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What constitutes an English �Best�? I�ve noticed this adjective has been thrown around lately and was curious what the consensus is. Is it wood, engraving, fit and finish or a combination of the three. What you say, ideas, opinions etc.

For me it�s fit and finish, solid wood with tight straight grain, not so much figure as I�ve seen some real turds with highly figured wood. Good balance. Insides smooth and finished and quality hand fit parts. That would be some of my impressions of a �Best�.

I have a couple candidates. One is H&H Royal Ejector which I will leave without comment. The other one is more tricky, being a WW Greener from the 1880s. This one is Box Lock without Ejector, not a likely candidate for English Best. But a letter from the present Mr. Greener confirmed that it was in the works for three years and represents the Best of that time. So English Best could be more that one thing I would say.

With kind regards,
Jani

I think you are correct in your assumption of a "Best"grade gun.
Many maker's made what they described as a "Best" grade of their guns.
But many only think of an English gun "Best" as being from the big three, Purdey, Boss and Holland.
I have a Henry Atkin Spring Opener that is as much as a "Best" quality as the big three ever made.

I never felt a name implies �Best� and reputation helps with that name idea. But as we had seen some of the �Best� named products were started by the hand of another�s name!
�Buy the gun, not the name� right?

There are so many interpretations of the term �Best�. I choose to interpret a best-quality gun as the best that a maker offered for sale, made with the best available components. Thus there is a great similarity in a best gun offered by a lesser-known maker and that offered by a top-tier maker, though the latter could command a much higher price.

Sadly we know little about the individual craftsmen and outworkers who built and fitted the components, and whose talents were probably recognized and respected within their community. We only know the names of the firms that sold the guns, and occasionally these are one and the same.

I agree with the expression �buy the gun, not the name�, though with human nature, this is easier said than done!

I also have an Atkin Spring Opener (circa 1911 with 28" barrels) and agree that this is right up there with 'the best'.

I understand Atkin have only made a total of 400-500 'spring openers' in total. As I'm sure you know, it was the favourite of the late Gough Thomas (Garwood).

You don�t get to re-define the term just because it suits you..

The marketplace decided what was best.

Features and developments that evolved, stemming from the competition amongst the major makers, dIstilled the definition of best.

And you can debate whether that feature set is appropriate, but by the logic that�s being applied here, I could take an old Colton, and say that it was a best.

Interesting! So let�s start from the top, no I am not redefining what�s �Best� to suit my needs, I have no need for a best or currently have anything that can be noted as one. Second what I am implying in my query is what I have read, some from Digs and some from others. I then noticed how the word �Best� was being used and asked for comments regarding said topic. So now let�s look at what you said, so innovation and competition with what the market will pay for such an item is what makes a �Best�, so yes if you paid through the nose for a beat up Colton that may have a unique feature then by your logic it makes it a �BEST�! Thanks for your input!

I think I'll let the search engine fill in all the blanks for this one.

It's been covered a few times.

Some guns marketed by big name Best gun makers were certainly second or third rank products.
Quite a few gunmakers could provide a gun at the level of quality your pocketbook could afford.
I suspect that not all companies self described Best were equal.