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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Any particular issues to look for in a nicely sleeved old gun? I know it kills resale and collectors value, but what about usage issues (ie. must you shoot lower pressure shells than is the norm, be careful of anything in particular,etc.)? thanks Rick
"Sometimes too much to drink is not enough" Mark Twain
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Hi, unlike some folks, I don't see anything wrong with a well sleeved gun. If your a shooter/hunter a sleeved gun can add new life to a fine old gun that otherwise would be tossed on the trash heap. Granted if your a collector or looking for an investment piece, they are a drug.
Of course if the gun is sleeved it still must go thru proof (if it's a Brit gun). If it has not, then buyer beware big time. Just to many variables if it hasn't.
For the most part with sleeved bbls Wall thickness won't be an issue unless the sleeving was done years ago, but one recently sleeved should be just fine.
Try and find one with a seamless line or as faint as possible, one in proof of course. Also, look for one that has been balanced correctly, that's something only a hands on inspection will tell you.
As to loads, I'd shoot low pressure ones regardless. There's more than just the bbls at stake. You may have hairline cracks that could enlarge due to the recoil of higher pressure loads. Just not a wise thing to do. Besides, low pressure loads break clays and kill game just as well as high pressure ones.
As I said, a well sleeved gun can be a gem and the cost will be much lower for the same gun with original bbls.
These are just my opinions, I'm sure the flood gates will open on this on.
Best of luck to you!
Greg
Gregory J. Westberg MSG, USA Ret
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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I shoot a sleeved William Powell and it is a lovely 16GA gun. If you stop and think about it, many guns today are built on mono-block actions and that is basically sleeved, so done properly I see no problems at all. I try to shoot low pressure loads in all of my guns just because I don't like recoil and the light guns I shoot don't deserve the pounding the high pressure loads put out. Besides, I have found the low pressure loads pattern better and kill just as well. I've never heard a grouse complain.
Gerry Addison
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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I shoot a sleeved William Powell and it is a lovely 16GA gun. If you stop and think about it, many guns today are built on mono-block actions and that is basically sleeved, so done properly I see no problems at all. I try to shoot low pressure loads in all of my guns just because I don't like recoil and the light guns I shoot don't deserve the pounding the high pressure loads put out. Besides, I have found the low pressure loads pattern better and kill just as well. I've never heard a grouse complain. With all due respect, a sleeved gun IS NOT a "mono-bloc" gun. A mono-bloc is typically a single piece steel forging that a set of tubes are inserted and fixed into. The remains of the flats of a set of barrels that have been sleeved were an assembly of parts that were brazed, soldered and otherwise joined. It can not have the structural rigidity of a true mono-bloc. Best, Ted
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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All the guns that I have sleeved in recent years have all been proofed for 2&3/4" chambers . Thats a lot higher service pressure than there original 2&1/2" often black powder proof .Never had any problems in proof . Ok not wise to shoot the max loads all the time but its the actions that usualy show the strain not the barrels . As to the old complaint that the sleeved barrels are heavier than the old worn out barrel ,well what did they weigh in at ex works 100 years ago before they were bored up .020" and had walls of .030" plus ?
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Gary Addison, Is your Powell a 'lifter?'
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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[quote=Gerry Addison) I try to shoot low pressure loads in all of my guns just because I don't like recoil and the light guns I shoot don't deserve the pounding the high pressure loads put out. Besides, I have found the low pressure loads pattern better and kill just as well. [/quote] With all due respect, pressure has nothing to do with recoil. Recoil is a product of payload, including shot, wad and powder ejecta. Perceived recoil can also be affected by powder burn rate.Higher pressures certainly strain the action more. I also do not believe pressure has any bearing on patterns. Velocity can, but not pressure.
SRH
May God bless America and those who defend her.
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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If you stop and think about it, many guns today are built on mono-block actions and that is basically sleeved Note Well, the poster did not say a sleeved gun was Mono-blocked, which it isn't. what he said was a Mono-Block gun was "Basically Sleeved" which it is. As Ted correctly said the Mono-Block is machined from a single block of steel into which the tubes are then inserted. A sleeved gun has whatever breech joining it had originally with the bbls cot off, the breech section bored out, & new tubes inserted. The method of joing can be esssentially identical, which is what the poster said, as Ted said it does not make it a Mono-Block. In what "Each" said they were essentially correct.
Miller/TN I Didn't Say Everything I Said, Yogi Berra
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Also, look for one that has been balanced correctly, that's something only a hands on inspection will tell you.
With all due respect, Greg, I have to say that the concept of a gun being "balance correctly" is a bit of an old gunmaker's tale. There is no "correctly." There is only "it suits the shooter or it doesn't." We would not say "it has correct stock dimensions," would we? Handling dimensions are just like stock fit dimensions - facts/characteristics of the individual gun. You are right about the hands on inspection - if the purchaser has educated himself as to his prefered stock fit and handling characteristics. I'm going to find someway to drive a green stake through the heart of "correctly balanced" so help me!!
DDA
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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No, my Powell is a box lock 16GA with very nice wood and it loves grouse.
Last edited by Gerry Addison; 02/19/13 11:59 PM.
Gerry Addison
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