doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com SLEEVED BARRELS

HI

A gun with sleeved barrels is like a beautiful woman in a silk dress perfect make up nice hair, but wearing a pair of steel toe cap work boots. Something is just not quite right but beautiful all the same.
If you don�t mind that the gun is sleeved and the price is right that�s marriage made in heaven.

I do not mind a great gun with sleeved barrels at all. For shooter's they are a best deal if done properly. I was able to add a 1894 S. Grant & Sons side lock, ejector, side lever to my collection that was sleeved and reproofed in England. If it had the original Damascus barrels it would have been beyond my price range. Sleeved, it made it affordable and has proved to be a very good shooter. I am able to use and enjoy a quality classic English gun with new barrels and with proper care it is something I am able to pass down for another generation to use and enjoy. For a shooter, a quality gun with sleeved barrels is a very good deal.

I believe sleeved guns are just great, basically new bbls, fit for a lifetime or more.
It also lets you into a much nicer Gun, for the cash you have, assuming its a real good job, & that your ok with that.
My WW Greener 1901 Hammer has sleeved bbls, but no one ever new, unless i pointed out the incredibly hard to see joints, all properly marked n proofed..( or is it proved?)
I see them as a way to get a real bargain, sometimes.
For the collector, no, but a guy looking for a real nice shooting gun, yes.
The balance thing is daft,...as said before,how does anyone know how a gun balanced before the bbls were lopped off...you cant....pick it up n see how it feels for you...then make your decision.
Westley Richards did some really ugly sleeving.....which I find hard to believe, considering their reputation in the Makers world?
best to you all
franc

Frank, The Grant that I was able to afford was sleeved by Westley Richards. The line of the joint can be seen but it nice and clean and does not bother me at all. High quality action, beautiful engraving, knock out wood and new re-blacked barrels. 2.5 inch chambers, reproofed at Birmingham. Great shooter, nice weight and balance. Makes it a very nice gun for a "Joe Lunchbox" budget. I'm content.

Westley Richards were one of the first to carry out this type of work and some of the early attempts were not done to the standard that they later achieved. Some of the work done now is almost undetectable. Lagopus.....

I believe sleeved guns are just great, basically new bbls, fit for a lifetime or more.
It also lets you into a much nicer Gun, for the cash you have, assuming its a real good job, & that your ok with that.
My WW Greener 1901 Hammer has sleeved bbls, but no one ever new, unless i pointed out the incredibly hard to see joints, all properly marked n proofed..( or is it proved?)
I see them as a way to get a real bargain, sometimes.
For the collector, no, but a guy looking for a real nice shooting gun, yes.
The balance thing is daft,...as said before,how does anyone know how a gun balanced before the bbls were lopped off...you cant....pick it up n see how it feels for you...then make your decision.
Westley Richards did some really ugly sleeving.....which I find hard to believe, considering their reputation as fine gun makers
best to you all
franc

Amazing TIG 'Invisible Sleeving'



Interesting. c. 1867 MacNaughton of Edinburgh 12b sleeved from damascus to steel...back to damascus; with silver between all 4 joints. By John Foster and Graham Bull, England. Courtesy of David Trevallion.





Interesting by incongruous. Damascus to Damascus by Keith Kearcher



Hideous butchery. Ed's master gunsmith

The last one-The Parker butchered by ed, looks like a plumber did it not a gunsmith !

Back in the 60's Westley Richards sleeved a lot of guns that were by todays standards awful . Thing to remember here is that sleeving was considered a repair ,that's all, to make gun last another 10 years as a cheap alternate to rebarreling so no real attempt was made to make it seem other wise . As time went on prices rose as did the quality of machining ,no more holding the back end in a wooden clamp and reaming out with a reground chamber cutter and facing off with a piloted cutter . Customers demanded better and they got it so that modern sleeving is largely undetectable on sight .
As to the question of steel shot ,problem is that the proof charge is the same as a magnum and it is a matter of whether the action will stand that pressure .

drew: sorry, don't recognize that one...

old ed did sleeve guns. doubt if he could do it anymore, being 88 an all...anyway, other guns that he has sleeved do show the seams. he could hide the seams if desired, but then that would cost more. gotta keep cost down when sleeving field guns, don cha no?

remember a parker ph he sleeved at my request years ago. Damascus barrels had been honed by some crook, so the barrel walls were bright and shiny like glass, but they were paper thin; less than what he considers as safe...anyway, he sleeved barrels, with seams showing. gun also shot both barrels to point of aim at 30 yards...fellow I sold the gun too won his state skeet shooting championship with that old sleeved parker, with the seams showing...

old ed also has the tooling and skills required to regulate barrels sleeved by others, that do not shoot to point of aim at any distance...don't know of anyone else in this country that can do that kind of work. do you?