doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Cowboy's HE Fox

[quote=Ted Schefelbein]Bluing and varnish are put on guns for protection of the materials under them. If the gun is going to a museum, to be displayed with other guns that have been in hard service for several lifetimes, then, don't refinish. But, if it is going to be used and cared for, refinsh it and put it back into service.
The English are so much more intelligent about things like this. A beat up gun gets it's barrels re-blacked, it's stock refinished, any repairs it needs made, checkering pointed up and it goes back into the field, doing what it was designed to do.
I never understood those who worship at the alter of a beat up gun.
Best,
Ted [/quote
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I agree 100%...maybe 200%....The English do it right....

Good question indeed George--I trust Mr. Hughes as I would Buck Hamlin or Dewey Vicknair to get the dims "dead nutz" right--but that sure is a mystery- the "beater" HE 12 I once had had both 3" chambers and the "Not Guaranteed" stamp on the flat--Now, after seeing Mr. Hughes work and expertise on this website in restoring/refinishing older fine double guns, I wish I had kept it-- I'm currently looking into a std. 2.88" chamber 10 bore Lindner Daly with 32" Krupp Flusshall tubes-- the 2.5" chambers on a heavier frame and an aprox. 11 bore shotgun- a mystery indeed.

Ah, a Krupp barrelled ten gauge Lindner, the Super Fox for the upper crust. If you pull the cord on the Lindner, you will never worry about the lost Super Fox again. I have never killed a duck with my big Lindners but then I'm not dead yet.

That's why all-original English guns command such premiums.

Nothing is uglier than one of those 100-year old English doubles with freshly blacked bbls/bits and a buffed action. Hideous things.

Personally, I dislike the look of reblacked bbls, refinished wood, recolored actions. I like wear and tear - as long as it is not mechanical. These guns are old. There's no shame in them looking that way.

After I hunt, I wipe down my guns and put them away. I've never had a problem with rusting or corrosion.

A couple of my doubles are as worn as this Fox and they're fine. I don't see the point in reblueing their bbls. I like them the way they are.

OWD

After rereading McIntosh's chapter "Super Fox" last night it became clear that this gun is nearly a prototypical HE. Tight chambers, bores and chokes and stock dimensions all in accord with the McIntosh's research. It was a delightful experience to have the gun in the shop and hopefully I will be able to do a story about it some day, I've certainly got the pix.
As for restoration, etc: it's up to the owner, and he is a sensible guy. But I would remind you that the major damage to the gun's bluing happened in a basement, not a duck blind.
We will see how it all shakes out.
Steve

If the gun is worth less than the cost of a Hundai, I wouldn't sweat about restoring it. Some guys like the old used look, some don't. I'm not big on a used up look.

If it was mine I would leave it as is.

If the next generation thinks it would be better if it is restored they can restore it. In the meantime I have a gun with all the original finishes and several hundred dollars extra in my bank account to go towards the next double I want.


Best,

Mike

Edited out typos

Mike, good point. It isn't so much the ruining of the gun, it's how much it costs to gain little, or, in many cases, nothing. There is no real harm in professionally rust bluing the barrels on this Fox, but I think I'll leave my new Parker alone. I have about had it with barrel bluers who want to keep my guns for years to do what we used to be able to get done in weeks. My favorite Super Fox is loaded up with color but a bit light in the barrels and I think I'll leave that one alone too.

OWD,
I would advise you to look up the Tom C. Kidd article "An Expatriate Returns", in volume six, issue four, winter, 1995, and have a look at just how a well maintained and daily used gun should look after 80 years of service. The article deals with a Fox that spent about that amount of time on the grounds of an English shooting club, with skilled maintenance performed as needed.
The gun doesn't look like the HE pictured above, by the way, or, I gather, like a few in your collection. But, nobody could say it doesn't look great.
Best,
Ted

Great, Ted. Tom Kidd found an eighty year old gun in GB that hasn't been bored out and ground down by one of those street corner gunsmiths who are responsible for the use of the rubber stamp by London auctioneers that reads "Wall thickness below recommended minimums. Gun is not in proof." Obsessed with Doubles has it right. A good British double is a good gun. A ground up British double is a POS.