My accountant, Van, is a passionate bird hunter which is probably why we work so well together. About a year ago, while completing the final details on my taxes, the conversation naturally turned to gundogs and shotguns. Van had recently ordered a Rizzini Artemis Light Hunter in 16 gauge as a special treat, and a testament to his passion for upland hunting. Although he specified upgraded wood, what he ultimately received left a bit to be desired. Further, the Prince of Wales grip on the Rizzini never felt “right” in Van’s hands. What’s worse, another ‘smith had attempted to “improve” the grip by scabbing on a piece of walnut in an effort to allow more purchase. The result was as you can imagine.
Van asked if I’d be interesting in restocking his otherwise lovely over/under. I welcomed the opportunity to give my friend exactly what he was hoping for when he placed the initial order at the factory.
I immediately set to work to source a suitable blank. None of the blanks on hand were to Van’s liking, so a call to Cecil Fredi in Las Vegas, NV was in order. Cecil never disappoints, and soon we had a plethora of options to choose from. Ultimately, we settled on a blank that was the perfect combination of layout, figure, color, and budget.
Using the original stock as the pattern, I reworked the grip area into a traditional full pistol grip. Closing the radius of the grip necessitated moving the nose of the comb forward to maintain the proper stock geometry. Prior to the Rizzini, Van had been shooting a Beretta with a schnabel forend tip. I’ve always found that stylistic feature to be an impediment to my form of instinctive shooting, but Van insisted it helps to consistently position his right hand on the forend. I have to say, after it was added to this stock, I rather liked the look of it! An English style steel grip cap from Dressels finalized the redesign of the buttstock, and then the pattern and blank were shipped off to Gene Simillion for machining.
Van tallies more days afield in one season than most guys do in a decade. Resultantly, a traditional checkered wooden butt on this gun would be antithetical to the use it would see, and plastic not classy enough. I offered to install a leather-covered recoil pad, but Van requested a blued steel buttplate instead.
The stock was finished using an “in-the-wood” technique that will provide protection against years of honest use. Checkering was done in a simple point pattern at 24 lines per inch.
Overall, I was quite pleased with the way this project turned out, and was eager to send it home in time for the 2019 upland opener. A week after opening day, I phoned to ask how the shotgun had performed. Van was happy to report that he and the Rizzini were batting 1.000 on two limits of roosters. Music to my ears!