The forend on my 694 cracked after less than 2 months use. Will beretta do anything about it?

Who did you buy the gun from?

 

Green top

 

There was a thread here not long ago with a 694 that had a similar problem. You might search for it and see what their warranty resolution was.

 

Awesome thanks!

 

My shooting partner is now on cracked forearm #3 on his DT11. One “fixed” by Beretta under warranty sans shipping. Two new ones at his expense (both cracked). Best of luck.

 

Good to know. I was considering upgrading my 694 in future but DT-11 is no longer on my wish list.

 

I have to say, I've never heard of the DT11 forearms cracking. Your partner must have a special gun for 3 to break. I have heard of the 694 cracking, usually due to the screws coming loose.

 

Does DT-11 have an adjustable latch like 694? I’m wondering if this is what causing excess movement when the gun is shot.

 

Just read a thread where a father said his son's 694 cracked and Beretta said the forearms are on backorder for several months

 

It's upsetting when a favorite toy is broken or scratched up, but there are several issues to consider:
1. Why did this happen?
Natural finished wood breathes moisture in and out with the ambient humidity. If the wood isn't cured properly, it can crack over time. But even properly cured wood, the user wants the wood saturated and nourished while controlling the storage humidity so the steel is dry but the wood isn't slowly 'baked". Or there can be mechanical issues that split the grain. Coming up with a theory on why this happens can help prevent it from happening again.

2. It's a gun. It's made to go bang, knock into racks, even get scratches and dings from underbrush, dog collars, zippers on your jacket, dropped... all part of a full life. That appears to be an easy repair, not a specialist gunsmith sort of repair.

From the back of the forend one might be able to push a modern adhesive through the crack(s) with a spatula or draw it though by making a simple little manifold with some plastic sheet, plumbers putty and duct tape so a shop vac can help suck the adhesive through the crack. The goal is to not booger too much adhesive into the checkering. It might be a high quality epoxy, perhaps filled with micro balloons or sawdust, or maybe its a professional grade CA glue of the right thickness for the crack width. Epoxy can be colored several ways and CA glue for woodworkers comes in several colors.

Once the crack is stabilized, a quick cleanup of the checkering should be easy. A little bit of artistry with some furniture repair markers, and then some oil finish over the entire area of checkering... functional, strong repair that will not stand out like a sore thumb.

I mean, you're supposed to be looking at the target, not the forend. No matter how nice the forend is. I understand that it used to be lovely and perfect, but from my perspective it still is.

Another way to think about it is "that forend is ruined, it's rubbish, I need to buy a new one and throw the old one away!" I'd be happy to send you money to cover the shipping so you can send that rubbish to me, as I would fix it and someone on Ebay will then want it, I am sure.

 

The wood does seem thirsty, it’s soft like chocolate. I know other users have complained about this too. It scratches really easy. But that’s another story. I don’t think beretta put much effort into finishing the wood but again the gun is built to the price point.
It’s a Covid year gun who knows maybe beretta rushed the curing process.

 

To be fair, wood is not covered under Beretta's warranty, They often fix or replace it for free but it's not technically covered.

 

while it isn't. This almost seems like a recall problem...

 

I talked to green top. They will ship it back to Beretta for repair.

 

 

40 years ago it was much easier and cheaper to get high quality hardwood.

When building revolver grips from horns and antlers, one step is "stabilizing" the grip... which involves immersing it in laquer, shelac, epoxy, or polyester resin... letting the pores of the material soak up a resin that will harden, increase matrix strength, and decrease the absorption of moisture. To some degree, I think the Browning poly finish does this to a large degree.

The hand-rubbed oil finish doesn't have some of those positive features, while it does have it's own advantages.

Wood isn't jet age plastic, nothing is uniform about it. That's why I love a beautiful wood stock! But it's also a nightmare for manufacturing where one needs to crank out hundreds of shotguns a day for worldwide distribution.

I recently bought a new shotgun with a "triwood" stock from Fabarms. It's real wood, but instead of the wood having a lovely figure and clear finish, a darker wood pattern in a strong resin is soaked into and onto the stock parts, in a wood-like pattern. I justify it by saying 'yeah, but look at that lovely dark case hardened and inlayed receiver!'. Honestly, I bet there are a couple guys at Beretta that are working on their own ideas of how to make attractive and desirable shotguns using more manufacturable parts than rare cuts of hardwood. But you went with the really pretty hardwood and I am sure in 40 years, people will fawn over what we can afford now. It's just painful when it acts like.. wood.

 

Wood isn't a perfect product. It can crack for numerous reasons.

 

I have a year old 694 with about 5K rounds through it. I check the forend screws quarterly during my routine cleanings, and no problems thus far. Sorry you’re going through it.

On a side note I also have a 693 field gun that the buttstock cracked just behind the safety. It was 13 months after the purchase date, and Beretta covered it. Now they did have the gun for several months, but they did cover the wood, and all of the shipping expenses to and from.

 

If the forearm is "Snapped" onto the frame rather than" fit and locked".....it will happen to any gun out there.

 

Good tip! After I (on advice from an experienced shooter) put a dab of grease on the forearm locking surfaces, they easily lock into place. Lucky I had not cracked one slapping them on in the past!

 

Several years ago I have a 682. The stock cracked behind trigger guard up towards the grip. I had a letter from a stock maker stating it was a stress fracture which is not uncommon in that area. I sent the letter and the stock to Beretta and they said "Wood is not covered under warranty". I understand that wood cracks but I my case it was caused by the function of the shooting.

I ended up having it repaired, $450 if I remember correctly. Just moved on but I have purchased many since then but no O/U berettas since then.

GreenTops is a great shop and I'm sure they will do whatever they can to help. Best of Luck.

 

Just cleaned mine checked screws all tight so far so good . I have an early model used weekly.
Other then keeping a eye on screws and wipe down with REM oil not much else you can do.

 

Two yrs. this Feb for mine with NO issues or cracks.

 

Got the gun back from Beretta. They replaced the forend. I was very pleased with green tops service. They handled all the shipping and packaging. Great people to work with.

 

You folks have me a little.OCD on 694 forearms. Is this one forming or not at all?

 

that looks like a scratch, not a crack

 

Looks like a ding to me.

 

Beretta 694 - Shotgun build 4/21 - was shot 1 time by original owner - 10 rounds and then stored (no additional history/receipts available) - acquired by me 3/24 and put 20 rounds of #9 1 oz 1200 fps Fiocchi to pattern and found crack in forearm when I started to disassemble for cleaning. Based on the valued input from this forum, prior to shooting, I had checked the tightness of the mechanical locks in the forearm and found them tight - but. . .

Took the torx wrench again to the screws in the forearm and found them still tight but the tightness was due to the loctite, not as in tight against the securing nut in the forearm - pretty obvious once I broke the loctite bond in loosening and then retighten them. Note to self: best to remove screws, clean and re-loctite and then tighten to spec (?).

Sent a warranty repair request to Beretta to see if they will offer any assistance and if no luck there, will likely send to MGW for repair and bedding. Any suggestions and/or recommendations from the collective would be appreciated.

Thanks for a great, informative forum

 

Took the torx wrench again to the screws in the forearm and found them still tight but the tightness was due to the loctite, not as in tight against the securing nut in the forearm - pretty obvious once I broke the loctite bond in loosening and then retighten them.

Interesting. Beretta had the same problem with 682 Golds in the late 90s/early 2000s. They had a tiny set screw which kept the forend screws from backing out. Unfortunately, that meant that if the forend wood shrunk slightly the forend screws wouldn't be tightened to snug the connection back up, people just assumed if the screws couldn't back out, the connection couldn't get loose. The solution was to remove the set screws and throw them away so the forend screws could be properly checked and tightened.

 

Looks like a crack to for sure .
Pacific Arms East told me Berreta
Had a shipping issue with one lot .
Something about too much humidity staying too long on the ship ? ( during Covid)

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles, that really puts a damper on owning a new gun. If you decide to get it bedded please take detail pics, and post the before and after work. I’m really curious how they are doing it.

Depending on what they charge for that. Numrich has new forends for $185.00.

 

Bit more to the story; removed forend iron assembly (82) and found the crack extended to the rear most portion of the forend where the forend washer (165) contacts the wood.

Spoke with Ms Jody @ Coles in Naples who was most helpful. Cost will be determined by extend of repairs required and bedding and is estimated between $180 - $250. They only required the forend be sent whereas MGW wanted the entire shotgun be sent for the bedding alone with a similar estimate less shipping costs both ways (and associated hassle with shipping a firearm via FFL).

My 2 mistakes - based on my internet research and the good information here, I reached out to MGW for getting the forend bedded and decided it was too much of a hassle/expense to get the forend bedded and the overall impression I had was most 694 owners did not suffer this issue. Mistake 1 - not getting a second opinion on bedding the forend; Mistake 2 - going against my better judgement and shooting the shotgun (patterning only) thinking it wouldn't happen to me.

Will post final pictures/update after repairs are completed. Was advised Beretta's warranty coverage is for the original owner only.

https://estore.beretta.com/en-gb/exploded-views-summary/exploded-views-detail.694%20Sporting.exView

 

As of today, 11 days after first contacting Beretta Customer Service, 3 phone calls initiated by me with 2 different representatives - both indicated they needed to discuss with management for possible goodwill consideration but they were not optimistic about assistance as wood isn't covered and I'm not the original owner. Yes, we have help with wood warranty for some in warranty customers and yes, we have seen issues with the 694 wood cracking. Both gentlemen indicating they would get back to me either via email or phone which has yet to occur.

Forend sent to and received by Coles Naples on 3/14 - awaiting their determination on scope of repair or replacement -

 

ya I am waiting to hear from them on a dent at choke tube on a A300 ultimate patrol tactical.
Dent is inside out and I did not notice it when I purchased gun . Noticed it when I got home to clean. Yeah, shame on me.



Beretta needs to step up their game. They’re turning into Remington.

 

Apologies for the large pictures but they do show the details better. Forend received 3/28/24

Coles Fine Guns Naples (Kyle) did a superb job with this repair. First Class service at every step of the repair from my initial conversation with Ms Jodi to the final billing - excellent communications and a very quick turn around with the repair. Jodi approached Beretta for warranty/goodwill assistance but was declined because I am not the original owner. As previously mentioned, I have not received any reply from Beretta despite their assurances from the 3 phone conversations I would receive a reply on 'management's' decision. No further comments on Beretta USA's support are necessary.

Coles = professionalism at its finest!

Forend before repair

Forend after repair