Eightbore, yes and no. I do not think that I have EVER seen an English gun that has had externally restruck barrels. However, I've seen a boatload of them with proofmarks of 12 or 12/1 with .740" and larger inside diameter barrels.
Your point about proof marks meaning little (except as a guide) and measuring for yourself are spot on, but I disagree about the bad wall thicknesses being due to bad striking.
I can only say about the balance thing: If you have handled a lot of British guns, you don't need to see the join on the barrels to know whether it's been sleeved if it was sleeved badly. That said, I have handled sleeved guns that handled like originals, where someone paid attention to balance and dynamics.
It's much like what you feel when you handle a Best gun with 26" barrels. With your eyes closed, I DARE you to tell that the gun has "short" barrels, because the dynamics are as if they had 30" barrels.
Last edited by Erik330; 09/10/07 04:33 PM.
