Just finishing this project up for Mr. Jeffrey Miller. This is gun number one of a two gun set.
Kriegoff K20. Gold super scroll, 20 and 28 ga Parcours 30 inch barrels. Turkish Circassian exhabition grade walnut Waterlox finish 26 lines per inch checkering
– Neal
Completion time four months, start to finish. Two months to try out the pattern stock, and two months to finish the final stock
Thoughts on my new stock:
It rocks…I am a surgeon and by nature very OCD. I met Mr Bauder at our state shoot and it didn’t take long to strike up a conversation about shooting, stocks and what I liked/didn’t like about my new shotgun. My shotgun is a Perazzi HIgh Tech and I had it fitted and custom ordered. My midlife crisis, way better than a corvette, was this ordering process and the gun. When it got here it shot well, mechanically perfect but I just didn’t settle with it well. At every shoot, I would have to premount and line up the gun to be confident in my mount. Well, Neal paid attention to our conversation and watched me shoot the next day. He then looked at my stock and made some notes on a piece of paper. He handed it to me and said to send that paper, along with my gun, to him if I wanted to change my stock.
A bit of time went by and I decided to give it a shot. The worst that would happen is, he would make me a try stock that I didn’t like and I’d revert to the old stock. I got the gun back from Neal with several recoil pads and options to tweak. The only change I made was to go one shorter pad. Next I practiced about 200 rounds before the next tournament. Not only did I get HOA but after the main, 5 stand and supersport I had only missed 6 birds combined. That night I called Neal and said “Make it!”
He of course was flattered but said no. Me made me try it out more and see what else needed to change. Doing what I was told, I practiced and shot a bit more but didn’t find anything not to like. I opened the thumb just a bit over the top of the comb but otherwise left the try stock alone. The very next tournament was the World English and it was my first world championship either viewing or participating. Not only did I love the course, the gun was perfect. I finished 4th in my class and was amazed at how easy the gun was to shoot. Remember back when I said that I had to mount and check the gun before every station? It was at the World English that I noticed I was ignoring the gun. A reliable mount, easy cheek pressure and a more upright stance came naturally showing off Neal’s vision and careful craftsmanship.
Now that I had two tournaments in hand, Neal let me make the final stock. As you can see the wood is amazing and the attention to layout and fit are second to none. Thanks Neal for making my midlife crisis even better! See you on the Parcours.
-Thomas Owen
The final destination of custom fitting my Blaser is done..your expertise on making stocks is very evident every time I pick up my Blaser..totally satisfied with your quality workmanship. The final product matched the pattern stock Gil and I sent you perfect..
The one downside is constantly having to tell folks who built this work of art stock..
Thank you again!!!
Pictures of Mr. Joe Trad’s perazzi 20 guage side by side shotgun. Turkish walnut stock, checkering is 26 lines per inch, waterlox/urethane finish.
RRS unit for 50% less felt recoil. Built for Dr. Scott Fuller.
Here is a gun that I just finished up for Dr. Scott Fuller of Akron, Ohio. I used a very nice piece of English Walnut on his Perazzi mx2000s barreled action. This gun is one of two that he will be using sporting clays. The gun came in at 8.5 lbs. It was a very enjoyable project to do for Scott and I’m sure he will break tons of birds with it.
english walnut, 26 lpi checkering over the top of grip, isis unit, forend latch hidden
I built this gun for Scott Creger of Winterset, Iowa. This blaser F3 was built for him using a very beautiful piece of English Walnut, which had been air drying for about ten years. With 32 inch barrels, the total weight of the gun came in at 7lbs. 13 oz., making it a lively weight and a fast handling gun for sporting clays. Scott flew out from Iowa and we were able to spend three days tweaking the stock to just the right dimensions and then confirming it at Island Lake and Grand Blanc and Bald Mtn. We tried his gun out on a wide variety of birds and had a great time, even shooting in the rain at Bald Mountain. I believe we put about 700 rounds through his gun in three days. It was a great experience and led to a great end product.
