doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Woodward Restoration

Speaking of the Woodward, here's a similar gun, circa 1896 , and rebarreled by Bland and so marked on the rib. How much does that affect the value, maybe compared to a sleeved gun ?

I have no problem at all with a well sleeved gun, but I would expect and demand a substantial discount on what I would pay for it. The only sleever I've ever owned is an E. M. Rielly & Co gun with an "invisible" seam (it isn't really invisible).

My Rielly has what seems to me to be perfect balance for bird hunting. Although its choked mod and full, with Polywad "double-wide" vintager 2.5" shells it is my favorite quail gun. Someone struck the new barrels just right on mine but I suspect that's not always the case...Geo

What English gun doesn't have that "perfect balance" for hunting?

DH, are you saying this gun is a James Woodward? Or, that it is similar to a Woodward gun and not made by, but rebarreled by Bland?

Oh, my!!! Brit guns run the range of handling characteristics, just as do Continental and American. While Brit gunmakers clearly made guns for purposes, they also made guns individually for customers. Ergo, there is a lot of difference in handling among guns made for any given purpose.

Rocketman, I think you have a good eye. The gun is a W J Jeffery, rebarreled by Bland in the 50s. Jeffery used similar fences to the ones commonly associated with Woodward. A Hollis Bentley and Playfair catalog, ca. 1911, advertised for the trade. One of their "designs" was the same barrel lump treatment we see on the Woodward and Jeffery.

What do you mean by same barrel lump treatment, Daryl? Always learning...

DH, that would have been the first Baker actioned Woodward I'd have ever seen.

IME, the "barrels by another" are dinged by the market more than "replacement barrels by the maker", but not as much as sleeved barrels.

Per "The One Hoss Shay," no maker has yet firured how to make all the parts wear out at the same time. So, we will always be faced with guns that are not entirely OE. I quite agree that knowing how to value them is a big issue.

Daryl ,in my opinion based on the British market and past experience ,the value of a gun with barrels by "an other " irrespective of whom that is will reduce the value of a gun compared to the value it has with original barrels .
This is a strange state of affairs considering a good set of replacement barrels is better than a worn set of originals . It has there for been my experience that a gun such as the Woodward you use as an example with well sleeved barrels would not be worth much less than it is now.
New barrels by maker will significantly increase a guns value , but it will also cost you an awful lot of money so the gun has to be good to warrant the expenditure . I have heard of a pair of woodward's that were rebarreled by Purdey ,who own the Woodward name ,but they signed the barres as being by Purdey ,in effect lowering the potential value .I wonder if Purdey had been selling them would it have been different .
Bottom line is that it comes down to cost ,what you want to spend and what the realistic finished value will be .
An example will be [say a Beesley] sidelock value with good original barrels �6500 .Barreled by another �5000/ �5250 Sleeved �4500 plus . Same gun with scrap barrels �1000 plus in an auction on a good day.
If you want to have it done today The cost of rebarreling would be the over all value of the gun ,sleeving will cost around �1500.

Gunman, thank you. About what I might have guessed. I wondered about a gun in a recent auction that was rebarreled by Boss, although the actual gun was a lesser name. Your Purdey/Woodward example is interesting.

Cadet, the breechball or fence treatment common on Woodwards shows up in Smallbore's pictures here. http://linktosite.co.uk/news/guns-arriving

It also shows up on Jeffery guns as I show above. I have heard it called Castelated [sp?] fences or Claw fences. Imagin a claw reaching around the breech ball or a castle enveloping the breech ball.