Greenwood Gunsmiths (2025)

17/02/2025

The Right Way?
There is a time and a place for recoil pads, for heavy loads or a lot of cartridges being shot in a short period of time when clay shooting, or a physical infirmity (as in my case) but sometimes there is no substitute for a stock to be lengthened with a well fitted wooden extension, perhaps for game shooting on a stunning English, Italian or Belgian gun. A Silvers pad or ebonite extension just doesn’t make the grade, well, in my opinion anyway.
The gun shown in the first two pictures is a gorgeous Browning D4G, but unfortunately, at some point in its life, somebody was of the same mind set as me but without the requisite skills or know-how to carry out the job to the standard this gun so richly deserves.
The first picture shows the colour and finish discrepancy between the extension and the original stock while the second picture shows how it was fitted…. with “decking screws” then chequered with what must have been a blunt hacksaw blade.
When the gun’s owner from NI arrived, we had a chat and decided to undertake a complete re-finish and re-chequer while matching an extension to the gun and enriching the colour.
Pictures three and four show the results!
I hope you agree that the finished result is a vast improvement over the original? If not, I had better hang up my apron 😊
Now, I know I am going to get a flood of messages from gunsmiths all over the world wanting to know how I enhanced the grain to match, but asking me that question is like me asking a barrel blacker “what’s in your blacking solution?” Guess what, they will never tell you!
All I will say is, the secret came from my father who was trained as a cabinet maker in his youth (back in the 1930’s) then passed on to me.

31/01/2025

Something for the weekend?
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free” are the words inscribed on the plinth of the Statue of Liberty written by Emma Lazarus
In my case as a gunsmith, my ethos should be “Give me your broken, your cracked, your ugly, yearning to be made whole or better than before!”
This applies to so many of the jobs I am asked to undertake, from a split Beretta stock with the other side completely broken off, to a wonderful Beretta SO3 EELL which while a stunning gun, was made with that horrible, square ended semi-pistol grip (the finish and colour wasn’t too good either and the internals and engraving had seen better days) which is neither “fish nor fowl”, not quite a graceful Prince of Wales and yet not a useful pistol grip.
The “after” pictures of the 686 stock are self- explanatory; the side has been re-fitted and the split dealt with, with local chequering as required and local re-finishing, the repair completely invisible.
The SO3 was considerably more work, with the pistol grip re-shaped to a proper Prince of Wales, custom chequering with a re-run of the forend chequering, re-finishing and enhancing the colour and grain then servicing the action, brushing the action to the original “pewter” finish, lubricating and re-assembly as well as honing the bores has all contributed to what is now a stunning gun earning a worthy place in the owner’s collection.
The breadth of work I am asked to undertake as a finisher (“the huddled masses”) is what keeps me going, from stocks to barrels to actions, from Baikal’s to the best Italian and English guns (I have recently been asked to work on a pair of o/u Boss and a Piotti) gets me up in the morning and certainly contributed to my recovery from last years ill health. I just love the challenge, so if you feel like challenging me, you know where to find me.

11/01/2025

A gentle reminder! 😊
With a, somewhat, wet game season drawing swiftly to a close and the time for clay competitions on the not-too-distant horizon as well as pigeon and rabbits hoving into view, now might be the time to consider some maintenance for your “pride and joy” to check for the dreaded “red worm” otherwise known as rust!
Pictures 1 and 2 show the side-locks and trigger plate of a Beretta SO5, much cherished and loved by its owner, bought to me after 18 months of normal use. He told me he never takes the gun out in the rain, but in England that doesn’t mean it won’t rain while you are out, and especially with side-locks, there is always a chance water will find its way inside, as in this case.
With SO’s this is usually worse on the righthand lock, as in this case, as the bottom firing pin can pe*****te the primer causing a blow back of carbon through the firing pin hole, which when mixed with water forms an acidic solution which will eat through any grease or oil and ultimately, the metal of the action. As you can see in picture 2, this can be remedied with a good clean and brush then re-instating the machine/engine turning to the plates but all of this takes time which equals cost!
I wish I could tell you a solution to the rust issue, but with a bare metal engraved gun, there will always be a problem with rust or discolouration so cleaning on your part then servicing by a competent gunsmith are really the only solutions.
I have always said, owning an SO is a little like owning a Ferrari! A joy to use or drive but don’t use them every day and try to avoid getting them wet! 😊
Pictures 3 and 4 show a Browning Pro-Trap bought to me for misfiring, and I must confess, this gun has left me a little confused?
As you can see from picture 1, the aperture in the top-leaver spindle as well as the bottom firing pin are very rusty, usually caused by storing the gun butt down, which allows any moisture in the gun to drain into the action via the bottom firing pin hole (no confusion there!! 😊).
No, the confusing bit is picture 4, showing the mainsprings, I replaced in the action, four separate bits of springs with two washers, and the Browning supplied mainsprings I replace them with.
My confusion, or question is, have Browning changed their “bump” mainspring design to four bits and two washers (they are called “bump” mainsprings because in the 725 actions, the bump on the mainspring cycles the inertia system making the trigger mechanical), or has some muppet, masquerading as a gunsmith come up with this as an alternative because they couldn’t access the proper parts?
If the former, then I stand corrected and offer a humble apology, if the latter, please be careful who you let work on your gun! 😊
Whichever it is, it didn’t work anyway!!
It does now!!!! 😊

01/01/2025

Having a custom stock made should be a thoroughly pleasurable experience, with the end product aesthetically pleasing and on a practical level, an improvement to your shooting ability especially when you consider a cost of several thousands of pounds.
Unfortunately, sometimes this is not the case as many people who go down this path rely heavily on the stock-maker’s advice on fit and finish without the opportunity to try the stock “out in the field” sufficiently to ensure all is as it should be otherwise the thousands of pounds spent can become a costly lesson in poor gun fit/finish.
Gun fit is very subjective differing from coach to coach and stocker to stocker (not to mention “experts” 😊) which is why we at Greenwood Gunsmiths undertake this process in three distinct phases with plenty of time at each stage for you to assess our suggestions (taking the work away from the workshop to shoot for as long as you want) and to research our work and finish via Facebook, our website and possibly from the shooters standing next to you in line 😊
We start this new year with an example of a stock and forend which, to be honest, the owner was not “happy with!” having parted with several thousand pounds and “brick walled” when he complained. Rather than relegating it to the back of a cupboard, the owner bought it to us to see if we could “rescue” this sad piece of wood work.
The stock had received minimal attention in finishing, leaving bits shiny, others dull and the grain completely unfilled, picture (1), while the stock had been made with a style of grip which really didn’t give a lot of help with hand positioning as the palm swell was too high, the end of the grip steeply hooked and two “pillows” of wood set around the trigger guard in an effort to ward off finger bruising due to the unfortunate fit and shape of the rest of the grip! (see picture (2) for my suggestions in black lines for corrections and picture (3) for the “pillows”). Notice anything else wrong? Yes, you have got it, no chequering!
How can you “grip a grip” with no “grip”?
Mind you, when I looked at the forend he had made at the same time, I understood why he refrained from having the grip chequered, as apart from the forend being a totally different colour, filler used around the ironwork and it generally not fitting the gun, the chequering was some of the worse I have seen, flat but with very sharp square edges that made the owner’s hand very sore (picture (4)).
After many days of altering the grip, moving the palm swell down, removing the “pillows”, changing the “rake” and deepening the thumb base position as well as slimming the forend, re-colouring and then chequering both the grip and forend with proper diamond pyramids then many hours of colouring, enhancing then sealing the grain before oiling, the final three pictures ((5) , (6) and (7) show what can be achieved by us as “finishers”.
Yes, it is possible to turn a “sow’s ear” into a “silk purse” if given enough time and budget, but this really needs to be factored in when ordering your stock, perhaps 10-20% of the original stock price for finishing or more depending on how bad the original work is! Definitely a case of spend a little more to get what you want.
Happy new year to you all, let’s hope I stay vertical, no more NHS vacations, so that I can see as many of you as and when you need my help.

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” 😊

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