Greenwood Gunsmiths in the West Midlands

About

Greenwood Gunsmiths was established in the south east of England some 40 years ago by Tim Greenwood where he worked for many of the major retailers as well as some of the best game and clay shots in the UK.

Greenwood Gunsmiths do not buy and sell guns to maintain an unbiased reputation for advice regarding the best guns to shoot.

Moving to Shropshire in the West Midlands in 2015 gave the opportunity for Greenwood Gunsmiths to become a true family business with the addition of Flo, Tim’s daughter, as a partner and apprentice gunsmith and Jen, Tim’s wife, also as a partner and in charge of keeping Tim and Flo working hard 😊

The move to Shropshire allowed for a purpose built gun store contained in a much larger workshop in which to expand the business and to offer custom gun fitting, servicing, re-building, renovating, barrel work and custom grading to shotguns for both clay and game shooters.

For many years Tim wrote for clay and game shooting magazines as their resident professional and this task has now been taken over by Flo with her Facebook page detailing her training as a gunsmith with weekly updates of the work she has been involved in.

After 40 years, Greenwood Gunsmiths is now accepted by many in the shooting community as the preeminent independent gun finishers in the UK.

Please take the time to explore our website, and, if there is anything else that you would like to know, please send a message, or phone us if you would like us to undertake some work for you.

Flo Laura Redwood.

Greenwood Gunsmiths

Services

Gun Fitting

A shotgun is designed to “point” not “aim” so a good gun fit will dramatically improve your chances of the gun pointing to where you are looking, that in a nutshell is gun fit.

Using our now famous “Blue Peter” gun fitting method we are able to offer you the chance, free of charge, to take away and try our suggestions for gun fit before committing yourself to any changes or costs.

After this initial stage, we move on to making any changes permanent at which time we ask you, once again, to take the gun away and shoot it before any finishing work is undertaken ( if required, stage three).

This three stage method of gun fitting has proven to be very popular with our clients as it gives the opportunity to establish the trust needed between us as gun fitters and you as the shooter before moving forward in the procedure by asking you to validate our suggestions at your usual shoot. To put it simply, you get to “try” before you “buy” with our gun fitting 😊

Stock Work

A shotgun must “fit” the person who shoots it. As you are shooting at a moving target, and as the gun has only very rudimentary sights, the shotgun, when mounted, must point where you are looking. This is accomplished by adjusting the stock.

Most people go to a shooting school who, with the use of a try gun, present them with a set of measurements, length, drop and cast.

We undertake all stock work, including cast, bend, lengthening, shortening, refinishing, re chequering, re heading.

Apart from fitting, most shooters, at some time, will damage their stocks. Re stocking a gun, unless there are stocks available from the manufacturer is very expensive, so we always repair wherever possible and it is quite surprising, with modern adhesives how badly a stock can be broken and yet safely repaired.

We repair broken and cracked stocks.

We specialise in wooden stock extensions matched to your existing stock.

Barrel Work

Barrels, these days, are made from steel containing a mixture of chrome and nickel. They are very strong and flexible to accommodate the explosion of the propellant. Some older guns have Damascus barrels. Steel barrels, when made, are blacked or blued (best quality barrels take on a blue sheen when polished and finished by an expert). Damascus barrels are browned as they are made of iron and steel which is twisted together then soldered around a central mandrel. This is what gives the distinctive swirl pattern in the metal. Depending on the number of rods of iron and steel used, the pattern also changes. The more rods, the finer the pattern and the higher the quality.

We carry out all barrel work, including choke alterations, re black, re brown, re lay ribs, dent and bulge repairs, lapping to remove internal pits and marks..

Action Work

All action work welcome, including repairs and servicing to O/U, box locks, side locks. Replacing of firing pins, mainsprings, top lever springs, tightening, full rejointing, and all ejector work.

There are many little jobs that could come under this heading. Most of them would be carried out when the gun is serviced, including tightening the barrels to the action, replacing worn springs, firing pins, light trigger pulls. In our workshop we have a full range of tools and machinery with which we can make most parts required, if they are not available from the manufacturer.

Take heart! There are very few problems which can’t be overcome in a shotgun action, with the right knowledge and a well equipped workshop.

Specialist part making available if required.

Gunsmithing, What's it all about?

When a shotgun is discharged, 2 to 3 tonnes of pressure per square inch is exploded about a foot in front of your nose. It is therefore wise to have the gun checked and serviced by a competent gunsmith. Every 1 to 2 years, it should be completely stripped to its component parts, cleaned, checked and reassembled.

When the action etc. Is completely stripped, we use an ultrasonic cleaning tank to ensure all parts are as clean as possible. If there is rust, each part is then polished, to restore the surface. Trigger sears, springs etc are then checked for wear and cracks, before re assembly with light, multi purpose grease. Here are some pictures of shotguns we have recently been asked to service. If it’s been a few years since yours was last serviced, yours could look like this!!!!???

Believe me when I say, these are by no means the worst we have seen, and truly represent only a few years of neglect. A special note for game shooters at this time. After a seasons shooting, we would recommend you have your game gun serviced at the end of the season, but most of you leave it to the beginning of the next season, or don’t bother at all.

Every year we are besieged by shooters desperate for their guns to be repaired for their first day. They always get so upset when you can't help as others have got into the queue in front of them. Game shooting is expensive and to miss a day due to neglect of your gun is false economy.

On recent forays into the world of the internet, we have been worried by the number of sites offering a “one price for all “, servicing for shotguns. The last time I counted, a box lock, none ejector 12 bore had approx 14 moving parts, not including securing pins. An assisted opening Holland & Holland, single trigger ejector has, if my memory serves me correctly, at least 30, plus 13 assorted springs and in excess of 17 screws and pins. 0/U’s, depending on the make, lie somewhere in between. Therefore, how can one price serve all, if all the guns are checked with the same diligence?

I am not saying the people who offer this service don’t do a good job, I don’t know, I have never used one, nor do I know anyone who has!

If you have, or you know anyone who has, please let us know, we are very interested.