[bs32]

Anybody have any experience with the Great American Gun Stock company out in Calif.? I'm looking to replace a model 75 winchester sporter stock and have been lookin around. Thanks,
b.

[Buck Nekkid]

This is just my personal experience. I bought a Winchester forearm from them for a Model 97 shotgun--supposedly a "Black Diamond" reproduction. It was unfinished, crudely carved, and would have taken someone with much more skill than I to make it work. It was basically a piece of crap.

I returned it to them asking for a refund to my credit card. I waited about a month and no credit for the purchase appeared on my statement. I contacted them again and was told that they'd take care of it.

Another month passed, still no credit on my statement. I contacted them one more time and was told that the forearm was broken when it arrived and that they were not going to give me credit for the return.

Now it took them over 3 frickin' months to tell me that the forearm was broken upon arrival??? Yeah, right! I then asked them to then send me the broken forearm as it was still mine since they weren't accepting it back.

It's been over 2 years, I'm still waiting for my Model 97 forearm's return:cuss:

Buck Nekkid

[PinnedAndRecessed]

Did this used to be Bishop stocks?

[bluenorther]

I have dealt with them and had good experiences, of course I may just be lucky.
I bought two different shotgun stocks from them (Their Walnut) and also sent them a Mesquite stock blank and had them machine a stock for me for a Savage 24.
The only thing I could say negative was that we had discussed which variant of the 24 the stock was for to a fair extent, and I even sent a picture of the gun with the wood- they machined it for the other variant, but it wasnt that big of a deal and I was able to alter the stock myself.
If they ever went by another name it was at least ten years ago, that was about the first time I dealt with them and they were Great American then.

I did have to fit and finish everything I bought from them, but I expected that from the start.

[sad sack]

I've dealt with Great American for several years and have had no problems with their service at all. I've bought maybe 10 or 15 unfinished stocks and have been well pleased with them. The one problem I've had with a stock was a defect in a piece of mesquite (a mannlicher at that) , and that was just the nature of the species and no fault of Great American.


sadsack

[Onmilo]

Same story here.
I have bought several unfinished, pre carved, stocks from these folks.
Wood has always been better than expected, the pre carving allowed for easy fitting without all the extra unpleasant work, never had a piece of wood come in cracked, never had one season crack after I received it..

These folks will completely finish and fit a stock for you too.
It will be expensive, maybe more than it really needs to be, but the quality of the finished product is up there with any other woodmasters work.

[Coltdriver]

I purchased and am in the process of finishing a stock from these people. The wood I got is beautiful and worth the money in my opinion.

If you are accustomed to stock work the state of the stock arrives in will come as no surprise to you.

If this is your first then you may be surprised at the level of effort needed to finish the stock.

The most critical part will be the fitting of the stock to your action. It is the step that is most easily screwed up and if you really blow it then you may have ruined your stock.

Getting all of the machine marks out of the stock and final shaping it just take time and a lot of elbow grease. Getting one to a level of fit and finish as shown on their website makes you appreciate all of the work that they put into one to get it right.

[esheato]

Their store is literally across town from me. I've been in there many times perusing the beautiful walnut, crotchwood and fiddleback. I've watched them duplicate 10 stocks at a time with a 60 year old duplicator.

I've also had a few friends buy through them and they're satisfied.

Ed

[bluenorther]

coltdriver is correct.

I got into stock work more or less incidentally when refurbishing old shotguns. One of the things I think some might not be prepared for is the condition of , well..."basic" machined stocks. It will really be in the rough, so to speak. Thats just how it is, and the only way to ensure a good final fit- unless you send them the arm and let them do it for you, which comes dear.

[Coltdriver]

Just to put a point on what bluenorther said. I decided not to attempt to fit my stock myself. It would be a really expensive lesson to screw it up.

So I took it to a gunsmithing school here in Denver. They do great work, its all supervised and its really inexpensive.

They fit the stock for about $50.00. The instructor asked the student how much actual time the student had in getting the stock fitted. The student said he had between 40 and 45 actual hours of sitting with the stock, getting it right.

I asked the guys at Great American how they did it. One of the senior fellows told me he used a can opener, ground to a sharp tip and he very slowly worked and measured and worked and measured.

Finishing the rest of the stock, with the exception of checkering, is cake work compared to fitting it.

[nvshooter]

said it all. If they come up with that lame excuse in order to avoid giving you back your money, I wouldn't trust them to empty my garbage.

[Teddy.]

When Fajen bought Bishop...both in Warsaw, MO., Henry Pohl, a Bishop family decendent, wasn't offered a position he could accept so he opened his own shop in Yuba City, CA. Good work at Great American, but difficult to deal with unless you talk directly with Henry and very expensive.

[krs]

I had Great American Gunstocks make a new buttstock for an old otherwise like new Stevens Walnut Hill rifle that I still own. I sent them the cracked stock and the rifle with it's original forestock.

It took a little over a year, even after I started calling once a month after the six month mark had passed. Always some problem that interfered it seemed like.

I'd almost given up ever seeing that rifle again when one day it appeared on my doorstep.

The rifle was beautiful! Henry did a perfect job of finding the right piece of walnut and transforming it into an exact duplicate of the original, without the cracking.

I was amazed and very happy with the work that had been done. Happy enough that I almost didn't mind the invoiced cost of something close to $390.00. It was more than I'd payed for the rifle in the first place but even now I think it's near to being the perfect example of a .22 single shot falling block rifle.

This was about ten years ago.

[dirtyjim]

i've used them several times with good results & i watch their bargain bin for good deals. if your used to a semi-inlett thats about 90% finished then you won't like what you get from gag. the thing i like about them is henry will make just about anything you want.

[oeg]

Roberts Stocks moved from Portland, OR in the late 60's to the Marysville, Ca area. Not sure when they closed, but wonder if this is a spin off of that company. They produced very nice stocks, easily fitted and where good people to deal with.