doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Opinions please on hammer guns.

bavarian brit, was that 450 pounds for one barrel ?

It's an Atkin, very nice wood and from a distance you can hardlly see the wood extension. There may be enough wood to remove it and get a decent LOP with a leather pad, but that I am not sure about.
As far as what would I use it for? I would shoot mostly clays and ocasional doves. A friend has the gun and has offered me to take it and shoot it all I want. I just not sure a underlever is what I want. But the gun is georgeous! I was really surprised how easy it was to open and close for an underlever.

OK, $5K seems high, but if it has gorgeous engraving and fabulous wood and if it fits you after you add the leather pad, what the heck? That stock extension is a bigger deal killer (to me) than properly sleeved barrels. I would think that if you buy this one, you'd better plan to keep it for a long time.

One query - is this a Jones underlever or a push forward or thumb hole "underlever"? If a push forward, which I have on my 1870 Reilly hammergun, it is incredibly easy to use and I notice virtually no difference to using a top lever and that is on either clays or live quarry. Although the Jones underlever can take slightly longer, with practice, even this is wholly managable.

A (UK) sleeving job of £450 strikes me as too cheap by far, especially if one wants a quality job done.

If it is a Jones Underlever, there is nothing more comfortable than carrying one. Once you are used to it it is nearly as fast and certainly stronger tha the top lever.

IMHO as stated better by others ... here & elsewhere

1) for 5k you can get a lot of gun ... especially older ones
however the buyer needs to beware
2) quality of the tube job is the critical...especially with
a top shelf gun
3) unless you are a TRUE expert ,having an expert appraisal
and mechanical check might be wise
2) if this gun suits YOU and all else is ok buy it


to digress a little
only 3 guns I really really regret not buying in 40 + years of
playing with guns

a William Evans hammer with Jones under lever still haunts me
the price was right, the gun was wonderful but i was broke

if you want to shoot fast and a Jones underlever is too slow
might i suggest a Remington 1100 with a magazine extension? ok, that last was supposed to be funny

Daryl.
No of course not, they were offering in the advertisement to replace both worn out tubes for that price including reproof. I spoke to the Cheshire guns store in Stockport Lancashire while on my visit also and said that they can do the MIG weld type of replacement also but I do not know what their price would be.
The Rigby I left with Mr Merker was replaced using the MIG system and it really is an invisible job apart from the "sleeved" note on the proof area of the bbls.
Martin

There are, IMHO, two values to a gun: it's collector value and what it's worth to you. The only question you have to ask yourself is which value is more important to you.

Personally, I don't really care what its collector value is, I'm a shooter first and a collector a very distant second. I collect guns I like and that I can shoot without much care about their value.

I bought a sleeved hammergun and likely paid more than its collector value was worth. However, the gun was in very good condition, it is in my opinion a very elegent and attractive looking gun, it fits me quite well and I can shoot it pretty well too. It was worth it for me as far as I'm concerned. I'll own and shoot this gun for the rest of my life.

How does it add strength, it simply holds the bbls shut? When a shotgun action fails it is most often from cracking across the juncture of standing breech & Bar. Neither the Jones nor the "Purdey" double underbolt provides any additional strength to this area whether the later be actuated by a thumb push or top lever.

Nothing wrong with a good sleeving job...it can make an old useless gun usable again. I'm not sure I'd get that deep in an underlever. People claim they are stronger but the only side x side I've had that shot loose was a Jones underlever.