doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Theoretical, and the gun in hand

Anyone can quote the SN, or barrel markings and those little things that make-up a high dollar collectible, collectible. What about the field worth of a high dollar gamegun. Couple of seasons would be about right, wouldn't you say?

The truth, Thorny. We've waited long enough-you shoot the Fox oh so much better than the Beesley, and the model 37 is better than best.

Right?

Best,
Ted

Once you get past a certain point, the differences are largely cosmetic. I doubt the high dollar game gun provides performance commensurate with its price differential over, say, a quality midrange gun - is a $10,000 gun twice as nice to carry and shoot as a $5,000 gun?

And if you're talking about rough shooting in the American field, I guess I'd feel easier about shoving the midrange gun under a barbed-wire fence, carrying it across a scree slope or throwing it cased into the back of a truck with the dogs.

When my friend Ken tripped and fell in a Montana field and snapped the wrist of his H&H Royal, no one envied him his gun.

There are those who feel the most minute qualities of a gun's handling properties, or so they say!
If this would be the case, I'd say there would be a difference in the 10k and 5k gun.
An ounce here, and a eighth inch somewhere and there you have it Jack!

John Pine once wrote: "What one does for himself, Dies with him. What one does for others, is and will remain, immortal."

Several years ago I was enthralled with the Franchi 48AL 28 gauge automatics. I bought two of them and as time wore on I sold one - to the best game shot I have ever known. At the time he was a 22 year old. I know the weight of my guns to the ounce - one of the few things I have memory for. Two days after I sold him the gun we were out hunting. By accident he pulled mine out of the truck and said "Your is lighter then mine". Mine weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces, his 5 pounds 13.

Best,

Mike

My research on handling shows different shooters have differing sensitivity to the handling parameters. Some are sensitive to weight, some to balance, some to unmounted swing effort and others to mounted swing effort. Very few are sensitive to all. Awareness of the parameters and handling guns of known values usually increases detection sensitivity. The sorta average range of sensitivity I've found is about 4 ounces of weight, 1/4" of balance, 0.20 unmounted swing effort, and 0.4 mounted swing effort.

I don't yet have any good average data on what measurable difference handling numbers and stock dimensions make in shooting scores. At some level, I'm sure they do. However, I can say that most people enjoy shooting certain guns more than others. Enjoyment of shooting is, IMO, equally important to shooting well. Therefore, I consider finding guns you enjoy equally important to finding guns you shoot well. Magic happens when a shooter finds/has made a gun he truely enjoys and shoots well.

Ah, a "princess and the pea" theory! So "those who feel the most minute qualities of a gun's handling" can sense the cash value of a gun by the way it handles?

How many here would be willing to wager a C-note on a blindfold test? Start with five guns priced across a spectrum from $2,500 to $10,000. Equipped with a good blindfold and fine, thin leather shooting gloves, can any of these these refined and sensitive gentlemen pick up the guns, handle them, and then rank them precisely by price?

The "princess and the pea" theory presumes some sort of objective standards for "handling properties" - a perfect weight, a perfect balance, a perfect MOI - which is absolute nonsense. Every gunner has his own subjective standards for handling, and his standards can change depending on the use for which the gun is intended. A "best" gun may not be best handling for a particular kind of shooting afield.

But there will always be a few "princesses" among us who can't judge a gun without a price tag, and obsess about a pee in their bed...

Magic can go in reverse though-I rescued a model 500 Mossberg from the hacksaw a few years back (convicted felon had his felon ex-brother-in-laws gun in his house and caught his 5 year old son playing with it-he was going to saw the gun in half) and, after I repaired it's cracked stock, and painted it black, it magically became the gun I couldn't miss anything with. Note that this happened after I had a fortune wrapped up in good guns. In my dreams, I find this gun at the beginning, and use all the money from good doubles to buy Caterpillar stock.
Then, I wake up.
Best,
Ted

TS - the magic is between you and the Mossberg. I see absolutely no reason why this shouldn't be possible, even probable. The price of a gun does not determing its handling characteristics any more than it determines its stock dimensions. It is the relationship between the shooter and the gun that makes magic, not the shooter or the gun alone.

So, what do we get for our money in a gun? $3,000 - $5,000 buys about all the longevity and reliability most shooters need. From there, you buy fit to your dimensions, handling to your desire, coverage/quality/uniqueness of engraving, wood quality/color/figure/finish/carving/checkering, metal finishing, fit of parts, and name. The truer you are on your specs, the more likely that you will wind up with a magic gun. Keep in mind that the gun will not be magic for most other people; they have to find their own.