Things come and go. Berettas made in the 80's were caked with even thicker coats of poly-whatever than the Repros. Now, thankfully, better Berettas have an oil finish. I agree that collector guns should be left alone, however they are finished. Nonetheless, I like an oil finish because it looks better and minor scratches are easily fixed. Plastic will accentuate such damage and is difficult to repair. Since I have no intention of taking my gun scuba diving an oil finish suits me better.

For those who shoot them and don't particularly like the original finish... make it 'your' gun.

:rotf::rotf::rotf: Now thats funny!

We do a bunch of repro stocks. If you want to strip it without a lot of elbow grease, there is an easy way. Go to an auto paint supplier and by a product called Tal-strip. Sand the stocks with 100 grit paper,agressively, without going through the finish. Protect the checkering with masking tape prior and during stripping. After sanding, wipe down with MEK, let dry. Bring the wood up to around 150 degres. Apply the Tal-strip, keep the wood wet with stripper. After about ten minutes the Tal will start to emulsify the finish. This looks like ripples. gently scrape with a bondo spatula, and re wet with stripper. When the wood scrapes dry, the finish is off. At that point, scrub the wood with a nylon brush under running hot water. When the wood no longer feels slimey, stop the water and dry the wood with a hair dryer. Again wipe with MEK. The wood used in the repro stocks is fast growth wood with a lot of figure, so they use epoxy fillers to hide the checks and cracks. You need to use an epoxy to refill these defects. If you get to this point, drop me a line and I will help you fill, seal and finish the stocks. You can make repros look just like original stocks, it looks great.

Brad