doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Sleeved Barrels

excellent article...thank you...

it would be wonderful, if one day we could easily and affordabilily ship guns back and forth across the pond for rework and return...

I�ll give you the point about the forged, tool steel, monobloc being stronger than the remaining stub of a set of chopper lump barrels.

That said, what percentage of guns actually have chopper lump barrels? Maybe 5%?

Meaning, the very far larger percentage of guns were built with lesser methods of barrel construction. The stub can be brazed, soldered, silver soldered, welded, or, any combination of the above. All you guys bragging about your sleeved guns that passed proof 10-20 years ago haven�t been paying attention to the numbers of guns that are failing revised proof in Olde Blighty today. If you think your sleever would pass today, you might be in for a rude awakening. Sleeved guns are not accepted for reproof in France, because, French proof tends to tear them apart.

Don�t lament too much about your old gun not selling, ed. Most of the sleevers you linked to have been there for years, some for a decade.

It isn�t that hard to find a gun that hasn�t been sleeved. Barrels are the heart of a gun. Buy the best you can. That, is never a sleever.

Best,
Ted

Ted,

There aren't only sleeved guns failing reproof in the UK. There are issues with older guns failing reproof due to the new rules.

Ken

Wow Ted I take it you don�t like sleeved guns?

I didn�t say it was only sleeved guns.

Best,
Ted

I have a seamlessly sleeved Scott back action crystal window gun. The work was done in England and done well. No worries and I would buy another. I don't give a rat about resale value and I'm quite sure that it will give good service long after I'm gone.

I actually had a blown out 32" barrel on an Elsie Specialty sleeved by one of our own members here. The right barrel had a horrible blow out from what looked like an obstruction burst (can't find the before pic now), but the result is perfect to my eye..Geo



i found the "before" picture:

Beautiful LC Smith! What a shame it would be to have thrown it on the �scrap iron pile�. Ted, you know absolutely nothing about shotgun sleeving. Rather than continue to comment out of complete ignorance, read the linked article in The Vintage Gun Journal. The information is excellent. It provides a very good overview of the process and some good commentary on economics and market value. I�m not advocating for sleeved guns. I don�t much care if anyone buys one. I enjoy shooting mine and appreciate them as a good value. But I do hate seeing misinformation spread on a double gun board. I�d recommend reading the article, and others, and judging for yourself.

Nothing I have stated is untrue. The only misinformation is someone claiming they are as �good as new�. They are not.

You, have stated you like them because they are cheaper than the correct repair, or, a gun in better condition.

Continue as you were. If I were to own an English best, again, it sure as hell wouldn�t be a sleever. I read the article when it came out, noting that it was written by people who do sleeving. If you had comprehended what they wrote, you would see they made a strong case for it not being cost effective, most of the time.

You comprehend little of what you read.
Best,
Ted

�You comprehend little of what you read.�

I think this is a two way street, I am sure they weren�t literal when staying �good as new� even with the correct repair it still isn�t �good as new�. You are right about one part of the article but it is a very weak point you make, yeah it�s not always cost effective, especially on a gun worth 95 gbp. Regardless on how you personally feel sleeving is a very economical and practical repair, same can be said of stock repairs or splicing a stock. There are far greater examples of successes than failures for sleeving and just as the article says you have a choice pay for the quality of the repair! Using a cheap repair as an example of how all sleeving works isn�t fair! Here is an example of what the article was trying to convey. The first photo is was done by a well known maker and worth the price for the grade of the gun, the second is at a lower price point per grade of the gun. You can see the difference. Both are great jobs but one was taken a step further to make a seem less and smooth transition from breech to muzzle. The other you can see where the tubes were joined but the rest of the barrel weren�t struck.