Nothing like two different points of view. Harry do your comments hold true even for new big names - say a Purdey?
Hello HeymSR20,
Like most poor Englishmen I don't get to see or handle and least of all, use many top of the range rifles or shotguns made by the worlds finest gunmakers. All of them are way above my pension grade. However, those that I have examined over the last 50 years have been (looking at them with my toolroom engineers eye) marvels of hand craftsmanship.
A great many of the top London gun makers now use CNC and EDM machines in producing some parts of their firearms whereas in the past they they were in most respects hand made. Apprenticeships in the gunmaking trade are often five or more years long, it's not a 6 month technical college course then off you go to make your fortune.
Skilled hand work has always been a premium priced item, and therefore one off or pairs of rifles or shotguns are never cheap. But it's not just the metalwork thats top of the range but the engraving, stocking and the finest quality timbers are used, and that doesn't come cheap either. There's no glass bedding on a London Gun unless its been restocked by another person at some other time. There is also the style and grace of these firearms, it's something you don't find on mass produced guns. Above all it's the fit of these guns, they are tailor made for the individual customer. Every man is different in build and the mass produced shotguns or rifles are made to fit the mythical 'average man' who simply doesn't exist. If you buy a gun 'off the shelf' you get something that may, or more likely may not, fit you well.
Buying a secondhand London Gun your still getting the very finest materials and workmanship, the only fly in the ointment is, that it may not fit you perfectly, simply because it wasn't tailored for you. That could be rectified if your willing to pay to have it restocked by the original maker, provided they're still in business. If not another company may take on the work.
Purdey's for instance go to great extremes, in quality, they have the steel they use made to their exacting specifications, it's not some stock ordered 'off the shelf.' from the nearest Metal Supermarket. Some of the wood blanks that go into their rifles and shotguns cost several times more than many complete American rifles retail at. Purdeys by the way, have been around since Percussion Cap days, they're not new kids on the block by any means.
The best shooting I ever did was with a 'Try Gun,' originally made by Pape of Newcastle upon Tyne, so that he could stock his shotguns to fit his customers. I shoot from the left shoulder, so just about all factory produced firearms don't fit me at all. With the Try Gun I could adjust the stock to give me some 'cast on' rather than the 'cast off' used by right handers. Sadly it wasn't owned by me, but on loan. It was the only time in my life I ever broke 50 straight clays using a strange gun.
If I had the money I wouldn't have any hesitation whatsoever in ordering a British made gun from any of the famous London Gunsmiths, sadly I believe the delivery dates are now several years, so I may not be around when it, or they, were finished.
Harry
