I’m looking for photos of an English Best gun that was rebarreled by the original maker and subsequently has a later serial number on the barrel than on the water table. For instance, a Purdey built in the late 1800s with a 10xxx serial number but rebarreled by Purdey in the early 1900s with a 20xxx serial number.

I don't think I have seen that numbering on English bests. But, Lefever often used the current number when rebarreling an older gun. We have seen , too, Lefevers with higher numbers on the receiver than on the barrels. Can't quite figure that one out.

Boss and Powell both gave a different number to a gun they rebarreled .I have not come across this with Purdey . Has the gun had a set of barrels from another gun or is it definitely rebarreled by Purdey?

Someone had a new lock/stock built around an original set of barrels?

Or, since it's only a Lefever, maybe someone just cobbled a couple different guns together. ;-)

Hammerguy - ducking and running........

Send an email to Purdey and ask them what they have in the books for the #s.

That's the best way to find out.

I've seen rebbled Purdeys and I thought the serial #s matched. I could be wrong, though.

OWD

It's my understanding that it's almost impossible to take barrels from another gun and fit them to one for which they weren't originally made.

I had a 20ga hammergun that is a complete no name mid to low level gun except for the Woodward damascus barrels that I'm sure have been fitted to it.

Barrels from some guns will be able to be fitted to guns of the same "era" .Over the years the makers do make some change in dimensions for one reason or another even though the gun may look the same. This applies more to guns built on a production line by the same company rather than smaller makers who had parts or complete guns made by others to their patern .

I'll be at Purdey in a week and can ask them what they do, or if they have had a common practice, but Purdey was just my example.

I've seen hundreds of rebarreled guns. I haven't check the numbers on all of 'em.

Guess I'm looking for first-hand knowledge to prove guns have numbers different from the barrels - when barrels have been replaced by the original gun maker.

Again, I'm talking English Best, which I define as the holy trinity of Boss, H&H, and Purdey - alphabetical - not the order I think they rank. ;-)

I am looking at a H&H and a few weeks ago I checked this issue with H&H and they told me that when they re-barrel a gun they put a matching serial number on the new barrel.

I had a Henry Atkin with different numbers on the receiver and barrels. I also had a copy of the original records showing the buyer of the gun purchased the new barrels sometime later, and Atkin assigned different numbers to them even though they were installed on the same gun. I wish I had pictures for you, but no longer have the gun.

OK - everyone is back from the Southern, maybe with stars still in our eyes - but back to work. :-)

Any further feedback on my mismatched numbers question?