doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Wild engraving - LOTS of photos

Personally I love the gun and the engraving.

Might the "gap" be the result of the metal contracting due to temperature changes. Perhaps it's intentional toallow for expansion?

Rob,
I'm pretty sure no thermal expansion/contraction gap would be necessary due to all of it being of the same material. Besides, steel expands/contracts at .00006"/inch per degree Farenheit if I got my decimal point in the right place. That gap looks close to notebook paper thickness wide. That's .002-.003". I have a LC that has a better lower tang fit in this area.

I don't have the budget for the case and fancy-dancy screwdrivers, let alone the gun, but I have to agree with JJ on the gap being a party foul on a gun like this. Besides, everyone knows H&H uses the latest CNC/DNC machinery and they should be able to cut matching parts much closer than this if the programmers and operators do their jobs.

Guys - that gap shouldn't be there, plain and simple. It's not built into the design. The gun is just poorly made.

Getting the fit on that piece right is very difficult. It takes a lot of training, time, and patience.

The engraving is brilliant, yes. But engraving is just one part of the gun.

That's all there is to it.

H&H's should know better.

OWD

owd,
I recall seeing the machining of this area on the RBL when I was at CSM last May. Neither of the two parts were touched by handfiles and they have a better fit than the gun shown, if I recall correctly.

While, I'm sure you're right about this area being difficult to fit by traditional hand work, proper CNC work should make this a piece of cake. Aren't they using CNC to finish fit parts? Or are they leaving metal fitting to the hand work?

The gap is just confirmation of what we all know deep down but are maybe too scared to admit. Older guns have a better fit, finish and attention to detail than most modern equivalents. Sure the engraving is nice, but that will be cold comfort if moisture gets into that gap and rusts the interior. Just to check I pulled my 1905 Holland. It’s the most basic model of Royal that was produced still the metal – metal fit is flawless and the wood to metal excellent. No Gaps. Maybe the best guns were made before WWI after all. Incidentally at least some of the some of the beasts depicted appear to be Wyverns.


Derek

Lovely artisanship. Such mastery of design and execution is a treasure. It's a joy just to study it. Thanks for the posting.

The more I look at it, the more it looks like a shadow line made for the mouth of the cat. JMO

Dave I dont' think we are looking in the same place. The gap starts at the head of the small imp and curves up and to the right. I see no cat around it at all.

"....if moisture gets into that gap and rusts the interior. "

I bet there's a much better than even chance this gun'll never see the hunting field, let alone any weather where moisture would be allowed to get on or in the gun.

I'm sort of sorry I posted this now. Apparently more people are obsessed with finding imaginary faults with spectacular firearms than they are with appreciating them. Some of you need glasses.

Brent