Beretta Wood swelling problem

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Martinj

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 12, 2018
Messages
638
Location
NE Hampshire
Has anyone experienced this and what was your solution to the problem? I was pigeon shooting on Saturday afternoon in the rain, all well and good, I'd had a good afternoon but got a bit wet.

I wiped the gun over and left it to dry out in a room at home, later in the evening I picked the gun up and tried to open the barrels using the top lever and couldn't move the lever across, so the barrels wouldn't open. After fiddling around and a close examination it seemed that the wood had swelled upwards blocking the path of the lever!! I have been shooting in the wet many times but have never experienced this one before. This gun is a year old and had probably not been this wet before.

I stripped the gun down, removing the action (and locking it away) I left the stock in a dry place and tried reassembling it the following day but the problem was still there

I could probably have waited longer for the stock to dry but, rightly or wrongly, decided to remove the offending wood by filing and fine sanding until the lever cleared it, I re-oiled the stock and the repair is pretty much invisible now (but I know it is there.) The gun is  692

 
Has anyone experienced this and what was your solution to the problem? I was pigeon shooting on Saturday afternoon in the rain, all well and good, I'd had a good afternoon but got a bit wet.

(...)

I could probably have waited longer for the stock to dry but, rightly or wrongly, decided to remove the offending wood by filing and fine sanding until the lever cleared it, I re-oiled the stock and the repair is pretty much invisible now (but I know it is there.) The gun is  692
I shoot a 692 that keeps well enough in wet conditions, and haven't experienced any of the above. Given the standard finish, I'm really surprised at what you describe. It took me quite a bit of sanding and polishing to rid the factory finish, and did my own with Tru-Oil afterwards. Was the top lever scraping the wood before this occurred, and if so, could it have worn away the finish there? 

If you have the plastic finish on the top lever, could that have shifted to get in the way?  

 
Has anyone experienced this and what was your solution to the problem? I was pigeon shooting on Saturday afternoon in the rain, all well and good, I'd had a good afternoon but got a bit wet.

I wiped the gun over and left it to dry out in a room at home, later in the evening I picked the gun up and tried to open the barrels using the top lever and couldn't move the lever across, so the barrels wouldn't open. After fiddling around and a close examination it seemed that the wood had swelled upwards blocking the path of the lever!! I have been shooting in the wet many times but have never experienced this one before. This gun is a year old and had probably not been this wet before.

I stripped the gun down, removing the action (and locking it away) I left the stock in a dry place and tried reassembling it the following day but the problem was still there

I could probably have waited longer for the stock to dry but, rightly or wrongly, decided to remove the offending wood by filing and fine sanding until the lever cleared it, I re-oiled the stock and the repair is pretty much invisible now (but I know it is there.) The gun is  692
I have no experience of guns per se but with such a problem on a year old gun I would imagine I'd have taken it back to where I bought it (if that was possible, of course).

 
This happened to a significant number of the first batch of 692s to arrive on the market. GMK were kept very busy for months sorting them out and as such I think they would have been willing to fix it under warranty, just as they did for the early ones. As an aside, Beretta never apply sufficient oil to the stocks on their standard range of guns. It's a good plan to add a few coats of stock oil on any new Beretta in the 6xx range with oiled stocks from the factory.

 
Thank you all for your comments

  • Yes probably improperly seasoned wood
  • I had never noticed the problem in the past, the lever was probably just clearing the wood, I'd guess I removed 0.5mm or more which had been enough to totally prevent the lever operating.
  • I had given the stock one or two coats of CCL wood oil in the past
  • Yes the top lever has the over-moulded plastic feature but I don't think it has moved, the defining factor was the soaking that the gun (and I) got.
  • I could have taken it back to the place where I bought it, that would have been the wise choice but it's a 180 mile round trip (x 2 if I had to leave it there) and I'm handy enough with a file and wet and dry. I have already sanded off the sharp edge on the Schnabel fore end which was taking the skin off my left forefinger during shooting.
  • It's interesting to know that the problem has been seen before on other 692s, I think I'll take Westward's advice and give it more coats of oil, I'll remove the stock again and pay attention to the ends of the grain too.
 
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