At it again - 16 gauge grouse gun restoration

[24 grams]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

There is no reason to lengthen chambers or cones and unless it is F/F there is probably no reason to alter the chokes, just shooting spreaders will accomplish about the same thing.

Hunt with it this fall as it is and take it to the Skeet range or SC course and practice with it.
If you need more length you can use a slip-on pad with spacers in it if necessary.

Just out of curiosity and not intending to be insulting or flippant.... why did you buy a gun you knew you wouldn't be happy with?.

Chokes are M and F. I like the idea of seeing what spreaders look like on paper. Thanks.

I also like the idea of hunting it with it with temporary solutions to accommodate a 13 3/4" LOP.

As far as buying a gun that I knew I wouldn't be happy with, I would have been more than willing to pay more for a gun that suited me better, but I found nothing that fit the bill.

This gun looks to be relatively unmolested, and it wouldn't take that much to make it suit me perfectly, just a little time and money.

A cheap way out would be to bend the stock a bit, install a proper pad, and call it good, which might be exactly what I do for now.

But if the gun is nice and tidy, wouldn't a restoration be worth it? And I don't mean in terms of dollars and cents.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Steven Groh

But if the gun is nice and tidy, wouldn't a restoration be worth it? And I don't mean in terms of dollars and cents.

It's the ones that are abused beaters that warrant a restoration of sorts. Guns like yours are sought after to just put to work and and never have to worry about taking them out in the weather and the thickets. And this earns them a lot of pride and respect because they go wherever, and whenever, you go.

But it's your gun after all...





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[24 grams]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

It's the ones that are abused beaters that warrant a restoration of sorts. Guns like yours are sought after to just put to work and and never have to worry about taking them out in the weather and the thickets. And this earns them a lot of pride and respect because they go wherever, and whenever, you go.
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Nice thoughts. That is sort of what I had in mind: a gun to take to the woods without worrying about my "investment."

This is what I am thinking:

I bought the gun for $2,000. I could shoot it for a few years and sell it for that or perhaps a little more. Is a VH ever going to be worth a lot of money? I don't think so.

Realistically, if I spent $1,000-1,500 on a restoration, it might be worth $2,500 -3,000, so I would "lose" $500-1,000 in doing so.

But if it gives me a few years of pleasure in the field, restored to how it might have looked nearly a century ago, it would be well worth it.

Would I be destroying a bit of history by commissioning a faithful restoration, employing gunmaking processes from the last century? I don't think so.

I may love the gun so much that I shoot it "as is," but I also may love it so much after shooting it "as is" this season that I want to bring it back to life.

In either event, it should see honest use in the field for decades to come.

SCG