WTF?

Knew a fellow that had Briley put screw chokes in his Fabri pidgen gun, I figured that it took 5 figures out of he value.

bill

That would be like chrome plating Dolly's boobs.

Sorta ruins the "I would buy it, but cant shoot steel" excuse out the ......choke tubes

A late friend was contemplating choke tubes in his high grade M21 20 ga. "I don't care if it loses value I ain't gonna sell it. It'll go to my son and his sons after I'm gone." We didn't know how fast that would be as he didn't have time to send it off for tubes. Gil

Hey all, I know I'm going to get flamed, but here goes. I guess I'm in the school of it's his gun and he paid for it, he can do what he wants with it. Granted if the gun is of historical value, not just another Purdey, I'd say absolutely no. But, if it's just a shooter and will say in the family, then it's his choice. We are all free to do what we want with our possessions. If I want to paint my car bright orange, green and purple, and you don't like it, tough. Just my thoughts.

Well, best go put on my flame retardant suit.

Best,

Greg

Yes it is his gun and he can do what he wants with it. But if I owned the Mona Lisa it still would be a waste of time to paint over it. Some things could just be enjoyed as the classics they are. One point that was made to me was the makers most likely would provide a set of barrels exactly like these if it were a new build. Money talks. Maybe they even did.

Teague chokes are the only make of choke tubes that would not detract from the value of that gun. Infact, if there were two identical, contemporary Purdeys (not talking vintage guns here), and one had Teague chokes and the other didn't, I would pick the one with choke tubes without hesitation.

I have a sxs that Westley Richards installed a set of Teague Invisible choke tubes in, and they are marvels in both appearance and function.

Purdey has not made a gun with two sets of barrels for 15 years. Purdey recommends Teague chokes that are just about invisible - or no choke tubes at all. They need to be removed and cleaned after each use, according to Purdey.

Teague chokes are fantastic. I have a round action O/U with two sets of barrels. The original set is 28” and when The owner ordered a new set of fixed choke 30 inch barrels in 2008, he sent the 28 inch barrels for Teague choking. When I purchased the gun, there were four chokes: two full and two skeet. I desired some intermediate chokes and contacted Teague. They were more than happy to oblige my request by making an improved cylinder, modified, and improved modified Choke inserts, sight unseen, and mailed them to my house. They keep a record of every gun by serial number to make sure that, if required in the future, they can make additional chokes upon request.

I think its a great gun!! I'm with gjw on this. Click on the Link, read the whole advert and specs and think it through. Ordered in 1999/early 2000 by someone who had some clear objectives and a substantial Financial wherewithal.
Imagine if you will a 60-ish successful Stockbroker looking to retire and enjoy the next 20 years pursuing his sporting dreams in the upland bird field. 30" bbls with improved mod and full for high volume Argentine dove hunts , followed by walked up perdiz in the afternoon (28" IC/M). Decoying Ducks in the Evening.bbls,chokes and heavy 2&3/4" loads to suit. On the plane, back to UK in time for driven grouse opener,followed by a few days walked up grouse. Later High Pheasants in Devon or Wales, Pigeon over decoys, walked up Mixed Bag. To my way of thinking its about as an all round game gun for someone in their advancing years as you could specify. The chokes were most likely installed at time of manufacture and proofing (superior level) to order.For Purdey to offer sell it, it must be in excellent condition and the 15&1/4" LOP make it usable by just about anyone.Now if only I had the 132000USD and the rest to lead that lifestyle I'd snap it up in a heartbeat. As it is I've got to go out and finish painting the car before the roller dries out.

Hugh and gjw have it spot on. The old diatribe on choke tubes in fine guns is straight up trash. Now......if we’re talking about this Purdey with Colonial or Winchokes installed, that’s a different story :-). Brileys & Teagues are in a class of their own, and if installed correctly, make the gun extremely versatile and increases the enjoyment of using the gun for whatever purpose you want...and if your paying 93k pounds for a gun, I can imagine that you’d want to use it a lot. At least, I hope that it would get used a lot.

Good points all, clearly I have to start rethinking this.

Would Purdey have brought the gun to Teague for tube installation before delivery to the customer?

RR. Almost certainly done when the gun was in the white. If done after Proof it would require re-proofing.

Good point, and the facts of whether the Teague chokes were installed during production, or were an after-market addition will make a huge difference in the present value... like them or not.

A good friend, now departed, wanted screw ins in his brand new Purdey O/U 16 bore. Purdey’s had to convince Teague to create their 16 gauge tubes as they’d never made them, but they did and he enjoyed the gun to his death. When sold afterwards, the value didn’t seem to be impacted at all.

Usually the muzzle walls are too thin for practical choke tubes. But, hey man, the customer gets what he wants. If he wanted a more versatile gun via choke tubes I'm sure the good folks at Purdey would supply barrels with enough meat (wall thickness) at the muzzle to support tubes. After all, you aren't supposed to be concerned with the resale value of your gun for the next two or three generations.

I have a guy that I use to do a little business with. He took a Purdey that he had, went to the barn, put in a vise and cut the stock down to 13" for his kid. I also know for a fact that his net worth is over 100 million.

Do think he really cares?


John Boyd

Was it a padded vise? Gil