doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Barrel Sleeving - Case Study

Bush, My data is not quite that extensive. At least once a year I run a goodly number of the pigeon holes and look for correlation. There haven't been any curves so far. 15 years ago OI saw more outliers on the high side, but not enough to call it a trend. Now, I'm expecting to see more outliers on the low side. Whether there enough guns selling below value to call it a trend is yet to be seen. The "curves" you ask about are actually flat at this time.

Bright question!

DDA

DDA,
Thank you, it's much appreciated.
Karl

OK, so, I bought the gun for 500 BPS; only bid. It was about $1000 all in without shipping. I figured at worst I had a cheap enough wall hanger/sometimes skeet gun/flushing bird gun. At best, it might be near custom sporting clays gun.

I hooked up with Toby Barclay to start the ball rolling. Toby agreed that it was a mid-grade BLE; robust and reliable. Surprises were minimul and on the good side. For $3500 I could have the action stripped cleaned and set right, the stock cleaned up and polished, and high quality invisibly sleeved 32" barrels (ribs welded up for extension). That made it around the same cost as the gun would have valued with original barrels. Should I have it sleeved?

DDA

That is a sensible price at which to buy. It's nice that it was bought by someone who has done the research before purchase.

On the second question, Yes - if you want a nice interesting gun to those specifications; No, if you want to try and sell on in the near future.

Just my opinions.

Based on what I see, I don't think you would have any trouble selling that refitted shotgun for a 25% profit and probably for closer to a 50% profit. I think refitting it is a sure bet.

I agree with John. It is a one off gun from a great maker, but it would be difficult on the resale side. However, getting money back on a gun isn't why people buy guns.

Ken

Only curious Rman, why 32 inches. Since it left the factory at 30", sleeving to that length along with best guess striking might be considered more of a restoration than going non oe. Plus, a little bit back you had mentioned a middish weight pigeon gun might be nice.

No big deal, 32 inches could be really nice, and the stock seems to have some length to it for a bit of fitting if you'd want. I'd be in the camp of why care if you lost a chunk of change on a theoretical resale. It's way more interesting than say a Parker Reproduction or similar.

Great discussion.

I think JohnfromUK has it exactly right.

BrentD...in what market do you think the example (after sleeving) would register a profit?

Just curious; we're not seeing that kind of market on the East Coast.

Jeremy, I'm just surfing auction sights and dealers on line.

Hill Rod and Gun
Puglisi
Champlin's
Vintage Doubles
Dismal River
various auction houses, Amoskegue, Kramer, RIA, Gunbroker of course, etc.

For the last month or two, I've been shopping around for a nice double for Gus and I to use this fall as a mainstay gun. My price range is not so high as the $4500 that would be invested in this proposed gun but I see plenty of them out there in that range, and they go for much more than what folks on this forum claim to be reasonable prices. I have seen this before with forum discussions, prices claimed are usually much less than what the market at the time seems to bear. Certainly, folks can find some especially good deal somewhere, but the average market price always seems to be well above what forum discussions claim them to be.

I'm continuing to knock around in the $3k and below range, and while I think prices are depressed a bit from 5 yrs ago or so, I don't think the bottom has fallen out of the market either. Finding a nice British double in my price range is a bit challenging, but then I'm pretty picky about what I want too.

Well, I did have it sleeved --- the whole enchalada.

Why 32" barrels? Because I also did handling prediction calculations and I needed the extra length to get the swing efforts I wanted. I have kept track of the handling characteristic numbers of guns I've used for several years and had a tolerance range for weight, balance (teeter-totter), unmounted swing effort and mounted swing effort. The problem was that there is no MOI measurement in the UK. So, I had to make up a set of barrel specs that would be acceptable and useful to the sleever.

The result was a gun within tolerance on all four numbers. I love it and am shooting it increasing well. It is bored mod right and full left. It is fed 3/4 oz loads and puff balls skeet targets when I do my part. It is usable on trap, but really needs a higher stock. I haven't had the time yet to really wring it out on 5-stand or sporting clays.

The stock and barrels were better than I expected. There is a small "wart" where the upper rib is welded --- but then, it isn't a best work gun.

I can't imagine a better looking and shooting Woodward BLE for $4500. I have no worry about getting my money back as it will not be for sale in my shooting lifetime.

DDA