Shotgunlover, the debate comes in the initial definition of "best", which required that best guns had to be sid As for Mr. Garwood, Re fretted barrels, as seen on French guns, Thomas wrote:
"With resleeving now thoroughly established, it seems remarkable that no British firm has adopted the fretted barrel, with its possibilities for combining greater strength with a reduction in the After all, one can do some nice engraving to pretty up the joint.
Larry, Gough Thomas was too much of an engineer to ignore the strength & economics of construction re. monoblocks but strength is only one factor when considering best guns as pleasing appearance must be considered also. The only monoblock joint I've ever seen that met best gun appearance standards (not that the gun was by a best by any stretch of the definition) was on the now discontinued Beretta 470 sxs guns & I have always wondered why Beretta went back to the ugly visible joint on the later 471.
Attempting to disguise the joint with engraving usually results in drawing more attention to it.
