doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Cheap Thrills

jOe, the fact you posted photos of a sleever here tells me you get 'em after the maintenance has been done. Everything I need to know about a sleever can be summed up thusly-leave it for you.

You make it sound as if it is rare to find a 100 year old English gun that needs work. Quite the opposite is true.

Some needed more than others, it would seem, just going by that beautiful "SLEEVED" stamping on the top of the tubes of your Purdey. Not sure why Weiand didn't turn and run from that Hussey (17 large, and still counting, at the end of the article, and that didn't include the price of wood or the price of admission for buying the gun) but, that isn't my type of story.

Not sure why you didn't run from that sleever, either. I mean, before you bought it.


Best,
Ted

Sleeved, what does that mean? To me it means safe to shoot. How can that be bad? Yes it might effect the balance and make the gun a little barrel heavy, so you slip a little lead under the butt plate to balance it out, other then making your gun a little heavier, so what. I love light weight guns for the upland hunting I do, but I'm sure having a few extra ounces added to a gun won't hurt anything either, especially if you're using the gun for turkey hunting and clay shooting, in fact it might help.
Let's not turn this enjoyable thread into a pissing match.
Steve

I had some cheap thrills this morning out warming up for doves on the barn pigeons with my fathers old Stevens 311. Dad was there with me but was shooting his 11-87 that's he's so foind of these days.

This afternoon I'll take my Grandfathers gun of the same model in 20 gauge. Grandpa is 92 and have given up shooting so I go out and borrow the old gun whenever the opportunity arises just so he'll feel like he was with me in spirit. Maybe they aren't expensive but they mean more than a Purdey to me just because of who owned them. Cheap guns can create just as many memories as expensive ones.


Destry

Dang, I nearly forgot, years ago (1982) I bought a beater 16 gauge Stevens 5100 for $35. It must have fit me perfectly because I could really shoot that gun, right from the git-go. I wish now I'd never sold it.
Steve

I'm with Ted S. I picked up a 1302 by ugartechea for really short money. It locks up tight, has little case colors, and I shoot it well. After stripping off the coats of crap somebody put on the finish, I applied numerous coats of tru-oil. Had 2 small dents removed from the left barrel by a good friend ( An E.J. Churchill trained gunsmith who's shop is only 10 miles from home) So for under $250 I have a great backup or bad weather gun.

Ted you are truly in the dark when it comes to guns....the Purdey 10ga. I owned was properly sleeved and marked as such on the barrel flats...I doubt without removing the barrels you could even tell it was sleeved. I posted a picture of it with Briley 20 ga. tubes in it and you evidently thought you were looking at the sleeve job. I shot it a couple of years and sold it for about a 3 grand profit and the owner is quite happy.

Ah, jOe. Properly sleeved, eh? How many sleevers you own today, properly done or otherwise?
I'll bet it's zero. "Properly done" is open to conjecture, don't cha think?
The point I made is that you bought the gun with the work all done-your double gun expertise requirement was about zero if the dealer was to be trusted. The other point made is that plain, old, vanilla British boxlock and sidelock non ejectors suddenly become gold plated money pits once they arrive here. Kirk Merrington points out that re-laying ribs is expected maintenance. Wood gets old. One of my Brits developed lots of little hairline cracks at the head, after being bent. They weren't there, prior. Spendy little lesson.
Dig, being in country, gets them at about what they are worth. Which, isn't much. I doubt anyone in England would have given you the 3K margin you got on your sleever now, would they?
Didn't you have a name gun that turned out to not be one? Let's talk about that, keeping in mind all your double gun expertise.
This was a post on cheap thrills, not getting cheap thrills for big coin. Some of the best fun out there in double guns are cheap little sleepers you wouldn't think about taking a picture of, because they got muddy when you fell in the swamp, in the freezing rain, just before you filled out your limit of November roosters.
Never met anybody with a Purdey on those days. Sleeved, or otherwise.



Best,
Ted

PS Hey, that gun of yours was marked sleever. One of the best laughs I ever got here. Put it up again, would you?

LMAO! Great post. Notice he didn't say SIX pack, but twelve pack. Classic.

As for cheap thrills, mine is a fairly long list. I have been getting much more satisfaction finding cheap bargains and fixing them up, although I still have a spot left in my cabinet for a really nice (G or higher) but affordable Lefever (had to sell my last one).

Just bought another cheap thrill this week...a Jean-Claude Hignay' (J.C. Higgins) 16 ga. double. In mint condition it cost less than $260. Not checkered, walnut stock with a PoW grip, it's a Stevens 5100 made sometime before 1941. Color case is 100%, the Sears Robuck version is actually a bit nicer than the original Stevens, which I thought was unusual. Has a checkered steel buttplate, polished barrels, blue is better than commercial grade even for modern guns.

I'm gonna shoot it today. 2 3/4" chambers. Wa-HOOOooo!

Gene, I don't believe Sear and Roebuck used the Higgins name before WWII, I could be wrong however.