doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Sleeved bbl pic's...a gripe

Thank you Monty, but she is as described and is indeed a good shooter, so I will continue to give her safe space.

Oh. She is a Coggie.

Seamless joints need to have the barrels and breech ends a little undercut, so that when the tubes are pressed into the ends the "lips" meet and meld. Arguably it is technically more dsirable to machine the mating surfaces square and assure full contact than have any suspicion that a hollow might have been left between the "seamless" surface and the underlying "step".

It seems more honest to have a line that warns all about the sleeved, therefore less valuable, nature of the gun. But I might be wrong on that one.

to me, a safely sleeved gun that shoots both barrels to point of aim is far more valuable than an original gun that has unsafe barrels.

Sleeved guns are an acquired taste.

Some cannot stand them, others (to include myself) accept the trade off in order to be able to shoot an otherwised ruined gun.

I would rather replace the barrels with new, but the challenges of finding the right guy and pay the bill is greater than my check book.

I am sure all of us who grudingly accept sleeving wish we could have new barrels. That said, I will happily take out my sleeved SLE to the clays range today and enjoy the afternoon.

While I do appreciate the point of view that "best guns" should not have sleeved barrels with the seam showing, collector's can pass on these and leave the working guns to those of us who like them and put them to work on the course or in the field. The guns I use are "London best". They represent some of the best work done by their builder's and for me were affordable in this condition. Their design, feel between the hands, weight and balance, engraving, quality of wood and stocking are just about perfect in every way. Yes, that they have been sleeved discounted the price but that made them available to me at a price where I can own and use them. I am a retired working class slub who really likes using really nice guns. Remember that "life is to short to hunt (or target shoot) with an ugly gun".

life can be even shorter if you hunt or target shoot with an unsafe gun. even if it is a London best, whatever the hell that means to us frugal descendants of rebel scots...

I have both sleeved and unsleeved guns. The only problem I have seen - and I was lucky enough to handle a gun that had been made with two sets of barrels, one set of which had been sleeved (due to an accident) - was balance.
Certainly - in this case, the sleeved barrels (same length) were heavier - and the gun just felt better balanced with the original barrels, which had been better struck up.
Since sleeving is essentially an economical way of restoring a gun to use, I think that a lot of sleeved barrels have not been filed down to reduce unwanted weight as much as they could have been.

Ed, that is exactly my point. These fine examples of gun craft have been brought back into using condition. Guy's like me are able to afford them and will be using "best guns" well into the next generation. With care and proper use these 100 plus year old guns will be 200 year old "best guns". They will be affordable to working class guy's. John, when properly sleeved the weight will be very close to the original gun. Proper balance and feel, The between the hands weight that makes them lively and a joy to carry and use. Many guns have been struck and honed to clean them up and feel really light, to light to do really good work in practice, whereas those sleeved and properly struck will have a weight and balance to them that is both lively and with momentum to make best use of them.

often, sleeved barrels on English guns are heavier than original barrels, due to liability concerns...100 years ago, there were not as many lawyers and progressive lawyer/judges who are so ready to sue and award outrageous punitive damages as there seem to be these days...

and of course, modern ammo pressures are so much higher than they were prior to ww1, which is a reason why so many fine old guns need to be sleeved with new heavier tubes.

With access to modern CNC lathes and high strength steels it is possible to turn barrels of any profile, hence any desired balance. Turning on modern lathes is one of the least expensive metal working processes these days. If the profiles are carefully taken from the original barrels the balance of the sleeved pair should closely match the originals, or anything else the client wants.

Now if we are honest, we must admit that if the original barrels were monobloc this whole sleeving caper would be so much easier and more reliable.

Re value- anyone know of a sleeved 16 gauge, non ejector, side pedal Dickson, rejected by "mint condition only" collectors please let me know. Hell, I would even take it with no barrels at all!