doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Barrel Sleeving - Case Study

After looking around the net at various well known and not so well known dealers, that gun at $1000, sleeved for $3500, cannot be beat. You guys may not buy it, and I certainly couldn't, but the value is definitely there relative to what else is available. $4500 Woodward Boxlocks and similar are nowhere to be seen. Comparable guns are at least 50% more. And up.

Who�s knocking anyone?

I can think of 4 people right off who have a BV1 gun. And none of them know anything about them except they are the �best�. Two are inherited, two have been bought.

It�s like people who buy 500 series Benz�s. Some know the detail of why the cars are so good but most just want to know they have the �best� car and have the money to do that. My ex drives a Maserati. She knows nothing about cars but she sure likes the reaction the car engenders. Nothing wrong with that. That is part of the value of brand names.

Their estimate is approx. $700-$1000 American. Not sure about the 20% VAT since we do not pay it however the shipping is probably a lot more so Rocketman's chart seems to come pretty close to their estimate. Not sure what the sleeving will cost however you have a choice of barrel length and we all know 32" is doable assuming the handling characteristics are acceptable. Would that make it a bargain in the end?

using the charts the only change is to move it up to CC6 changing its value to $2671. That seems a bit light even though it has sleeved barrels and not replaced barrels.

The gun actually sold for �500 in Mar 2014 Holts ; look at lot 1704. I think Holts only shows the hammer price and the price does not reflect the additional 25% buyer's premium.

Rocketman's spreadsheet provides a current condition pigeon hole for replacement barrels, but not sleeved barrels. Is a properly sleeved gun a big negative?

Ken

BV is a strange thing.

The late Gough Thomas (real name G.T. Garwood) was guns editor for Shooting Times here in the UK for many years. An engineer by training and trade he had an analytical mind and understood quality well. Later in life he had the opportunity (late 1940s) to have a 'best gun' made for himself. He could afford any maker. He was a very respected and knowledgeable man.

He chose Henry Atkin, the spring opener model. He felt the Beesley patent action was the 'best' action around, and the Henry Atkin gun using it slightly ahead of the Purdey for smoother operation (it uses Southgate ejectors rather than Purdeys Wem/Lawrence). The Southgate type are arguably a little easier and smoother in cocking, giving an easier gun closure - always a little harder in a self opener.

Yet today, an Atkin spring opener though still very well regarded, but doesn't command the price a Purdey would - and by quite a significant margin.

The Purdey name has the 'cachet'.

It is quite likely that it would be economic to sleeve a Purdey, much less so an Atkin, because the monetary value is less - but arguably, the Atkin might have the edge as a gun to actually own and use in the field.

(I must declare an interest as an Atkin owner)

I feel that the gun was made in Birmingham by W&C Scott perhaps, but I've rarely seen a Scott that looked like that! It all goes back to buying the gun and not the name, but I like beautiful guns no matter who made them.
I think it would be more fair to have chosen a maker know for their boxlocks, but I have to admit, that Woodward's a beauty.
Karl

Or, you can create a gun you could not have otherwise. I took an 0-frame 16 Gauge Parker hammer gun with unsafe barrels, sent it to Brad Bachelder and he sleeved 32� barrels to the monobloc and rechambered it to a 20 gauge. Great shooter and I�ve been offered quite a bit more for it than I have in it.

Some guns just deserve being saved.
Karl

Seeing where the gun was located and the advertising that it's out of proof, I'd be in the camp hoping someone wanted to work with it. It seems the alternative would be for a proof house to wreck it forever. Too bad the government there wouldn't just pack similar things up and send them to other places in the name of historical and artistic preservation.

Craigd,

The description doesn't say the gun is out of proof. It just has a thin wall (<20 thou) on the right barrel.

Ken