doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Cost of stocking a sidelock action

I tried man, I really did. Gotta figure this out on your own I guess. Happy trails.

Dustin

Ok, LeFusil, now I have a question.

Let me preface it by saying I have utmost respect for anyone who can do the kind of woodwork involved in stockmaking and, more particularly, the high-end inletting your pictures upthread show. The question I have is: why is inletting in that high-end fashion your pictures show, as opposed to a less elaborate pattern like the Spanish stockmaker's work shows, so important? Is there a subtle advantage, mechanical or otherwise, that comes from ensconcing each part in an inlet cut to its shape, or (to put it bluntly) is it a matter of a stockmaker doing it because he as woodworker can do it?

I cannot see much functional advantage gained from the more elaborate high-end inletting, but that may be my ignorance speaking. I do appreciate the aesthetic advantage, though.

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This is, I think, one of those 'gun value' versus 'social value' things. The very precise inletting that LeFusil appears to favor doesn't offer any functional value over the more simple inletting. Some folks view the precise inletting as an indicator of 'style and quality' and are willing to pay more and wait longer for it.

To each his own.

There sure as H--- ain't 2-4 thousand dollars difference in the inletting. I wonder if you told the guy you would give him another $500 for crisper inletting what you would get? Is there 20- $40,000 difference between a best Spanish gun and a best English or Italian gun?

Dave,
Is there a functional advantage to having a gorgeous piece of wood compared to a plain piece of wood on your gun? Any functional advantage to world class engraving over laser etched? Any real functional advantage over plain twist barrels over 4 iron Turkish British best damascus? No. I guess certain aspects of the gunmakers art have no fuctional advantage at all. The art is a statement, a statement that the gun you are using is a quality instrument, that many hours of extremely valuable, highly skilled time and labor went into the manufacture of that instrument.
If the inletting of the locks is of high quality...then wouldn't the heading up of the stock be just as high quality? If the stocker spent that much time inletting the locks, he more than likely spent that much time heading up the stock, getting the measurements right, inletting the trigger guard, top strap, getting the shape of the stock correct. etc. You know that it was done right.
I guess it could be said that there actually IS a functional advantage of knowing it was done right. Piece of mind is extremely functional.

So, silk skivvies and all, enjoy your guns boys. And for what its worth, I can't afford the work that I pictured, I have never spent more than $2500 on a re-stock. I was just saying...there are differences, I'm not above pointing them out and knowing I pay for what I get.

Dustin

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I tried man, I really did. Gotta figure this out on your own I guess. Happy trails.

Dustin [/quote]

You did good Dustin!

I thought of a couple of analogies to use but the best one that I can think of is this. Lets use a new Corvette vs a new Ferrari Italia. The Corvette is just as or nearly as fast as the Ferrari, it gets you where you want to go, it's cool to look at, everything about a new Corvette says "I want one". I want the Ferrari given the choice but hey I can't afford either one.


There is one thing that just drives me crazy and apparently no one else cares about it..... the "fill in point pattern" thing. It's like finger nails on a black board to me!!!!!!!!! BTW, the checkering is poorly executed, but I guess if you don't see it then you don't care.

Ah, Dustin, that was a real stretch. The question was about gun function and you wander off into 'Piece (sic) of mind is extremely functional.' Seriously?

Bottom line is highly precise inletting is a form of hidden decoration. Valuable to some and not to others. Trying to elevate a personal preference to 'higher quality' is just silly. It's not like silk skivvies with little dollar signs on them improve the quality of the fellow wearing them � other than in his own mind.

Indeed, Suh, it is. Our friend Joe is a virtual "cheerleader" for getting today's generation of gun buyers away from the plastic stocked $1500 plus auto=loaders as shown in DU magazines, etc) and back to the good old days- vis a vis the fine doubles discussed here. As Joe, like the late T.N.B. hails from the Great Volunteer State of Tennessee, I assume the W.T.F. stands for Walter Thaddeus Fitzroy, the Lt. Governor of Tenn. when T.N.B. was a lad growing up in Memphis. Keep up the good work, Joe, we need you to keep some of us from "getting lazy" here-- Go Vols!!!!