Joe Wood,
I understand your point because I too like to handle and examine old hand built shotguns. But, today's best guns, although they look and feel like ther 100 year old predecessors, have lots of high tech machine work in them. Again, I am paraphrasing Bruce Owen, production manager of Purdeys- EDM wire cutting for the preliminary profiling of the action, EDM spark erosion machining for the underbolt recess, CNC machining for the rest of the action body and most of the internal bits. The story is pretty much similar over at Hollands. THe masterful hand you will descern in these doubles is that of the CAD programmer more so than that of the old time craftsman. The change goes down to the moleculra level, as Bruce Owen points out, the newer model actions are of high strength steel, not carbon steel because the machining stresses require stronger material, his words not mine.
The machines have not diminished the feel of the modern Purdeys and Hollands compared to the old ones, but you might not find those friendly faint file marks inside their actions.
MC- what I was hinting at was not an 870, even though my definition of best does not exclude pumps. The synthesis I had in mind was a Baker actioned double (Baker was a prolific English inventor who gave us the Baker ejector and the Lancaster 12/20 action), so our gun's genealogy is "proper". His coil sprung sidelock action finished to a high standard, with high quality monoblock barrels, plain extractors, ribless, with a nice straight grained american walnut stock made to measure would be a fine shotgun. External shape would be very like the Holland Dominion, and equally unengraved. It could be made to sell around 3000 dollars.
I would not mind such a double. Would you?
Last edited by Shotgunlover; 08/02/13 03:46 PM.
