Guns & Outdoors Forum

I have another project, a Crescent Arms Empire 60. The date of manufacture is between 1925 and 1932. The butt stock is shattered and after two hours of searching I can't find a replacement or remanufactured online.
Do you know who reproduces them or where I can find one?

I'm pondering the unthinkable. The stock is split in a few places and there is some missing wood and I doubt this is the original stock. I'm thinking of opening the cracks, injecting good wood glue, then clamping it. I'll replace the missing wood with Bondo then reshape it. I'll paint the wood black or dark brown to make it a serviceable gun again.

The owner is a broke butt and just wants the gun to work. What do you think of the idea? Will it hold together will mild use?

Never heard of them until reading your post, but it looks to be a pretty decent quality SXS. You might reach out to Richard's Microfit. They're a clinging remnant of the "old" Los Angeles area gun trade, and might have some suggestions. Connecticut Shotgun, New England Gun Company, and Galazan (may be all one entity) might be an additional resource.

A number of Mark Novak's "Anvil" gunsmithing videos cover stock repair, and they're worth watching for the benefit of not only structural reinforcement, but also aesthetic preservation - at least to the degree possible.

He's very big on using Acraglas dyed black on the notion that it's easier to match the black bits in walnut than the infinitely varied browns. It'll be a better structural option than Bondo.

Why is it unthinkable? Will the Blued Steel and Walnut police arrest you?


It’s BROKE. It’s JUNK. Glue it and paint it pink. It makes a non working gun a working gun again.

While a well executed wood glue joint is as strong as any epoxy, (I’m deliberately trolling) I’d use epoxy since you can’t ensure good contact between the pieces. And, you can tint the epoxy. Ditch the bondo, just slather on the epoxy to fill the cracks. Then finish the stock leaving the repair visible.
It ain’t a show piece, and the crack repair will indicate the history.

CPJ 2.0 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 3:18 pm Why is it unthinkable? Will the Blued Steel and Walnut police arrest you?


It’s BROKE. It’s JUNK. Glue it and paint it pink. It makes a non working gun a working gun again.

While a well executed wood glue joint is as strong as any epoxy, (I’m deliberately trolling) I’d use epoxy since you can’t ensure good contact between the pieces. And, you can tint the epoxy. Ditch the bondo, just slather on the epoxy to fill the cracks. Then finish the stock leaving the repair visible.
It ain’t a show piece, and the crack repair will indicate the history.

I agree with CPJ, I don't have the knowledge or skills to make it pretty, so would make it serviceable again.
Maybe @BigAl will chime in.

I was pondering Bondo because there are pieces of wood missing. Can Acraglass be built up to replace the missing? I planned on taking 5 or 6 days gluing and clamping the shattered parts, one crack at a time, then fabricate and shape the missing pieces. Crescent Arms was made a good shotgun and produced them from about 1889 through the 1950s IIRC. The also produced them for a lot of small vendors, over 50, under their brand name. This one was built between 1927 and 1932. It belonged to his grandfather. I can't believe parts are so hard to come by considering how any were made. This could be a good, serviceable shotgun if I could find a stock. I found a stock and forend, but it was fancy walnut for $325.

https://oldarmsofidaho.com/
give these folks a call, they were very helpful when I needed to replace an older Marlin stock.

I believe Crescent is a more affordable verson of the L. C. Smith Might research if to see if they're interchangeable.

That’s a lot of bondo. Or epoxy. You may be better off scabbing in some wood pieces.

Or, finding a new stock.

Crescent Arms were classed as "hardware store guns" for the most part...functional, sturdy, nothing fancy and something a working man could afford...I have rehabbed several of them, but with the closure of Fajen Stockworks (who could make a stock for anything) the chances of finding a stock for some of those old guns diminished greatly....good luck in your search

here is some information that might be helpful.
https://gunvalues.gundigest.com/crescent-f-a-co/

For anyone interested in these guns. A must read is "The Golden Age of Shotguning" by Bob Hinman. The go-to text for info on old shotguns

Could this stock be duplicated on a 3d injection printer?

Freezer wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 11:06 am Could this stock be duplicated on a 3d injection printer?

Yes.

But it’s not a great material choice, or method, even with good quality home gamer printers like I have.

But it would first need to be drawn in CAD, or, 3D scanned.

Which, I asked an acquaintance who scans things and makes parts on a fancy CNC machine about.

It’s not profitable for him to make your stock.
Meaning, you wouldn’t pay what it would take, time wise.




Some of his work.

To be more specific about 3D printing, to get a nice part would take a very expensive commercial machine to do it.
Not the ideal choice for a one off part.

This link you may find useful.
Some of the old Savage stocks may work.

https://www.shotgunworld.com/threads/fo ... on.308330/

Cresent made sturdy working guns

I actually have one a 20 gauge Peerless.
It still retains nice case colors

Might try Macon Gun Stocks
They are also in Warsaw, MO.
Suspect Macon took a lot of talent from Fajen.

They don't list Crescent on their website, I'll call them Monday. I have inquires out bur nothing back yet.
Crescent was bought by Stevens in the late 30s so I wonder if the 324 had a similar stock.

They list them as "discontinued."

https://gunstocksinc.com/web_pages/Misc-stocks.html

Part it out. Too much damage to fix.

Mark Keefe and I rebuilt the wrist of his Lewis machine gun with Brownell's Acraglas. Worked just fine.

I can only imagine the amount of Acragls needed to repair the shotgun. $$$

That's why I considered pinning and building it up with Bondo. I'm just not sure if it will work. The other thought is to cut and splice anther piece of wood into it. the only stock I've seen has is $350/

Cut and splice is a great idea for a winter project. I don't have anything like the wood working ability and I don't know what all is involved, but I think it's preferable over bondo.

Freezer wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2023 12:19 am That's why I considered pinning and building it up with Bondo. I'm just not sure if it will work. The other thought is to cut and splice anther piece of wood into it. the only stock I've seen has is $350/

Splice it with wood, and build with acraglass. they sell microballons that you can use to thicken it.

Bondo will crack and fail.