Sleeving doesn’t always kill the value. See lot 1556 at Holt’s a 16 bore Beesley SLNE with 26 inch barrels sleeved in 1970 (when the Proof House was still insisting on stamping SLEEVED on the outside of the barrels) estimated at £700 to £900.

Hammer price £5,200 so £6,760 to get it out of the room!

Another recent example Lady Meux’s 28 bore BIW Purdey hammer gun.

I know that exceptions don’t disprove the rule, which is that at auction a sleeved gun will generally cost a fraction of the cost of sleeving and may therefore be a very good bargain.

I have noticed that at least one of the regular contributors to the Game and Gun pictures seems to have every satisfaction with his SLEEVED British boxlock, and his pheasants do not seem any less dead.