16ga.com ~ View topic - Beretta Silver Hawk 16 ga frame question ????

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 13 Location: Virginia

I just acquired a 16 ga Beretta Silver Hawk -1966 production time frame.Weight 6.6 lbs. Does anyone know if the Beretta 16 ga Silver Hawk is built on a true 16 frame ? Or if these guns were built on a 20 ga frame? I'm going to replace the buttstock at sometime due to some previous alterations- primarily , the butt stock was originally shortened , then - re-lenghtened with a 2.5" black spacer . To date , I have been unable to find any documentation to validate this question. Any help is appreciated.

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1545 Location: Michigan

Ron Overberg should be along. He'll know the answer. Or you could P.M. him.

Your Beretta is most likely a 409 model. Finding a butt stock to fit it is going to be a very hard thing to do, even if the gun will accept a 20 gauge sized stock. These model guns have been discontinued for decades and are not common in the states either.

You might be faced with a complete restocking job. If the existing one is sound, I'd consider having it altered to suit with a leather covered spacer and a tasteful pad. If done right, the results are very classy looking.

As much as I like my 16 gauge 409, I'd not consider restocking it. In reality, the gun is not worth the average price of a restocking.

Life is to short to hunt with an ugly gun, atleast thats what I was once told. I am one that believes a shotgun deserves what ever you can aford in the clean up effort. Then again I am a majority of one in my own personal collection. The 16g 409 and later Silver Hawks were their own frame. The only model which I found to have interchanging stocks was the 424 which came later. The 424 was built on a 16g frame and the 12-16-and 20 will accept the same stocks. I do have a 20g butt stock for a 409. I used it for a pattern many years ago for my own stock upgrade. If a check fit is desired PM me and we will work something out.
Best,
Ron

I do know that like is too short to spend with an ugly woman. Laughing

However, I doubt I've ever seen an ugly Beretta SxS. I've seen some stock adjustments that were. However, if the butt is fitted with a nicely finished leather covered spacer, it is anything but ugly.

I have an old '03 Springfield that shoots to good to get rid of. The stock is a nicely finished Bishop sporter that was cut down for a very short guy. I bought the gun at auction and discovered it will place almost any decent load into 1" or less at 100 yard. Most well inside 1".

So I copied a leather covered butt extention I once saw on a nicely done British game gun. I fitted a piece of straight grained stable walnut which was rebated enough to accept a really pretty piece of cordovan leather overlay. The leather sits flush with the original butt end. The seam at the bottom is also flush. I carefully skived both ends to overlap so the seam is both flush and hardly visable and glued the leather on with Urac 180. (I'm certain there are better adhesives available today, but this gun was done decades ago.) I wrapped the leather with plastic tape to hold it tight until the glue dried. A nicely fitted pachmeyer pad was then fitted to the leather covered butt extention. The leather was finished with thinned flat spar varnish that soaked in, waterproofed it, and filled the seam between the leather and the wood nicely. A coat of stock wax keeps it looking great. The whole job came out better than I'd hoped.

There is no reason why the same thing would not work on a shotgun with a short butt. Like any repair or alteration, its all in how well the work is thought out and done.

Any chance on a photo of that spacer job on the Beretta sxs? It would be interesting to see it!

Guest

I would re-stock it.

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 13 Location: Virginia

Ron Overberg was kind enough to send me the loan of his personal Beretta 409 20 gauge butt stocks for a trial fit. The 20 ga butt stock is to small and would not fit in height or depth. This answered my frame question. The 16 Silver Hawk is on a true 16 frame.And will NOT interchange with the Silver Hawk 20. One other interesting note, I noticed 409 stenciled on my forend.....(THANKS AGAIN RON! You're a true gentleman and a very valuable contributor to the folks on this forum!)
I'm glad I didnt order the 20-Silver Hawk buttstock that was advertised on GA.

I might possibly have located some used 16 - buttstocks & forends at Bob's Gun Shop located in Arkansas. The only catch is this , Bob wants me to ship him my buttstock & forend so the correct match can be made. I'm not too sure I'm willing to take that step just yet. My concern is that if he really has a 16 stockset , why does he require my stock set ? To verify if indeed he has 16 stock sets??? The full set was quoted to me at $300 plus shipping . Has anyone on the 16 GA forum dealt with or heard of this parts dealer?

RD,
He may have found that there is differences in the 16g stocks throught the years. On the other hand he may use it as a pattern to make one. I haven't heard of his shop but then I have lived a sheltered life. Cool

You might take a look at his web sight. It looks pretty interesting.http://www.gun-parts.com/beretta
Best,
Ron