely]

Gerry,
I've had several experiences similar to yours but want go into detail. I sent my gun to a shop in Up State NY and he did a great job repairing for around $250.00. I could not have been more pleased with the work, he also refinished the butt stock and forearm using an oil finish. Anyway, I have his business card at my farm and will send you his name and address next week. Whoever this guy is, he comes highly recommended.

[Gerry Addison]

Thanks, that will be a good contact person. Thank you in advance for your help. This has all been very helpful to me, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only clumsy person on this site.

[Tommy Neely]

Not sure it's that we're clumsy. It's more in the quality of the wood, it's very pleasing to the eye, that's all I've got to say about that.

[Gerry Addison]

You are right about the wood. Claro is pretty, but soft and not very strong.

[Fred Preston]

The straight grained black walnut of the Vs and Trojans is probably the toughest and least likely to break. I have not broken a stock yet, but the older I get, the more I stumble. So far I have managed to roll to my left shoulder and hip and come up shootin'.

[Tommy Neely]

Gerry,
The gentleman that repaired my Repo Stock (Broken in Half at the PG) Is:
A. Richard Hammond
c/o A. R. Hammond & Co.
871 Chamberlain Road
Newark Valley, NY 13811

Phone No. 607-642-3348

I called this number today and did receive a recording to leave a message so I trust he's still in business. Hope all works out well if you decide to use his services.

[Tony Guccioni]

Sad news for me and interesting ( perhaps ) for others.

I recently bought my first Parker Repro - a 12 Ga. DHE 2 barrel set, N.I.B, unmolested, unmarked and unfired. I chose this particular gun mostly due to the outstanding figuring in the buttstock.

I'm 'only here once', so I begun my quest for a Repro always knowing that I would be using whichever gun I purchased for Sporting Clays.

So, my very first outing with my new found beauty was at a 100 Target event last week. Loved shooting this gun which showed in my score ! Did have 1x fail to fire second barrel ( fairly sure my problem with the trigger ) and a double discharge !!
Was excited at the prospect of more shooting fun today, however, when cleaning the gun in preparation I found a hairline crack joining the top tang to the adjacent checkering. Boo Bloody Hoo.
Oh well, no more shooting with this ( fragile ??) little lovely till my stockmaker provides an opinion on possible solutions.

[Gerry Addison]

Thanks Tommy, I'm going to keep that information, Dave Wolf has done the repair and is sending it back to me, should be here tomorrow. He is so quick it is scary. I'm going to shoot it for a couple weeks and if it holds up I'll send it back to him to be finished. He told me it would be invisible. He said, like everyone else has said, if the wood was better strength wise it would not be a problem. But, if it was of better strength it wouldn't have broken to begin with. I'll let everyone know how this turns out and post some pictures.

[John Dallas]

Tony - Sorry about the stock - bummer.
As far as the double discharge - I would suggest you (or an experienced Parker 'smith) open it up and give it a good cleaning. If the gun has sat unmolested since it was built, the lubes in it have probably congealed and are now gluey gunk. Many of the Japanese-sourced guns (101, SKB, etc) exhibit the same issue. I would guess that the two gun manufacturing facilities in Japan used the same lube.

[Tony Guccioni]

Tony - Sorry about the stock - bummer.
As far as the double discharge - I would suggest you (or an experienced Parker 'smith) open it up and give it a good cleaning. If the gun has sat unmolested since it was built, the lubes in it have probably congealed and are now gluey gunk. Many of the Japanese-sourced guns (101, SKB, etc) exhibit the same issue. I would guess that the two gun manufacturing facilities in Japan used the same lube.

When I say I bought this gun unmarked /unmolested, that was true but quite temporary.
I've learned a lot reading these pages, so arranged for the gun to 'enjoy' a stopover with Briley for a diss-assemble and clean.
On receipt of gun I was staggered to find whoever worked on the gun at Briley severely marred the top screw under the opening switch and both trigger plate screws.
Took awhile to recover from the shock of paying somebody to damage my new gun but the subsequent FTF/Doubling and cracking is approaching 'too much'.

[Marvin Kells]

On receipt of gun I was staggered to find whoever worked on the gun at Briley severely marred the top screw under the opening switch and both trigger plate screws. Took awhile to recover from the shock of paying somebody to damage my new gun but the subsequent FTF/Doubling and cracking is approaching 'too much'.

:eek::cuss::banghead::glug::draw:

I'm speechless!

[Gerry Addison]

Tony, Briley is very good about making right their mistakes. Call them and have them correct the screws. They have the means to take care of all of it. Also, be sure to check the barrel selector if it is a single trigger gun. Make sure it is all the way forward or all the way to the rear. I've heard this can cause a double discharge. I've owned two single trigger guns that doubled and after the repair they had a "heavy trigger" pull. Make sure someone that knows Parkers works on it. Bachelder in Michigan would be a good choice.

[Dave Suponski]

I had a doubling problem with my 28 gauge Repro and I brought it to Abe Chaber here in CT. As it turned out the two counter weights were very poorly finished on the surfaces adjacent to each other. Abe Polished them to a high finish and the problem went away. I am not a big fan of single trigger guns but it is what it is....

[Bill Murphy]

In my opinion, no one who works on competition guns know anything about a screw. The only way to get your screws right is "small claims court". Don't send the gun back to Briley to fix the screws.

[Gerry Addison]

Bill, I disagree. Briley has some very good people there and if you call and talk to them and explain what happened they will make it right even if they have to send it out to someone else. I had a similar problem, not with a screw but with a trigger and they kept after it until they got it corrected and they were polite all along the process. They even paid for the shipping both ways. They make mistakes like everyone else, but they will stand behind their work.