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The Keebler elves?

Bill, that is a good question. I've not heard of it being made by others. I recall that Purdey commissioned their new line of O/U shotguns in Italy, but they made no bones about it.

Maybe somebody can answer.

And as you know, I'm not promoting the Purdey hammer gun. My statement was in response to the statement above:



In the end, even if the gun is made by others it is made to high standards worthy of the name "Purdey." That's a far cry from any AyA I've seen.

Curl

Post deleted by treblig1958

When Holland and Holland started "making" their "Sporting Guns" more than a decade ago, one of them ended up in a shop where I worked. It was not impressive and it didn't work. The purchaser was not willing to send it back over and over so had it tweaked by a local gunsmith. What a fate for a brand new gun from a top British maker. I have no idea who really makes the Holland Sporter, but I don't want one. A gentleman who I have shot with a time or two does it the right way. When he gets a twitch, he orders a new H&H bird gun, waits a few months, writes a check for about twice what a new "Sporting Gun" costs, and ends up with a fine gun with no excuses. No fuss, no muss.

Well I was at the factory last Friday eightbore and they are worked off their feet, there are a LOT of 20 bore over under sporters in the line under production. maybe that early gun you saw had some glitches but I don't think you'll find many now. By the way, why do AYA get such grief here, I think their No.1 is almost as good as a best English gun, regards, Mike p.s. no relation to Holland, Purdey or AYA

The Purdey hammer guns were made at Purdey. If you have my book, you can see some photos of one of them being filed up on the bench.

They were made because a request was made and it appeared there was amarket for them. they were based on an existing gun, provided as atemplate. the sfety was added because it was requested and is more in-line with what the 21st century buyer wanted. Plenty of hammer guns were made with top-strap safety (I have a Nowotny self-cocker with one in the workshop now).

I know this is a forum where we can all say what we like but it always strikes me as a bit sad that so many are willing to queue up do deride the work of such highly skilled people working with integrity and to a standard nobody on this board can ever hope to match.Purdey and H&H etc are always totally up-front about which guns they make and where/how they are made. The niggling 'I wonder if it were made somewhere else' comments are unbecoming and ignorant.

I am always impressed with teh respect best gunmakers treat work by their peers even if they see reason to fault it "any fool can criticise a gun" as my ex-Purdey finisher says regularly.

As far as I can see Purdey produced a number of intereting hammer guns to sell now to the buyer of today and reflecting one or two changes to style and function. They were £55.000 when launched, as I remember. I can't afford one and I'd prefer an 1880 example but that is not meant as a criticism of the new guns, just a reflection of my preference for old stuff.

Mike, where do the Sporters stand in the price structure compared to the Royal side by side? I don't think most of us are critical of the new hammer gun except for a thirst for knowledge about its source. Smallbore and Mike have straightened us out on that. Is there a newly produced shotgun from the best makers that is not built in the factory of the named maker? I wonder how much Purdey would charge to weld up the safety slot and reengrave and reharden the top tang?

Small Bore,

I most certainly agree with your statements about the Purdey. The level of skill required to produce such a work of art is exceeded by none.

I suspected the guns were made in Purdey's shop, and I am glad to hear confirmation of it.

While I don't like the tang safety, I stand in awe of the workmanship. I agree that a tang safety is appropriate on a self-cocking hammer gun. The Italians do that with theirs.

Your statement of the level of skill required for a gun like this is what I tried to say early on in this thread. You have said it more forcefully and more elegantly than I could have.

Thank you,
Curl

If the guns are true Purdey, and I don't dispute that, why is the wood/metal so poor?

Not to put too fine a point to it,but sometimes pictures do not tell the whole truth. I wonder if the lighting cast a shadow between the proud wood,necessary to allow for wear,and the metal.I would like to see the gun in hand before slighting it because of the tricks that light and shadow can play.

Eightbore, at the moment an O/U H&H Sporter is approx £48k or US$70k using 1.46 as the exchange rate, an O/U Royal is approx £67k or US$98k, both of these are rough numbers and can go higher depending on individual specs/engraving etc, best, Mike