The thing is, eightbore, if you buy a Purdey at auction in England, chances are pretty good that it was maintained by Purdey's. If one can afford to buy a Purdey, not likely that one would entrust it to the local village idiot, and I'd trust the guys who made the guns to do proper maintenance work. (Fact is, if you're talking a Purdey, you might even be able to ask them whether the gun was ever back to the shop.) Would you buy a car with 100,000 miles if it had never had an oil change?
I own a caliper and a bore and choke gauge. (Measuring the bore on Brit and some European guns, where the original gauge is stamped--12, 13/1, etc--will pretty much tell you whether significant honing has been done. Will also establish whether the gun in question is still in proof, as far as bore diameter is concerned.) Don't own a wall thickness gauge. If I'm buying a gun on which MBWT is a concern, then I'll either only buy from a dealer I trust who measures the walls, or I'll have them measured by a gunsmith. The only Brit guns I currently own (which are the only ones in my inventory where wall thickness would be a concern) were measured by Hugh Lomas. Plenty to spare, thanks.
Last edited by L. Brown; 10/22/09 08:34 AM.
