Beretta 694 choosing nice wood

[Ewor]

After trying a demo 694 on a few rounds over the last month, I’m now happy to part with money and finally purchase one.
The new one in stock at the ground doesn’t have particularly nice wood. They said they could order one in for me but it’s pot luck on whether I would like the wood and I would have to take it.

Is there a way of choosing a “nice wooded” standard gun or is it a case of driving up and down the country looking at each retailers stock?

Can I go to the beretta importer to look at the latest batch?

I know the look of wood is subjective, but I don’t want to commit to handing over this lump of money for a gun I’ve not seen with my own eyes.

Thanks fellow shooters!

 

[Westward]

I've never heard of anyone visiting GMK to choose woodwork but ask them, you never know. It's fairly common for people to visit AngloItalian and select wood when buying a CG.

Ads on Guntrader usually have pics and I'm sure any Beretta dealer worthy of the name could email pics to you.

 

[Bavarian]

I once purchased a stock for my 692 directly from the Beretta online shop and could choose from 3 different types of wood. They wrote me an email and i told them my preferences.
So i think i should be possible to choose from different guns at least from the importer.

 

[Southern]

694 wood is pot luck, I’ve seen some great and some below mediocre….

One side of mine is quite nice. The other a bit plain tbh.

However , I bought it for the barrel tech so the wood isn’t hugely relevant.

 

[Martinj]

Fair enough, but if it is important you need to be happy with your purchase. You might find a gunsmiths with two or three in stock that you can choose from, you might have to be prepared to travel until you find a gun with wood that scratches that itch.

 

[Jonny English]

I wouldn't get your hopes up of looking through a selection at gmk. First point, gmk don't tend to deal with the public, they like all contact to be through a dealer. Second point it wouldn't surprise me if gmk don't have any on stock. These days the dealers have to order all guns a long way in advance, so guns only come in that have a dealer to go straight out to. Best option is to have a look through gun trader and gun shop websites to see who has what. Pick a dealer that has the most choice and then go have a look, and as others have said, be prepared to travel.

 

[MartynB]

Just what the others have said . Spend a day on the telephone and be prepared to put the time, hours and miles in . I did a similar thing with a Miroku MK11 , I ended up at J Neville in Alfreton who

a) had five in stock ,
b ) were quite happy to unbox them all so I could select one that I liked .

 

[vmax1010]

Did that at barbury when I bought my cg invictus, they were quite happy to do that the guy said they haven't even seen them yet

 

[LeeM]

Just what the others have said . Spend a day on the telephone and be prepared to put the time, hours and miles in . I did a similar thing with a Miroku MK11 , I ended up at J Neville in Alfreton who

a) had five in stock ,
b ) were quite happy to unbox them all so I could select one that I liked .

I had mine from them too, good selection and very helpful people.

 

[becks123]

i brought my wood from cole’s in america because my wood wasn’t great

 

[Stiggers]

After trying a demo 694 on a few rounds over the last month, I’m now happy to part with money and finally purchase one.
The new one in stock at the ground doesn’t have particularly nice wood. They said they could order one in for me but it’s pot luck on whether I would like the wood and I would have to take it.

Is there a way of choosing a “nice wooded” standard gun or is it a case of driving up and down the country looking at each retailers stock?

Can I go to the beretta importer to look at the latest batch?

I know the look of wood is subjective, but I don’t want to commit to handing over this lump of money for a gun I’ve not seen with my own eyes.

Thanks fellow shooters!

I can relate to this. I bought a 694 with IMO a lovely grain pattern, compared to the one’s I viewed on line. Hope you get what you are happy with - 694 is a mighty piece of kit for the money.

 

[Iggy]

Just what the others have said . Spend a day on the telephone and be prepared to put the time, hours and miles in . I did a similar thing with a Miroku MK11 , I ended up at J Neville in Alfreton who

a) had five in stock ,
b ) were quite happy to unbox them all so I could select one that I liked .

Bought most of my guns from Neville’s, great shop, good, fair people to deal with

Enjoy your 694

 

[chippy]

The gunshop at Doveridge had a huge selection of 694s when I shot the English this year.

 

[Freddypip]

I would agree with shopping about personally if you are looking for a particular piece of wood; only you will know when you find it. Wood is always subjective so it's better to see it yourself.

Also the weight of wood can vary a little with quality such that whilst the 694 can be balanced with weights in the stock, each gun might feel different and that might also affect your opinion. A couple of 'mights' in there as again that will be subjective for you.

The GMK Special Edition did have upgraded wood, but I can't say I found it that great thought I am not too bothered by such things.

 

[Luke_(NL)]

I'd go with emails explaining your query to a number of dealers, who you think have the 694's in numbers. Anyone who cares to respond well, is also more likely to provide good service post purchase. Second, there is always nicer wood available somewhere, so I wouldn't think to hard about this if it is your first gun. Buy one that ticks the right box for you and shoot it lots and learn. At some point in the future you may want to go bespoke and sort what you feel could do with improving, and that's when you go all out on wood choice. For a first gun I'd pick an adjustable comb over nice wood for the same reason, although ideally it would look nice too.

 

[General Skanky]

I have literally just bought my 694 on Saturday.

Pure luck I had a decent stock.

I was thinking the same as to source a decent bit of wood, as another display one looked much duller.

As mentioned above it's a search.

Good luck.

 

[Luke_(NL)]

That's certainly decent if not better. With a lot of the Beretta stocks, there is a lot to gain from properly sealing the pores and taking the time for a higher quality hand finish: I'd venture the above would look outright pretty with a high gloss finish (as is my preference).

The better the finish, the more the shading and differences in wood tone stand out. While I can see the economics of mass producing a finish like the above, I've seen some Beretta's where after sanding it became evident that the "oil" is in fact dyed and a lot of natural marbling was drowned out in favor of a more even colour throughout.

 

[Freddypip]

Luke makes a good point - would the money spent driving around the country be better spent on getting the wood on the gun you have seen properly finished. It might be a good few hundred quid.

 

[MartynB]

25 to 30 years ago you’d have got a fair bit of timber on a 682 Beretta , I’ve had a few stunners . However when you look at a new £3000 gun today , there has obviously been , to be kind , ‘ Value Engineering ‘ to keep the guns competitively priced .

 

[SBL]

I just looked on the Premier guns website and there’s a few that look pretty nice to me.