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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.