Ted, the Brits look at guns the same way we look at vehicles: preventive maintenance. You can also run a car until it breaks, but you're likely to get more miles out of it through regular service. The wealthy class were also putting a lot of rounds through their guns on those driven shoots. Shells that we wouldn't consider all that heavy, but considering the relatively light weight of English game guns, there's likely to be some wear and tear. (Those loads are "hotter" in terms of shot charge and velocity relative to gun weight than are the ones target shooters run through guns weighing a couple pounds more.) The standard Brit game gun, prior to the change in the proof laws in 1954, was a 2 1/2" 12 bore weighing around 6 1/2#, give or take a little, with a designated service load of 1 1/8 oz. Not unlike the loads used by trap shooters . . . but their guns weigh around 25% more than that.

Last edited by L. Brown; 03/30/15 08:45 AM.