Purdy 20ga
 

Client sent this to me yesterday.He has a 20ga Purdy that is a family heirloom,Grandfathers gun.He said he pulled it out of the safe and this had happened.I am seeing him and the gun today and hopefully get the whole story.

Purdey of London sometimes sent their worst broken stocks to David Trevallion. David apprenticed with Purdey when he was a teenager and worked for them for fifteen years as a stockmaker completing every step of the butt stock and forend to the finished product.

If that one is broken to pieces, make sure your friend finds all of the pieces so it can be put back together again with no evidence of a break.






.

Yikes that one makes you sick in the stomach to see. Do gun stocks c rack in half just sitting in a gun safe? I guess anything is possible but what are odds of that. I have seen some old furniture crack like that but along the the grain, that looks like something cross grain. There has to be more to the story than I opened the gun safe and was confronted with a broken stock from a gun just sitting there.

Can't see on the underside of stock by trigger guard tang if there is an impact point or something heavy had to of been laying or pressing against that gun at the wrist to cause that.

The only other plausible explanation are gremlins. Or, London best guns are just light fragile guns with stocks spontaneously busting.:) Earthquakes. If there are kids in that house there needs to be some polygraphs administered.

Years ago had just bought an Isuzu Trooper. Consumer reports came out about how bad they were in rollover testing. After reading the article and seeing the pics I ran to garage to see if it had rolled over and was laying upside down with its tires up in the air looking like a dead bug. Seeing this makes me want to run to gun safe and check my guns.

Bob
I am not sure as to your role in this , but it appears as though it would be an easy fix by a talented craftsman. They are out there----If I can help down the road to recommend, give me a ring---802-885-1152

Allan

Thanks Allan
As I said I will see the gun later today and get some more pictures.I'll probably be in touch as this is a great client and will help as much as I can.Not to mention its a family gun handed down thru 3 generations.
I don't think it looks like a recoil break.

Good luck and I'm sure you will help him find the party to repair it. I know your client is probably aching and agonizing badly over it. What a nasty Halloween scare.

That is a nice family heirloom that I'm sure was well taken care and then to see that happen. I agree at first take that it does not appear to be from recoil. Maybe there was some hidden damage that weakened stock years ago and it finally gave way being kept in a super dry environment? Who knows. It looks like a some sort of a greenstick fracture.

Thank goodness there are some very skilled people out there that can work magic with some of these modern adhesives and repair processes.

BTW tell your client that one should get a Vurp Award.

An over stuffed safe, (I have one of those) those doors are heavy. Gun wedged at top/bottom. it wouldn't take much to pop a weak or partially cracked stock through the wrist if the door impacted on it, even slowly.

There could be a number of reasons for a break such as this. It's related to age and recoil. One contributor may have been using hot-loaded American cartridges intended to function in autoloaders...

Nonetheless, Trevallion is your prime man to fix a 20-bore Purdey stock. Possibly followed by The Stock Doctor.

He does have a rather large collection(stuffed safe).Probably a combination of things leading to the break.
Thanks for all the help and stand by as there will be more later today.

And Brian Board does exceptional stock work too.





.

Bob I am so sorry, having had the pleasure to closly examine this fine shotgun and shoot it I feel bad for the owner.
I am quit certain the stock can be repaired structurally and blended in a way that it will be next to impossible to detect.
Being a family gun that more than likely never be sold that would be the best direction to take in my opinion.

Dave Wolf in Waco.....

I had a Perazzi with a similar break in the wrist after a double discharge. A very talented local stocker repaired it with only the very tiniest of evidence. It was amazing. Do not fret.

Phil
Thats right you have seen that gun.How you doing?
Well Chris went to a local smith to get an opinion.He has the gun now and assures Chris he can do the repair.So we'll see if not he will have it restocked.
Thanks for all the advice and info.I'll let y'all know how it goes.

The most difficult and complicated repairs on broken stocks that I have seen have been repaired by DT and Dave Wolf. Unfortunately, Trevallion is retired I have heard.

Dave has trained Steve Dalzell in stock repair and refers his customers to Steve. I have not seen Steve's work yet but Dave speaks very highly of him. Steve was already a very accomplished gunsmith and Dave saw real promise in his stock work.

I have a friend who has a high grade Parker with a beautiful stock with a ball grip broken almost identical to the subject Purdey. We took the gun to Dave and he had every confidence in having Steve do the repair. Dave says we'll never see evidence of the repair but he will take pictures of the process.

We'll see in a few months.





.

With this, I fear we can bid another fine Purdey farewell...

I’m glad someone said this. There are 2 two stockers in the US that I would give any fine English gun, let alone a small bore Purdey, to work on and neither are “local gun smiths.” That’s like taking a Bently to the local shell station for a major repair. I mean no disrespect and I have no idea who the smith is but is a really bad (irresponsible?) decision.

It will either turn out fine, or it won't.

With a family heirloom it would be special to have the same stock that you know your granddad cherished and held. Btw your maybe never getting another one that he may of held. That for me would be the worth the extra shekels to reduce the risk of a botched job. That is maybe not very important for some.

For me when I pick up an old worn shotgun I feel honored and humbled. Getting to shoot one is like a warm welcoming hand shake with a fine old gentlemen willing to tell me story as if I am part of it. Maybe it's wrong to hold such an in-adamant object in high regard but then why do we have museums.

Dean how did your friends Parker stock break?

It broke accidentally.






.

David Trevallion and Dan Morgan (Woodstock VT) are the only two guys I would let work on the stock of an English gun. Morgan did a butt transplant on one of my Husseys and the work is invisible.

The break in the wrist of the Purdey was probably the result of snapping gun closed with too much force. I saw the same thing on a 28 b Purdey. The wrist of English game guns is the most vulnerable part of the gun. Shoot 10's of thousands of rounds through them - no problem. But snapping the gun shut too many times and this is exactly what happens.

Another very well respected and H&H trained stocker is Paul Hodgins in Utah. Unfortunately, he has a lot of work.

Ken

Dave Wolf recently repaired the wrist of an 0 frame VH 20 for me. It had 9 compound fractures both along the wrist, and across the wrist. I asked that the repair be done, and the stock and forearm match, but still look "age appropriate", as the gun has some provenance that I want to preserve.

The repair was utterly invisible.

If the professional resurrection of a hugely historic 20-bore Purdey is of interest, it will certainly be worthwhile to read the lead story in this Fall's Double Gun Journal, coming soon to a mailbox near you...

I certainly am. Who’s the author?






.