doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Help with Gunmaking Definition: "Hand-Made"

Joe, Solopian,
This reminds me of the British car vs American car comparisons. British engineers just tend to use less margin in any structure. The result can be great sometimes both ways, but often there's a price for each direction.

Reminds me of a Mexican resteraunt I was in. There was a big neon sign saying "Hand Made Tortillas". It hung next to their tortilla machine that had a glass front so you could watch the machine making them for you.

I think you've come as close to the real answer as any on the previous five pages. And with the very necessary dose of humor!

. El gringo has struck again.

I remember someone telling me that Ferrari's were all handmade. When I was going to college at night taking mfg engrng, we studied Ferrari's DNC/CNC industry leading shop. Almost no human intervention in the machine shop. Even the movement of parts from one machine to another was with autopiloted carts . That was nearly 25 yrs ago.

Chuck:
I'm glad Enzo didn't live to see it. And the mess his country is in.

Then again, the Itals are probably out on break and don't notice.

I thought ole Enzo sold controlling interest to Fiat many years before he passed away. He might have still been around when Chuck H was taking his night class. Maybe, Ferrari's are an example of well done fit and finish equating to hand-made regardless of how parts are made or if they interchange. Maybe, just an example, but not necessarily a good one.

To be honest any Ferrari is a trainwreck compared to a Porsche from underneath (the true measure of a sports car). Climb under both and you will see what I mean. But Ferrari is miles ahead of Lambo in the quality dept

Sorry to check in late on this topic - I have just rejoined the land of internet.

IMO, "hand-made" belongs to the same class of throw-away words as "perfect balance" and "best gun." These words appear to have meaning but actually lack a general definition; unless the definition is stated, there is a good probability of confusion of communication. "Hand-made," as stated above, can mean how the gun was fabricated, imply a high standard of craftsmanship, and/or imply the gun is an art object rather than just a tool.

For example, "perfect balance" can mean the teeter-totter point of the gun or an attempt at subjective summation of the gun's handling. I always state that my work refers to the teeter-totter point. Thus, "balance" is a fact of the gun and "perfect balance" has meaning only in the context of the specific gun and a specific shooter. This is just like "perfect stock dimensions" having meaning only in context of a gun and a shooter.

So, we might say, "This gun was hand-made in a small shop by master gunmakers using hand tools and manually controlled machine tools." Or, "This gun was hand-made to "best work gun" standards (where "best work" refers to the gun trade standard of workmanship, material, and design for a period of time ("London best gun" refering to a "best work gun" in the London style)). And, we might say, "This is a "hand-made" gun of art quality fit and finish.

User of "hand-made" without definition by a seller generally implies that the seller hopes the buyer will then see the guns as a very special speciman.

AT least that is how I see the word.

Modern automated machinery can work to micron tolerances. Far better than any "hand" work.

The Longthorn Heskith is the most recent such gun. This gun has true interchangeable parts in a very high-quality O/U.

The only thing truly hand-made are sun-dried mud bricks. Everything else takes tools and machinery.