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.
