I would like to take you back to the 1960s when hammer guns had very little value in fact so low their only value was for wall hangers.
This young man having very little sense decided to restore one of these wall hangers that needed restocking. Yes! It is me! Was I ever that young?
Contacted the makers Purdey and to put it in a nut shell they where not interested, though they did suggest I made a visit to the Birmingham gun quarter around Lower Loveday Street and gave me a name. The name was an outworker who did jobbing work for the trade. Now to say he was old was an understatement ancient fitted better, and yes he would do the work but wanted some of the money up front in cash and the rest when the work was completed also in cash because this was to be his last job. And in his words he wanted to end on a gun he could be proud of. So I handed over one hundred and fifty pounds and left the rest to trust, youth stupidity though it all ended well as you can see. And why all this stupid trust because he had restocked Bar in Wood guns before in his words many times. The gun has been in continuous use since then with no cracks appearing.
Yes it is a "Mop Top" hair cut what would you expect a lad from Liverpool to have in the 1960s, did not want to stand out in the Cavern Club. And yes I did know the Beatles and others.
