doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com An ugly Purdey?

Had a gun walk in the shop Friday that was a real head-scratcher. I wasn't even convinced it was English until I saw the barrel-flats. It is/was a 20-bore, single-trigger, beaver-tail & (plastic?) capped pistol-grip gun with serial numbers that dated it from 1974. It appeared to be in very good condition and seemed little-used but...it was hideous ( I've seen low-end Spanish boxlocks with better engraving). It took me several reviews of the top rib and the action bar (yes...a Beasley action) to finally confirm for myself that this was the genuine article. Were the 70s really that bad in the English gun world?

Sure, the 70�s were bad, but not that bad. If the gun is truly as bad as you say it is....it�s probably counterfeit. Spaniards did make a few Beasley actioned guns, but these are generally of ok quality. Usually Purdey�s from the 70�s that we�re made for the U.S. market do sport ugly beavertail forends, but that was in vogue at the time. All the other stuff you mentioned...engraving, plastic grip cap, etc, highly unlikely a Purdey left the factory in that shape, even if the guys making them looked like Spinal Tap and The Bee Gees had kids together.

We need pictures.

Ugly Purdey?? Is that a contradiction in terms?? Gi

Ugly Purdey?? Is that a contradiction in terms?? Gil

Perhaps a restock? I can't fathom Purdey using a plastic grip cap

Perhaps it was spelled "Purdy". I've heard of counterfeit guns having their names misspelled.
Karl

How much were they asking?

Edsel Ford ordered a pair of Purdey 12s in 1947, single trigger, beavertail, and a few other options that were hideous.
Dig reviewed them before auction. They were most unimpressive. The pair sold for 47K, if I am not mistaken, went to a Ford collector, not a gun guy.
A few years back Jack Puglesey had a pistol gripped Purdey 12, sans barrels. The asking price was around 12K for what was left. I didn't study the remains that hard, but, do remember the wood was a plank, and the pistol grip had what appeared to be an ambidextrous palm swell on both sides, an extremely odd looking stock.
Restock, maybe, but, at 12K it was in inventory a while, I suppose.
A good one is great, a bad one lingers a bit.

Best,
Ted

The Ford Purdeys were no doubt uglier than a hat full of assholes, and odd to boot....but they were still Purdeys, and done that way from the factory. While the guns were unappealing to the eye, they were still built to Purdey standards. The gun the Lloyd is describing sounds like a fugazi.