If you get a chance find a Sterlingworth ejector gun, in decent shape. Saw one a few weeks back for $800.00. Should have bought it but I have too many guns now for projects. If I do three a year I will not get them all done.
But buy a decent project gun when ever you have both the gun at hand and money to buy it with. You can always sell it later, but I can almost never can go back and find the same gun for the same money later. Do not be afraid of buying two or three before your project gets going. You can sell one of two of them to get money to start the project if needed. Save the best for your needs and sell the rest.
By decent I want sound barrels, no dents in the tubes, action tight and on face and screws not buggered up. I much prefer a gun which has not had a screw turned so I know no other gun-hacker has been monkeying with the works. If the gun has no case color it suits me just fine. Condition only counts in the mechanical sense not the finish sense. You do not want to buy a gun that you have to fix, just to get it working, before the upgrade begins. Just wasted time and money. Same goes for condition. High condition will mean that you have to pay extra for something that you do not need.
I have been stockpiling 12 gauge Fox A grades, the early ones with the very minimum engraving. Sterlingworths before the Savage take over in 12, 16 and too few 20's, a few Sterlingworth pin guns. Lefevers in DS, H, G and F grades with Damascus and steel barrels. Bakers with Baker and Montgomery Wards names with steel and damascus barrels. I have a few Belgian guild guns that would be decent candidates for projects, both side plates and box locks. A few Ithaca NIDs also in 12, 16 and 20. Even a few Crescents and Meridians. Buy what catches you eye and use your imagination.
I had a dozen or more LC Smiths and sold the lot. They just never made me that excited about the upgrade project. Got rid of my Parker project guns as well. Figured the world had enough enhanced Parkers already. I sold guns for several times what I paid for them and have to say that I do not miss them.
