Added an edit to note the barrels were original, not sleeved when I bought it and I just happened to know it was OE of pigeon configuration.
IMO, sleeving (good job commensurate with gun's OQ grade) will take a gun to Current Condition level six (CC6). It takes a pretty good gun to make this a financial break-even adventure (the cost of sleeving is more or less fixed but becomes a lower % of value as the OQ goes up).
One man's experience:
I had a London auction cheapo BLE with baaaaad barrels (30" cut to 26" and honed to "thin") - a good candidate for sleeving. The redeeming features were cheap price, good action, good stock, and "James Woodward and Sons" engraved on the sides. Oh, yes, the one and only BLE Pigeon style JW made (1946). Could I get my money back out of it? Not likely. But then I don't plan to try.
So how did that work out? I have no regrets and love the gun. It came to me within tolerances of my specs for weight, balance, unmounted swing effort and mounted swing effort. Stock dimensions need a wee bit of bending for cast-off. Thank you Toby Barclay.
Dig Hadoke theorized that a bespoke equivalent best work gun can be had for some $20K by buying a good SLE action but ratted out barrels and stock. Replace barrels with new ones to your spec. and restock to your dimensions. VIOLA! A virtually new bespoke best work gun. The above was a first test of this theory - keep it cheap and gain some real world experience.
DDA
Last edited by Rocketman; 02/21/20 11:26 PM.
