doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Is the gun market dead?

Some of the guns are slow, no doubt. I have a friend and hunting partner that buys very nice high grade guns. The super high end is very brisk. English guns are very slow unless small bores, 28 or 410 ga. He say you can not get rid of a Purdey or Holland 12 ga.

Best


John

I was floored the Boss O/U prototype only brought 16, but then I saw the dirty bird word ............sleeved

I was in a shop a while ago and I heard a dealer tell a customer that sleeved bbls are just as good as original ones.

Looks like the market disagrees.

He told the same guy that refinished Parkers are just as collectible as all original ones.

Guess it depends on your definition of collectible.

OWD

Sleeved barrels might well be just as good - if not better - than original ones. They just aren't as valuable.

As to refinished Parkers ... the expert on that's on vacation so we should give the topic a break, too.

I just got back from The Big Reno show. Pretty thin on the old American doubles I'm mostly interested in, but it has always been mainly a brown Winchester and Colt and cowboy stuff show. Of course lots of black guns and clips too. What boggled my mind was all the just average pumps and autoloading shotguns laying on tables with price tags 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 times higher than I can buy the same guns in any pawn shop around here. Of course none of that stuff is moving at those prices.

Meat guns conditionwise and 12 bores you should be able as buyer to name your price. Classic guns will go wanting buyers if they are 12 ga no mater what it is. The new generation wants the latest Benelli or Berreta whizzbang auto. The will, however, collect small bore shotguns and big caliber rifles, there forebears taught them that much.Many young ones looking at small bore English guns at Beinfeld's Vegas show. I sold everything on my table in January, but you would not find common stuff on it. That stuff, while infinitely shootable and pleasureable in the field is dead dead dead as far as collectibility

OWD - Many Thanks for posting the auction stats.

Gentlemen of the jury, I'm at a loss here (admittedly in more ways than one). Please help me if you would. I submit:

The Lot 114 Purdey: self-opening sidelock Whitworth Barrels
Replacement stock (among other features, of course) 12 bore
Sold for 17,500 pounds

The Lot 148 Purdey: self-opening sidelock Whitworth Barrels
Replacement stock 16 bore Sold for 4,200 pounds

I of course realize that there are many variables that come into play to make one worth more dinero. But both guns had significant features that were similar, as well as features that weren't original to the gun.

I don't know if UK gunners are as mad for 16's as a lot of the stateside gunners are, but for a very nice shootin' iron to take afield, would the Purdey 12 that sold for more than 4 X the Purdey 16 give one more than 4 x the enjoyment?

The 16g was converted to ejector (who knows if it was well done), restocked, and the bbls were probably snipped. It's an older gun, too.

Who knows about the bbl bores & walls? They may have been marginal. The bbls do look reblacked, as does the toplever and probably the triggerguard. The gun was probably tarted up for the sale.

So basically, it's not very original and messed with. That's the difference.

This gun looks like it was a steal:

http://www.gavingardiner.com/BidCat/detail.asp?SaleRef=0013&LotRef=109

But who knows? Without bbl dimensions and seeing it for yourself, you just don't know.

OWD

When you convert to dollars, add hammer price premium, calculate shipping, wire transfer fees, customs charges, and all the trimmings, that gun would be $2000 grounded in the USA. Suddenly, a no-name Belgian side lock doesn't seem such a bargain. You can get an English box lock for that price.

Yeah I realized I was stuck in a very base gut overreaction once I got a third of the way into my post, but I just rode the horse out!

I was just initially struck by the similarities between the write-ups of the guns and the disparity between the prices.

There of course are reasons, as you have mentioned, that make one significantly "worth" more. Guess I just was trying to remind myself why I've got so many of the doggone things in the first place!