There is an article in the latest issue of Shooting Sportsman about the recent purchase of Teague Precision Chokes by Wesley Richards. Interesting read, but there is one particular comment that is relevant to this discussion. Managing Director of Wesley Richards, Simon Clode, speaking ........ "It's becoming accepted that if Teague has worked on the barrels, it actually enhances the value of the guns rather than diminishes it." He is referring to having Teague chokes fitted to the gun. He continues .... "The majority of Wesley's customers are over 40, and there is definitely a move toward tubes rather than extra barrels. We used to make a lot of guns with extra sets of barrels - sometimes three sets with different chokes - and while it's a lovely option, the cost is now prohibitive. Also, I don't really believe that extra barrels deliver enough value on the used market to justify the cost today. If you compare the cost - around 30,000 pounds for three sets of barrels compared with 700 pounds for a set of Teague chokes - you can see that Teague is an attractive value option". So, will a Wesley Richards Best, ordered with Teague chokes, bring as much on the used market as one ordered with fixed chokes? Remains to be seen, but I think yes. Will it detract from the market value of a hardware store grade gun? Only to a purist, and the market has a lot more non-purists than purists.
I suspect that, as the old purists die out, the younger generation of double gun enthusiasts may be more accepting of choke tubes in guns that did not originally have them. I am not a purist ........... but, I am not a total pragmatist either. Guess I fall "sommers" between the two extremes. I have a 32" 1918 BE Fox that has been choked with Briley S-1 series thin walls, and an Italian hammer gun that carries the same chokes. I can interchange the two. Would I have had the Fox screw-choked? No. Did it detract from the value of the Fox on the market? I think so, and I took advantage of it. Unashamedly.
SRH
