doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Why do people 'butcher' barrels....?

Why do people change the barrel configuration of nice old period guns, i.e., change the chokes, forcing cones, chambers and so forth.....WHY.........why not just shoot the proper loads in these fine older guns, all the components to load almost anything are available...and so is loaded ammunition for those that don't or can't load...?....
Why put rubber pads on guns....?.....Why not put the rubber pad on your shirt or coat or use a leather slip on pad....?....Why butcher the wood....?
So many nice guns have forever been destroyed by this practice and in most cases the owners don't shoot 'any better'...?....Opinions.....?

Doug, I couldn't agree with you more. Scroll down to the post by Ken Hurst, the last 2 pages talk of this.

One of the continent's top gunsmiths---Nick Makinson---shaves the barrels of my great old guns to make them more useful to me. When they come back to me they're as their makers wanted them to be: the right gun for my conditions.

I haven't changed anything on my VH F/F 12 because it's my secondary goose gun for those few times when my SKB 3-inch 20 IC/M isn't up to the mission. My Sterlingworth, Specialty, A&N, Francotte have had their bores changed.

In each case, as a gunner and low-pressure loader, those changes provided greater pleasure and value of the gun to me. To the eye, the American and European craftsmen who made them 80-90 years ago would see no difference.

In my view, it's gunners of nostalgia and appreciation of the old doubles who keep the spirit alive. We're not butchering anything. Having guns not useful at the back of a vault is preserving them unseen for history, worse than in a museum.

As for myself, it is because the gun I have is the gun I have, and if it does not fit me or suit the purpose I intend to use it for it is of no use to me. Shell selection has a place but is not a cure-all. As an example shooting spreader loads in a tightly choked gun with good balance works fine for closely flushing birds like kick'em-up quail, but that won't work for doves. Recoil pads save a lot of pain, and the only wearable substitute I know of is a strap-on P.A.S.T. brazzier, which I never think of till its too late to strap it on, or find it for that matter...Geo

[quote=PA24]Why do people change the barrel configuration of nice old period guns?

I would say that for the most part, people do not. You can't put the tooth paste back in the tube. Someone else has usually made some adjustments long before I get my hands on an old gun. They likely did it when the gun was contemporary, not a period piece. Tinkering with stuff is human nature. They started it. Tasteful adjustments or improvements don't necessarily further devalue the guns. There is no such thing as mostly virgin.

Also, many of us are not true collectors. What we shoot and work on are not museum pieces. Cool old guns but not so collectable. I don't have a gun collection...I have an inventory.

PA24, it looks like they are ganging up on you. I notice that on the "Mike Orlen" thread, I should make sure I have my alarm systems working before I say what I really mean. Obviously, my opinion about barrel raping is not the popular opinion. These guys just like to have their money stripped from their wallets to ruin their gun rather than to learn how to shoot. If I buy a medium to high condition Parker, Lindner, or Purdey with some choke in the barrels, it is a duck or pheasant gun. Only an idiot would think it should be their next ideal skeet or woodcock gun. The strange thing is that most of these guys have dozens of woodcock and skeet guns. Why does the latest acquisition have to be another woodcock or skeet gun? OK, it's their money, but it doesn't make sense except that a guy with a bunch of money can do what he wants with it, including ruining a good gun or hiring someone to take out.....

from the Code of Man:

"Anyone can restore an antique. It takes a REAL MAN to cut one up"

Words to live by.

WtS

This subject reminds me of the vintage WW2 airplanes that are flying around. A guy may spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a restoration of a WW2 plane and take out or not install the armor plating and put in modern instruments and radios. Then he'll fly the plane with Vietnam era or later helmet and F-16 era gloves and flight suit.

I'm not taking sides here, but, people do this because this is America and 'they can'.

With all due respect Chuck, I think you missed on that one......the barrel butchering would be more parallel to the fellows who butcher the F-8F's, P-51's and F-4U's for air racing.......aka Reno.......

And the butt pad thing is like putting 'whitewall tires' on a Ferrari....IMO....

Bill, there is too much ganging up, for sure. I don't like it, never have. It's more prevalent in America because of the way it developed with the collective subordinated to the individual, and I have no quarrel with that; what is, is.

I don't fit into the medium to high condition Parker, Lindner or Purdey owners nor did the chokes that came with my guns. I don't own a skeet or designated woodcock gun. I have two 16s, two 20s and four 12s. My shooting is respectable.

My point is that our board represents a broad range of interests and no one should have to set their alarms to say what they mean. Barrel-raping and butchery is fair comment to me. To disagree is not ganging-up. This penchant for polarization does no one any good. .