doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Mullered borders

Three cropped close-ups of mullered borders and how the are finished at the point of a V. Note the slight ridge down the V of the mullering. This is the right side drop point photographed upside down on my bench vise. The checkering is 25 lpi checkering enlarged quite a bit above real size so imperfections are more obvious. There is no such thing as "perfect checkering" James Tucker and Jerry Fisher (who do the closest known to man "almost perfect checkering") agree with that statement.

Mind you,this is my custom Fox that was checkered about 1993 and I've been using and shooting it ever since so some wear and slight damage has occured.

Bill, if you don't quit responding to that idiot, I'll quit responding to you! Use the IGNORE FEATURE, it works!!

I'd be interested in a checkering discussion and some pictures of mullered borders vs alternatives. What makes good and not so good checkering? I'm trying to learn a little and maybe try my hand at recheckering and checkering.

Personally, I prefer borderless checkering, but I'm not very sophisticated and might change my mind if some interesting examples and variations could be posted. I certainly need the education.

Brent

PS. I have made good use of the "ignore" function. If folks don't post offensive quotes, I generally don't even see them. Anyone can do this to avoid going off road...

PPS. Steve, I didn't see those photos when I put up my post a few minutes ago. They just jumped in now.

In my opinion there is little use for borderless checkering. It just looks unfinished.

Steve, thank you very much for posting those excellent photos and for the further explanation. It is as I had pictured it in my mind. I will leave for the Vegas show tomorrow with a much clearer understanding of mullered borders.

One other question about all this ........... what is the earliest example of mullered borders that we know of? Is it a contemporary thing, or was it practiced on best guns 120 yrs. ago?

SRH

Mullered borders were used in American on ALL Parker guns from inception (so, late 1860s).
I cannot speak clearly to the history of use in Britain and the European continent. But it was certainly in use in those areas before the turn of the century.

The British were using mullered boarders in the flintlock period. There are a number of pictures in Unsworth's excellent book "The Early Purdey's".

Thanks to Dave for monitoring this post!

Yes, mullered borders predate American gunmaking as does the term mullered.

I had great luck restoring an old hammer Parker by cutting a double line border and then using a small round needle file to cut the concave middle. Wasn't really much of a job and looks perfect.

A round file is great for cleaning up the groove but would be tedious for making new one. Files are not the best tools for working on or finishing the ends of the borders.