doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thoughts on purchasing a 1889 Purdey 12 gauge

Don, the only point I was making is to disagree with the statement made by so many people that purchasers of Purdeys are generally not gun collectors or investors. They most certainly are. In the same vein, few would be purchasing Ferarris if they could not be sold for a good percentage of their purchase price.

Eightbore,

As the owner of a Ferrari I take exception to your statement that "few would be purchasing Ferraris if they could not be sold for a good percentage of their purchase price". While most people who purchase a used Ferrari can usually recoupe most of their purchase price (god forbid if you buy a new one and take a $100K hit in 3 years), the maintanence bills will eat you alive in terms of an investment. For the past 5-6 years I have averaged almost $10K annually in maintenance and repair bills. That is almost $60K. Even if I sold my car for the same price or more than I purchased it for, I am in the hole due to the mantenance bills.

People who buy Ferraris do so because they love cars, love to drive and love the history of Ferrari. They do not buy Ferraris to make money (in rare situations you can make a lot of money but that is the exception). I think the same can be said for those people who buy a Purdey, H&H, Boss, etc. They love guns, enjoy using the best gun available and like the romance of using a historically important firearm. Just my .02.

Ken

Bob and Obsessed, I asked the same question. The serial no. he gave may have been 20,000 as my memory is possibly faulty. He said that by that time, all of the mechanical refinements that could be made, had been made. He said he owned a pair of ca. 1935 Purdey's and that they are the only guns he will ever need or have. Not like lots of guys on the board that may "need" more than that.

I have used an 1889 Purdey as my main game gun for about eithg years. It is biult on the same action to the same stadards as any other Beesley action Purdey and, if it has not been messed about, will have all the quality, handling and class of any later gun arguably more.

I use mine for pigeon shooting , goose shooting, duck shooting, rabbiting, formal game shooting, sporting clays and everything else.

Buy it, use it and don't feel guilty about putting it to the use it was intended for. You won't find a better gun, handling wise, workmanship wise or mechanically - that's what made them famous: they are very good for shooting with and they function beautifully.!

just be careful to check that it was originally an ejector and has not been converted - if it has been converted, that is cool as long as the conversion is agood one and works well. Mine is and it does.

I love the older Purdeys - just sold an 1884 model with 30" damascus barrels to a client and almost cried as I waved goodbye to it. Absolutely beautiful, full of history, charm, class and brilliant to shoot.Brilliant to hold when you are not shooting. You are in the field on a rainy afternoon with your 1889 Purdey- and all is well with the world.

Small bore:

Thanks for the good input. Purdey has already confirmed the gun originally came with ejectors (see the first page of this post for the original specs of the gun). I plan to use the gun a lot and not worry about the condition of the gun. I am buying a shooter and plan to use it out in the field whenever I can. I am not one to purchase a new and unused gun and to put it away in storage for the next 50 years. When I die my son will receive the gun - along with many other nice items.

Ken

There is, the PGCA frame of mind!
Case color is everything, and frame size is a BlueBook tool!
To hunt them is a no-no in Charlatansville, and lost dollars at Vegas.

Lowell, the only significance of case color in a Beesley action Purdey is that remaining traces are a clue to the gun's degree of care and amount of careful use. I have no use for a shiny new Purdey, but would appreciate little or no evidence of poor gunsmithing or amateur disassembly. A buttstock of wood to the rear would be another plus.

I'd guess that there is something like 10,000 to 15,000 Purdey SLE's out in the world. I know a goodly number of people who shoot them because they are "as good as it gets." Certainly there are thoe who invest and those with social objectives.
But, not everyone.

Its best just to hold on to your Ferrari, as Reggie Jackson's didn't meet the reserve.

The Purdey was shipped yesterday to Alfred for inspection. If all goes well I can have the Purdey in my hot little hands early next week. I am praying the inspection goes well. I have already paid for several inspections only to discover the guns were grossly misrepresented. It is not easy finding a nice Purdey within my greatly limited budget. If I get the gun I will post pictures assuming someone can tell me how to post the pics. I tried to post pics of the Purdey using the url from my account on ofoto.com without success.