Greenwood Gunsmiths (2024)

06/10/2024

The right way?
Continuing my rant from the other week, I once again have been presented with another venerable old lady (a Pape box lock from around the turn of the 20th century) which had fallen victim to a poor attempt to repair the stock, but at least this time there was no sign of roofing screws, copper or brass rods or even knitting needles…….yes that’s right, many years ago I wrote about aluminium knitting needles being used in an attempt to strengthen the break, needless to say, they didn’t work.
This time only glue had been used on this Pape, liberally smeared on the R/H/S of the break but not much in it which resulted in the L/H/S then breaking because of the already weakened area, pictures one & two.
Why?
Well, perhaps it is because not many people know how to repair this kind of break properly, as well as not possessing the necessary tools and knowledge?
While I can’t supply you with the tools in this update, I can, at least, attempt to impart the knowledge I have gained of repairing this kind of break over the last 44 years.
First, the stock must be joined together, however many pieces there are around the action to make sure everything is set up true. I use an industrial strength cyanoacrylate (the shiny line around the grip in picture three), then when dry, boring down through the head of the stock far enough to bridge the break with a minimum depth of a 1 ½” through the break, then inserting a hard-wood dowel using a two-pack polymer glue to fix in place, picture four.
I always find boring the head to be the most nerve-wracking part of the whole repair as one slip, or being slightly off on the angle of the bore hole can be disastrous. However, once this is accomplished, trimming the dowel then inletting the mechanism into the new wood, while time consuming, gives immense satisfaction as this is the key to a strong repair, picture five.
With the stock back together and stronger than it has probably been for years, making the repair “look good” is the next stage, and another area where “good intentions” are often not matched by “good skills”. Re-chequering the grip to match the original should only be attempted with the stock held in a chequering cradle and with the right size chequering tool, picture six, then when both sides are done, matching the colour and finish to the original could take up a whole “update” if not a book!
The best advise I can give to all of you budding stock repairers is to leave it to the professionals, but if you still insist on having ago, perhaps this has been of some help?
Just remember, avoid using screws and especially “knitting needle 😊” and if you do it wrong, expect to pay a lot in both monitory terms and” loss of face” when you do present it to a competent gunsmith.

If in doubt who to get to repair your gun, always ask to see previous work (mine is on view on Facebook for all to see), and please don’t use your local “expert” (you all know my feelings on experts ☹).

22/09/2024

The Magnificent Seven (from Orkney!)
Well, another two weeks gone by and I am still vertical, not supine at the pleasure of the NHS! 😊 Indeed, a mile stone has been passed as this is the first week since March, I appear to be infection and dressing free!!! Hurrah!
As much as I like nurses, seeing them three times a week for them to trim up my chest hair and apply a dressing which either sucks (a negative pressure dressing which removes the puss, we used to call them “Henry”) or a standard packing which fell off withing 24hrs, was not much fun and ate away at my working day.
Once again, I must offer my thanks for all your good wishes, phone calls and even visits with flowers for Jen (I think they may have been commiseration bouquets as once again she is having to put up with me at home 😊)
Anyway, on with the update!
Just before I fell off my perch in March, I had a visit from a gentleman with seven Beretta’s of varying age and quality for servicing and as it turned out, a little more.
Not only were there seven guns, but it had been seven years since they were last looked at (not very thoroughly) and the resulting condition of the internals of the guns were all pretty similar to picture one.
“That’s disgraceful!” do I hear you cry? Well, I agree, but if you take into account, they belong to a wildfowling syndicate in the Orkneys’ and are used pretty well every day of the season (without internal maintenance) as loaner guns for those who wish to shoot on the foreshore without detriment to their own fowling pieces, they are really not too bad!
How did they end up here down in sunny Shropshire? Well, as with most of the work we do, by recommendation as the family who run the syndicate spend the summer near Shrewsbury and we were recommended by neighbours……I believe in Orkney!
As I was still in hospital and time was getting short for the guns return to the wild islands, Laura started working on them on Saturdays while I was still captured by the NHS (after 5 years apprenticed to me, servicing Beretta’s was like “meat and potatoes” to her) and when I got home, I checked them over and with my Zimmer frame in hand, looked on as the last few were done.
So, what is the point of this update?
Mainly it is to show that older Beretta’s are of such quality, however much abuse is heaped on them, they keep working and can always be bought back to good condition with a view to having yet more abuse heaped on them for years to come and to let you all know, as each week goes by, I am getting so much better that I am nearly back up to where I was before my NHS stay with all work now completed from the beginning of the year.

07/09/2024

Well, I am back and judging by the standard of some of the stock repairs I have recently been presented with, it is a good job I survived my recent health trials and tribulations 😊
I owe so many of you my thanks for taking the time to stay in touch with Jen expressing your concern and best wishes for my speedy recovery, please forgive me if I take that opportunity right now
THANK YOU ALL 😊
While convalescing I have spent the last few months catching up on the work I took in prior to the fall from my perch and with Laura’s help early on (me sitting next to her with my Zimmer frame offering advice and getting so frustrated because I was so weak and my hands were shaking so badly you would not have wanted me anywhere near your gun with a tool in my hand and her shaking so badly as I became deadly with the Zimmer frame 😊) but that time has passed, hopefully for good and I am back more or less to normal, or what passes for normal when describing me 😊
So, back to the pictures of this Cogswell.
It was one of the last guns sent to me before I was laid low and only completed a few weeks ago.
Picture, one shows the cataclysmic break and damage this poor old lady had suffered, but picture two shows this is not the first time someone had tried to render a repair. The little metal pointy bit is actually the end of a roofing sheet nail with the head cut off then inserted through the back of the l/h lock aperture in attempt to strengthen a previous break………what a joke!! There is amateur and there is bodge up artist, I will leave you to decide which this is?
But after a couple of weeks work, it was nice to see that the old skills have not deserted me and with a full- length head dowel (a Kebab repair as we call it) and some matching timber found and let in, the gun was ready to be locally re-finished then returned to its owner, picture three.
It is worth pointing out though, that this type of repair has an approximate two out of a hundred failure rate, indeed I finished another similar repair last week which broke again in the same place after only two shots, but that gun did have other faults and issues that contributed to the failure of the repair. ( It broke while I still had it so there was no charge for two weeks work to the customer)
I have, as I write, just three guns left to finish that I took in before my long NHS holiday (not recommended), then I will be starting on those I have taken in recently. I am still visiting the doctors three times a week for “my hole” to be dressed (for clarification, the one in my chest 😊) so this is limiting my time somewhat regarding appointments for you to come and see me but I was assured this morning this would not be continuing into October……. I HOPE?????? (or perhaps they were hinting the edge of my perch is beckoning again? 😊)
Once again, my thanks to all of you for your best wishes and I hope to hear from you all with any little problems or for any advice I can offer

10/05/2024

Update on Tim

Tim ended up having a quadruple bypass on the 25th of March but 3 days later he suffered 3 cardiac arrests. He was put into an induced coma and on a ventilator for just over 2 weeks. Over the Easter weekend his heart then kept going into VT and in total ended up being shocked 43 times.

He is now finally home, you can't keep the old stubborn bu**er down 🤣. He is getting stronger everyday but needs sometime to recover from all of this. I will update when we are back up and running properly again. He is already complaining he is bored and can't wait to get back out into his workshop 🤣

I would like to thank our daughter Flo for coming back to work with us on her days off from her own job during this time and finishing off some of jobs her dad had already booked in. She has been a star.

I would also like to thank all of our customers who have phoned me during this time to see how Tim was doing.

Jen

21/03/2024

I am currently sitting with Tim in a cardio unit in Stoke. 2 weeks ago Tim was admitted to hospital with cardio problems which turned out to have been a Heart attack. He is scheduled to have open heart surgery in the next few days. Because of this we can not take any further work till about July or guarantee completion of the work we have till that time. Should you wish to contact us to collect any guns belonging to you that we have at present, we can arrange for collection through a phone call to us during the mornings from Monday to Friday as i am visiting Tim in the afternoons, to book an appointment to collect your gun. I have no access to Tim's emails.

01630 638557

Jen

03/03/2024

Bargains are still out there!

I was phoned the other week by a customer who had bought a Cogswell & Harrison 20b, on-line at Holts Auctioneers.
He admitted it was a bit of a punt (but at the price he got it for, it really wasn’t much of a risk) as the gun was broken through the grip and had been “shortened” by someone to 13”, who’s only tool was a pruning saw, in other words, really badly.
He asked me to look over it and estimate for the work needed to bring the gun up to 15 ½ “ LOP and repair the grip, re-chequer and re-finish.
As you can see, in picture two, this repair would be best described as “a kebab on a block” with “chips” on the side or in this case, the forend. 😊
Picture three, shows the hard-wood dowel used to re-enforce the broken grip bored down through the head, then the action re-inletted.
The first picture, shows the completed job, grip repaired, extended then re-chequered and re-finished.
What do you think?
To me, this is the perfect gun for a walk around in the evening waiting for the odd rabbit or pigeon to get careless and in range as it is so light, and there is no hunting around for ejected cartridges.
How much of a bargain was it? Well, think of a number, halve it then halve it again and you are still probably twice as much as it cost 😊 😊

25/02/2024

Perazzi Part 2
Let’s start this week where I left off last week, with picture one, the Perazzi in question now stripped down and ready to go through the ultrasonic cleaning tank.
It’s now easier to see the rust and old oil.
Once clean, the action was brushed then polished ready to go through the hot black process, along with the forend ironwork and all ancillaries (this is why it is always better to buy a black action Perazzi not a silver nitride as they can be struck off and re-blacked almost ad-infinitum). Bare metal actions as seen on the SC3’s and SCO’s can also be brushed and made as good as new, but you have to be careful of the engravings as some are very light and will suffer over time from heavy cleaning.
If your gun already falls into this category, all is not lost as the engraving can be re-cut but this will involve a cost higher than just re-blacking.
So, what else have we done to this gun to bring it back to, perhaps, “better than new?”
The barrels have been struck and re-blacked (the only work carried out “out of house”), the action and barrels have been re-built and tightened, the wood work stripped, enhanced then re-finished, the chequering re-cut and a new leather- faced Kick-Eez pad fitted.
The action has also been checked thoroughly for any faults including ejector timing, triggers and the barrels honed to remove some fairly heavy fouling and minor pitting.
As you can see in pictures two, three and four, the finished gun is pretty special (the owner thought so too) and I would challenge anyone to find a better 25 year’s old Perazzi out there!
Once again this shows the advantage of carrying out all of this work in house (with the exception of the barrel-bluing which I entrust to someone as professional as I try to be) as I am in direct control of the finished article and I will only let it leave the workshop when I am happy with the finished result.
The question is would you buy new or bring back your old gun to “as good, if not better than new”?
The difference is about £10,000 so it is certainly worth thinking about 😊

18/02/2024

Perazzi Part 1

I have long been a fan of older Perazzi’s, they were well made and above all, well finished. When presented with an older gun that is in dire need of some TLC it is always a pleasure to work on as I know, with knowledge, some skill and many hours, I will be able to bring back a well worn and somewhat neglected gun to a finish perhaps even better than the day it came out of the factory because the gun has quality built into it.
If you are considering buying an older, second- hand example, have a look at the pictures below as they are a good indicator of what to look for and how much work the gun has done.
Picture, one shows the wood dull with minor d***s and dents, while picture two shows how badly the chequering has been worn over nearly 30 years of use. Looking at the chequering is always a good indicator of how much work a gun has had over the years. Worn chequering such as this indicates the amount of handling a gun has had, so how much it has been shot.
Look at the action for worn bluing and how the gun opens and shuts, both are good indicators of use. But actions can be re-blued and re-built to tighten by most competent gunsmiths. Re-chequering takes time and therefore money, so is rarely done to just “tart a gun up” for re-sale. It is also easy to see that if a 30-year-old gun has crisp chequering, the likely hood is it has been re-done to make it look good for sale and to hide how much work the gun has really had.
Don’t get me wrong, an older gun which has been re-furbished by a professional (not an expert 😊) can be a very good buy but make sure you know who has undertaken the work and that it is of a good standard. Also make sure the price reflects the fact that it is an older gun.
If you can, persuade the seller of the gun to remove the stock and have a look inside the action, Pictures three and four both show rust and old oil lurking in the corners due to the lack of attention from a professional gunsmith, but with a quality gun, all of these things can be put right and are worth putting right because, after all, it is a Perazzi!
This particular gun has been owned by the same shooter for over 20 years, and while the bill for renovating it was not cheap, it was a damn sight cheaper that trading it in against another gun which may or may not be a better gun than the one already owned, definitely a case of “better the devil you know”. 😊
Take a look next week and you will see how good an “older lady” with “cosmetic surgery” and a “new dress” can look and perform.

04/02/2024

Accidents do happen!
You may remember last time I showed you a stock break almost certainly caused by poor casting?
Well, this week I can show you a stock break that was almost certainly accidental, although I haven’t been filled in on the details as yet.
Upon taking the stock off the action, I found the right-hand ear, picture one, (the bit that fits up into the action) had broken off with signs of glue already having been applied, not very well and obviously not strong enough or fitted properly, otherwise it wouldn’t have broken off again so “amateur hour” as they say! 😊
Also, there was severe cracking to the rear of the top tang, picture two, which stretched down the grip and almost round to the trigger plate, picture three.
With a small amount of pressure, the whole side parted company with the rest of the stock, showing the full extent of the break, picture four.
Looks horrific, doesn’t it? Pound signs rolling up in your eyes at the thought of the cost of a new stock? 😊
But all is not lost as this kind of break is probably one of the best to repair as there is a large surface to surface area for the glue to key two.
First job was to re-fit the right-hand ear, so the stock would line up correctly with the action, then check the left-hand side would line up correctly with the rest of the stock. Once this was confirmed, glue was applied, then using the action as a template, the stock was screwed up tight to the action, whilst being clamped either side of the head and left overnight to cure.
The clean- up and finishing part of this operation is always the hardest bit, cleaning off the now hard excess glue, rubbing down and re-shaping around the break, re- chequering then re-finishing to match the original colour takes time, knowledge and experience gained over many years of repairs and is what separates the professionals from the “experts” or amateurs.
The results you can see in picture five.
The object of all my repairs is to put them back together so that no one can see where the damage was. I had a customer last week who was convinced the repair was on the opposite side of the stock to where the damage was. I had to take the stock off to show him the internal glue line.
“Oh, Yee of little faith” 😊

28/01/2024

To cast, or not to cast, that is the question?
Or
“Knowing how”
Accidents do happen, guns get dropped, sat on, run over, dinked or dented in a multitude of ways, but take heart, I have never yet found damaged woodwork that I cannot repair. But the worst, the very worst kind of “accident” is when, probably with the best advice and intentions of friends, you hand your gun over to an “expert” to have work carried out at your behest. Yes, that’s right, a self-inflicted “accident” by choosing the wrong person to do the work 😊
There are many “experts” out there who profess they are able to carry out certain jobs on your gun but be especially wary of the expert that says “I can cast your gun”.
Casting a gun is bending the stock from left to right or visa-versa, to bring the stock nearer to your face. Carried out properly by a professional, a large amount of movement can be obtained on most guns without any detrimental effects to your stock or finish and without it “springing back” but it’s all a question of “knowing how?”
Take the first picture below, this kind of break shown by the glue line around the cheek is symbolic of an attempt being made by an “expert” to increase the cast of this stock.
Notice the aluminium tube by the stock?
These are fitted through the grip inside of the stock, and have to be removed before the gun can be cast. This is not a job for the “faint hearted” as they are well and truly glued into place and need to be drilled out. If the tube is left in place, the resulting break that occurs is always at the back corner, right or left, of the top tang and floor plate, just like this one.
Even after the tube is removed, it takes 3-4 days to achieve a “cast”, allowing the wood to settle into its new position with several applications of steam to assist it. “Experts” who use heat lamps should be especially avoided as they dry the wood and make the stock prone to cracking.
We were once told “you should be able to cast my gun in my lunch hour if I call in!”. You can imagine my reply to that statement, but I won’t write it here for fear of offending you 😊
However, as you can see in the second picture, even if your gun has been subject to the machinations of an “expert”, a professional can usually save it, but that, once again, is an example of “knowing how” 😊

22/01/2024

Not all “Frankenstein’s” are monsters 😊

In my last update, I showed you pictures of a stock I literally “put together” for a giant of a shooter. 6ft 5in, about 3ft across the shoulders with hands and arms to match.
I extended both the butt and the grip as well as inletting two walnut wedges (hence Frankenstein, built out of bits) to lift the gun to this “giant’s” face.
But not all “Frankenstein” stocks are for giants. This venerable Miroku belongs to a very petite lady, but like the giant, she has a long neck and high cheekbones often associated with the female form.
In this case, I shortened the stock, inlet two pieces of walnut to lift the comb to parallel while at the same time deepening the Monte-Carlo so the gun came to her, not bending her head down to the stock.
I also took the time to thin the grip for her petite little hands (no JCB shovels on this lady 😊).
Having shot it in the unfinished state for some months with some impressive results (beating her father-in law 😊) it finally came back to the workshop to be finished.
Yes, they are the same stock and forend.
Frankenstein stocks have many uses for many shooters, and at less than 25% of the cost of a new “custom” built stock.

14/01/2024

Wood, Wood, glorious Wood!!
From repairing a broken corner on a Beretta forend, pictures 1 &2, to being allowed to create a “Frankenstein” stock (as once described by another stock finisher because they did not understand the concept and could not re-finish to our standard) on a new Miroku MK11, pictures 3 & 4, my love for working with wood has never abated.
As you can see, this particular “Frankenstein” stock could have been built for the “monster” and indeed its owner is pretty scary at 6ft 5 inches tall and originally in the mid 20 stone bracket (he has now lost a huge amount of weight) with hands like JCB shovels, it would have been impossible for him to find a gun to fit “off the rack”.
Many thousands of pounds would have had to be spent to create a custom stock made to his dimensions, but this way he has a stunning looking gun, made to measure, for considerably less.
When it comes to wood work repairs, alterations and renovations there is very little we cannot accomplish and all work is carried out in house.

13/01/2024

Kind words from a new customer

09/01/2024

We are a fully licenced family run business in Tern Hill, Shropshire with over 44 years of experience, offering all gunsmithing services including barrel work, stock repairs, all action repairs and servicing.
Our barrel work using our inhouse honing machine includes opening chokes, removing pitting, re-bluing and general repairs to dents etc.
We undertake all repairs to broken stocks and forends with a 99.9% success rate, as well as bespoke gun fitting without the cost of re-stocking. Full re-chequering, enhancing wood and re-finishing are all caried out in house to the highest standard.
We work on all actions and when needed can make and fit any parts that are not readily available.
We do not buy or sell guns and do not retail any shooting equipment, so you can be assured of impartial advice regarding your gun.
For more details and information please consult our website and page or phone us Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm.
We operate on an appointment only basis so we can give you our undivided attention.

Website www.greenwoodgunsmiths.co.uk
Email [email protected]
Phone 01630 638557
Facebook Greenwood Gunsmiths

07/01/2024

Is this what they mean by a Christmas bender??
Or
No good turn goes unpunished 😊

The first picture this week pretty much explains why this William Powell arrived in the workshop before Christmas (the barrels had a “built in lead” enforced upon on them by the rear bumper of a truck). This tale of woe occurred when the guns owner, with his gun in a sleeve, saw his wife returning home, lent his gun up against the garage and went to open the gate. His wife, while failing to notice the gun leaning against the garage, reversed up the drive and used the owner’s gun as a “brake assist”, miraculously (well it is Christmas) causing no other damage except for this bend in the barrels.
I wish I could say this is the first set of bent barrels I had seen over the years, but it is surprising how frequently this kind of damage occurs, usually due to an act of “thoughtful carelessness” 😊.
Before undertaking a repair of this kind, it is important to check that the barrels are strong enough with a good wall thickness to allow for any “truing up” after straightening. This requires the use of a barrel wall thickness gauge, shown in the next picture. As it “says on the tin” this gauge can measure the wall thickness at any point on a barrel, even the depth of a pit, which is very useful when honing barrels to ascertain how much metal can be removed to correct any flaws without putting the gun out of proof. As you can see in the third picture, the gauge shows a reading of just over 32th (we always work on the assumption that under 25th a re-proof should be considered) so we had a little metal to work with. The proof was also checked with an internal bore micrometer with at least 2th available to work with.
After the barrels came back from straightening/re-blacking and after, once again, checking the proof and the barrel wall thickness, I put the barrels onto my honing machine, picture 4, to remove any last flaws in the internal surfaces. While the worst of any kinks or wrinkles had already been taken care of during the straightening process with lead lapping, the honing machine, due to the length of the stones, gives a truer final polish and in this case, without removing metal from the proof area.
And “Presto”, picture 5, a straight, re-blacked set of barrels with not a kink in sight! It really is amazing what can be accomplished with the right skills, machinery and knowledge, helping this venerable old English lady to take part in many more shooting seasons.
Oh! And by the way, a Happy New Year to you all

23/12/2023

Tim, Jen and the "Complaints Department" wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Ho!🎄 Ho! 🎄 Ho!🎄

17/12/2023

Little things……….
Well, what can I say? What a great birthday present you all gave me last week…. over 1200 likes and comments on my post!! The best birthday present I could have wished for, knowing that so many of you are interested in the ruminations of this decrepit old gunsmith lurking in deepest Shropshire 😊
Unfortunately, this week, I have been a little self-indulgent and wanted to show you a repair that gave me a great deal of satisfaction if not monitory reward.
The old 12b folding shotgun in picture one, now spends most of its life in the cab of a tractor, kept handy for the odd rabbit, fox or pigeon that is unwise enough to show itself to one of our local farmers. Recently its owner had been contemplating getting rid of it because the lifter had stopped working and a spent cartridge required the use of a pocket knife to extract it.
As a last resort, he called me and asked if he could pop it in as he knows I like a challenge when it comes to gun repairs.
When it arrived it was no better than I expected of a gun that is used as a tool every day, but I immediately spotted that the lug that held the lifter in place had lost the two protrusions that marry with the action to operate the lifter. If you look carefully at the second picture, you can see the darker, rougher metal where the protrusion had sheared off, causing some damage to the action.
Further investigation showed that I was not the first to repair in this area, indeed, as you can see in picture three, the leg of the lifter had been welded (badly) and a notch cut to hold the retaining lug. Unfortunately, the original “flat bar” repair allowed the lug to slip from one side to the other and consequently be sheared off when the gun was shut.
The trick was to come up with a way of keeping the lug in place when the gun was open, which I succeeded in doing by making the top section into a half barrel which slid up into the lifter tube when the gun was opened. Yes, that little “widget” in the picture is the key to making the lifter work again. Further filing produced the protrusions which interfaced with the action and made the lifter “lift” again with the short flat section keeping the lug central in the lump.
Picture four shows the new part ready to be tapped into the barrel lump to interlock with the notch in the lifter.
Please forgive me for writing this piece of self-indulgence, but you have no idea the pleasure I took from working out how to work around a previous poor repair and end up with a gun that still works and is still many years away from the scrap heap. 😊
As I have said in many previous posts, everything is possible with the right tools, Japanese eyes (able to see a better design and a way around a problem) and 44 years of experience.
This applies to most problems a gunsmith encounters, from actions to gun fitting, woodwork repairs and barrel work, most of which we undertake in house.

Monday	10:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	10:00 - 17:00
Wednesday	10:00 - 17:00
Thursday	10:00 - 17:00
Friday	10:00 - 17:00

Greenwood Gunsmiths

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