I don't mind owning/shooting sleeved guns. It is a complicated area. Take a Grant SLE with .021 thin barrels and pits, you'd have to discount the gun, because most folks don't buy <.020.
So here is a valuable gun, with some life left in it, if you don't mind the pits. Folks who can afford Grants, don't want them "near death". Does sleeving make it more valuable, no, more useable/saleable (than a thin barreled gun), yes.
It costs $2500-3000 to get a gun sleeved if you start in the US and send the gun get sleeved/proofed in the UK. I always look at a sleeved gun and deduct how much it would have cost me to have the gun sleeved.
I have seen many guns where, I felt they were paying me to take the gun. Take any 12 BLNE that has been sleeved, in today's market you'd never recoupe the cost of sleeving. I consider those guns (especially the BLEs) a tremendous value.
The other option is rebarreling. 5000 gbp min. If you want the original makers name engraved on the new barrels you have to go to the maker or a gunsmith who is licensed to use the name. That knocks out any but the Best Guns (another massive debate that I won't touch on in this thread).
Joe
