Buying ?

[GH-16]

Repro's are great guns overall, but there's a few things I look for especially in the wood on them. One of the best things about repro's is the nicely figured wood on them. With that said; you really need to know what your looking at and not fall in love with wood right off.

The wood used on the repro's for the most part came from fruit orchard tree's in California. These tree's have a lot of grafting done to them to help with fruit production and because of this can have branch graft lines in places you don't want any weaknesses like the wrist layout or figure changes. The other thing you see quite often is white/sap wood patches that stand out like a sore thumb if they are in the wrong area. Do your home work & know what your looking at when inspecting the wood.

Inspect each gun for it's own merits and know what you want for a gun. Know before you start looking what gauge, triggers, grip, forearm, barrel length, chokes, etc. & keep in mind that they came in two different length's of pull 14 1/4" & 14 3/4". They can be rather high dimensioned, but if you look hard enough you can find one with more drop at heel & comb.

One of the biggie's for me is a repro must still be wearing it's skeleton butt plate, if someone cut the plate off & installed a recoil pad, I have no interest in it. IMO the removal of the SKBP devalues the gun by around a grand.


Good luck with the hunt for one!!