doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Modern Purdey Hammer Gun

The wood to metal fit is 'so poor' is it? what exactly do you find fault with? The wood is evenly proud of teh metal, as it should be. There are no gaps, no uneven surfaces, no chips or irregularities to teh fine edges. The locks plates and action edges are flowing nd perfectly shaped. What is 'so poor' in your expert opinions?

I agree with one or two comments about the hammer shape being changed and to my eye it is not quite as pleasing as the 1880s shape, however, look at Purdey hammer guns from 1866 to 1900 and the hammer shape changes as the years pass so this is no radical departure.

Post deleted by treblig1958

The wood should be proud of the metal. You are too used to seeing worn old guns to apprciate what best new workmanship looks like.

Okay Sir, I understand and I'm going back to delete my posts as they are all wrong.

Hmmm. I dont know. I just spent some time in Mr. Hodgins shop and examined a Purdey O/U that he freshly stocked...I didnt see any proud wood there and he has a brand new H&H .410 O/U in his shop and again...I didnt see any proud wood on that gun either. Those certainly qualify as best guns. I recently looked at a David Mckay Brown that was void of proud wood as well.
The worst "best" gun in terms of wood fit that I have ever seen was on a Famars O/U. It actually had gaps where the head butts up to the reciever and the wood was very proud....it was fugly and its $40,000 price tag was even fuglier.

Dustin

Wood should never be proud of the metal. The idea is that there is seamless transition between wood and metal. No bumps in the road, as it were. Would Rolls Royce build a motorcar where the door panel sat 1/4 higher than the bonnet?

So how come the tires on the RR are proud of their wheels?

Best guns are made to be used and to last. If the wood is not slightly proud, after one refinish, it is below the line of the metal.

Until this thread, I had no idea just how poorly my guns were stocked. Nothing a good wood rasp can't correct.

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BTW the tall hammer shape was decided upon by the need to ensure the top-lever opened the gun with the hammers cocked. Purdey made 12 in 12-bore, which sold like hot cakes and then were asked to make some in 20-bore.