this is my personal list that I give to folks that ask this question of me.
How I examine a prospective gun to buy.
First decide if you are buying the gun to use or for collecting. If its for a collection; the fit and balance is not important.
A gun’s balance and fit is a personal thing. What I think is a well balanced gun might seem like a canoe paddle to you. Pick it up, mount it and swing it around. A small trick that I do is to pick out an object to aim at, have the gun unmounted, look at your target, close your eyes and mount the gun. Open your eyes, is it pointing where you want it? If it doesn’t fit you or seems like a club, I hope you’re buying it for collecting.
Take a quick all encompassing view. Decide if you like the gun overall. If not, pass on it. They usually don’t grow on you.
Make sure that you have good lighting to examine the gun. Its easy to miss things in the dark. Have the gun taken apart. Ask the owner to do it or ask if they mind if you do it. Separate into each piece.
Start with the barrels. This is the most expensive part to replace and/or fix. Bad barrels can kill an otherwise great gun.
Hold the barrels over a rug or soft piece of furniture. Just in case you drop them. Place the barrels muzzle down and put your finger or a pencil under the hook and hold them without anything else touching the barrels anywhere. Use your knuckle and give each barrel a sharp rap. Be careful not to knock the barrels off the pencil. Sound barrels with tight ribs will give you a clear bell sounding ring. If they sound dull or tinny the ribs are probably loose. Cost about $165-$350 to resolder and reblue/rebrown.
Run your fingers all over the barrels and look closely for dents and bulges. Hold them up to the light and eyeball down the side. Dents cost $25- $40 each to remove plus if large must restrike the barrels and reblue/rebrown. Large bulges just about kill a deal unless the barrels are going to be sleeved.
Check the outside for pitting. If present must restrike the barrels and reblue/rebrown. Cost $250-$400
Hold up to the light and look inside for pitting. Check the chamber area and the rest of the barrels. Chamber pitting unless really bad will have no effect on shooting just looks. Can’t really do anything about it unless you have the chambers resleeved. Cost $300 each chamber. Pitting in the barrel. Light pitting is no problem to remove if the barrel wall thickness is there. (I will expand on this later). Can be shot with light to medium pitting if the barrel wall thickness is good. Heavy pitting must be checked out with special tools to make sure the wall thickness is still good. Barrel honing cost $40-$50 each for .004 - .005. This will clean up all but heavy pitting.
Barrel wall thickness. I have seen barrels shot with .018” thickness. Barrels with this thin of a wall have passed the British proof house. Barrels with walls as thin as this must be thin at the muzzle end only. They will dent very easily. No margin for error. The British proof house prefers .025” at 9” from the breech end. I will not buy a gun with the wall thickness below .020 anywhere on the barrels. Remember, it’s your fingers and eyes. You can not grow new ones. Hopefully no one else is near you when it goes. If you must have a thin barreled gun either sleeve it, buy inserts or hang it on the wall. Measuring wall thickness takes a special tool. Cost about $500- $700. Find a smith with this tool and make sure they know how to use it. Ask the seller if you can have a gunsmith inspect the barrels with return privileges if they fail. Sleeving barrels cost $1500 - $2000, inserts cost $300-$500. Hanging on the wall $4. Keeping all 10 of your digits and both eyes is priceless.
Use a chamber gauge and measure the chamber. Cost $35
Buy the proof mark book. Cost $15. Decipher all of the proof marks on the barrel flats and water table. They can and will tell you a lot. The original bore diameter will most likely be marked. After measuring the current diameter you can tell if the gun has been honed. If so, measure the wall thickness.
Use a magnifying glass and check out the engraving on the rib. Make sure that it hasn’t been worn/buffed too much.
Choke gauge will not tell you the choke. It will tell you the choke measurement at the muzzle. The bore gauge will tell you the difference between the bore diameter and the choke if any. This measurement will give you the choke. Example: if the gun was originally bored to .729 and had a choke of .015 and then the gun was honed by .005. The muzzle would still give you a choke of IM but it would really be Mod. Bore gauge cost $125.
Forend: Checkering, will it do as is, will it need to be touched up, will it need to be completely redone? Touchup cost $20-$40. Redone cost $60-$80.
Check for missing wood. It can be fixed. Check for forend tip. Check screws, are they tight and matching?
Check for cracks. Again they can be fixed and don’t cost too much if they aren’t really major.
Stock. For the stock do the same as for the forend. Pay special attention to the head, toe and heel for cracks or missing wood. Also, check and see if the head is oil soaked. If soaked, the oil will need to be removed and the stock refinished. Oil soaked wood is weak and can break easily. Cost $250-$400. Check the stock/action fit. Must be tight. If there is any movement it will have to be fixed.
Length of pull and stock extensions. Make sure that the length of pull fits you or is at least close. Pads can be added cheaply, restocking isn’t cheap. The Brits usually fix a short stock by adding 1 to 3 inches of wood to the butt. Once in awhile it can be made to be almost invisible. More often it looks horrible. If it can’t be fixed with a pad it will have to be restocked or lived with.
Action. Hammerguns: Check that both hammers and hammer screws match. Check that the firing pins are present and for condition, (i.e. round point and not mashed on the ends).
All types. Look at the breech face, check for pitting and enlarged firing pin holes. Sure signs of a lot of use. Costly to fix. Check for cracks where the breech face and watertable join. If present pass on the gun. Check the screw or screws that hold the locks on if hammergun or sidelock. Make sure that they do not extend beyond the off side lock plate. A sign that the stock has problems and the screw had to be tightened further than originally made to keep locks tight. Can be fixed easily but a sign that further investigation is needed.
Check all screw slots. If they are buggered they are expensive to replace. Must be handmade for English guns at $30-$60 + engraving each. Screw slots should be timed. I.e. line up either horizontally or vertically. If they aren’t, they have either been tightened too much or are not tight. They can be retimed.
The engraving should be closely examined. Use a magnifying glass. The engraving should be fairly sharp depending upon the age and condition of the gun. Expensive to redo. Check the triggerguard for dents. It can be reshaped.
I have tried to go through this in a logical order. I am sure that I have left something out. Never buy a gun sight unseen unless you have the seller’s promise of something like a 3 day no firing return policy. If they won’t do this, the gun most likely has something wrong with it.
Mike
