doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Choke tubes in Vintage British Guns

No questions, Don. Just glad you're here. You answer questions in my head nearly every post. Thank you.

Purdey is installing tubes in their new guns now. If it was me though I would opt for the one without.

Rare is pretty easy to understand, albeit, it does not come with a threshold value. If it is refinished, modified, restocked, etc. it's already not what I would consider collectible as an original. Might collectible if a famous gunsmith did the work as is the case with rifles occasionally. Is a garden variety Sterlingworth a collector? Only if you consider every gun a collectible. Would choke tubes devalue it much or increase the value?

In Stan's example, there is a gun for which he apparently knew it's value with and without chokes. I think that is the sort of target situation being considered. I'm guessing he was looking at a 20% "reflected" price reduction. Rocketman seems to be in the same ballpark for shootibles vs. collectibles. Makes sense to me.

Need to provide a very brief answer right now. Pretty busy. But, I believe the Fox BE was devalued at least 30%. Might be able to elaborate more tonight if needed.

SRH

I believe there should be a consideration as to who's chokes are installed. Being the owner of a double with Teauge's "invisible" flush chokes installed, I can attest to his work being in a league of it's own.

Without knowing they are installed, you would miss them at a glance. The gun is also re-proofed after installation which helps in a world wide market if that is a consideration.

Yes, I agree that having chokes installed in a high end gun will affect it's value. However, I believe that hit in price is a sliding scale depending on who has performed the work.

Just curious, when you state- "Depending on who did the work, and if that can be verified".. A recent trip to a Cabela's-BassMasters-Pro-Shop found a "Del Grego redone 12 bore Parker DHE- offered at about 5K-if memory serves. Indeed, fine looking wood finish, barrel blue and color case hardening- all screw heads "indexed"-- DT, AE 28" Titanic barrels, Skeleton BP-- all the DHE "Bells and Whistles"--

So just out of curiosity, I asked the young sales "associate" if they had a letter from DelGrego with the sn of the gun indicated on the bill for the work purportedly done by Del Grego-- He went back to the office to check with his boss- and came back and said- "No- but the person we bought it from told us that it was done by Mr. DelGrego"!!

Huumm- if I were writing that size of a check, I'd want better verification than just the "kind word of a stranger"-- maybe yes, maybe no- I'm no expert--

A hunting friend has a older 12 VH Parker- 30" Vulcan barrels, and he had Teague chokes installed (and has the attendant paperwork)- and after a walk-up shoot together, and the guns open and unloaded, he had me look down the tubes from the muzzle end- and sure enough- you couldn't see any sign of that precision work-- as to "re-sale" value, not an issue, as he doesn't plan to sell it-- RWTF

I had a Parker VHE that had been customized into a target gun. Restocked, some engraving, choke tubes, etc. In the case of a VHE 12ga, there's not huge value anyhow unless it's in near perfect original condition. So in that case, the value increased . . . but I don't know how much the custom work cost. Enough to offset the price of the post-customized gun? In that case, maybe so.

I just had occasion to look at a Fox A Grade 16ga, 32" barrels. Gun is in very good original condition . . . except for the fact that all choke was removed! Installing Brileys is about the only way to make it into a useful shooter. But whoever had the choke work done significantly devalued what has to be a pretty darned rare gun.

British gun makers would always supply what the high end paying customers wanted. I am not surprised if they will put Teague chokes in them. They are a very well made choke tubes. Factory installed options do not hurt resale value as much as after market installed options, even when they are the same. It�s a part of our obsession with factory original condition.

I have had Teague tubes fitted to a few old British S/S's but only when the gun was already/being sleeved anyway and I wanted to make the gun more user friendly.
I don't think I would ever have Teagues fitted to a good original set of barrels unless the customer requested it.
I certainly wouldn't do it if I thought it was going to reduce the gun's value regardless of how use-able it made it!
I have been toying with the idea of having my father's Blanch BA SLE rebarrelled in 16g (the original barrels are toast) and would certainly have those Teague choked before proof. If you have the chance to shoot early season driven partridges and late January wily pheasants, you need very different chokes and I always shoot better with the same gun for the whole season, September to February.

Will Teague even install choke tubes in a Damascus barrel? For a long time Briley did not want to do it. Don�t know if that�s still the same way. Was told cutting and threading a steel barrel was much easier and more predictable than doing the same in a Damascus barrel.