doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thoughts on this Purdey 12 gauge

Al,

When did he do your gun? I know that guns that I have looked at, claimed by their owners (not sellers) to have been sleeved by Kirk but were not marked sleeved.

There is no criticism meant of the quality of Kirk's work. He is a very good gunmaker. The reason I ask "when" is that the guns I saw were done in the 1999-2002 period. I have heard others critize the practice of not marking, so maybe he has begun to do this in which case "hat's off".

Ken, check your private messages here.

I don't get it - why is the gun back on his website with no mention of the sleeving?

If I were a gun dealer my ad would be sure to mention something like sleeving. Maybe that's why I'm not a gun dealer.

Kdross could provide a list of guns that he has paid to have outed for various issues and most no doubt are still on the dealers racks with no mention of those issues.They all await another less savy buyer who does not have the good sense to have them checked.I hope he can find one soon but this makes me even more uncomfortable with buying from a dealer and mental list of questionable ones even longer.Real Estate and guns both markets that are less honest due to "professionals" involved in them.Collector to collector is the best way to go.

Erik330

I do not see any messages. Please email me at kdross@msn.com

Ken

If I were looking for a top tier maker I would hit the auctions. Obviously this has its risks- but if you do your research and then go have the guns inspected in person, you can get a steal. Case in point- just recently at an auction there were a number of guns- including 3 Hammerless 12ga Purdys and one Hammerless 12ga H&H. The Purdys sold for $4,000, $1,600 and $5,200 and the Holland and Holland Royal Hammerless Ejector sold for $7,000. Its just a matter of finding them.

I'm so tired. Greg, who is "he" who has a sleeved gun not described as such? Seven pages is a bit much to review. I just can't keep up.

I presume the only way to detect a hidden seam sleeve job is by seeing the seam on the inside of the barrels. That's assuming the welding and finishing were perfect. That might take a super careful examination maybe even using one of those bore scopes that let you see a close-up of the barrel wall. How many gunsmiths have one of those expensive toys? I've only seen one in a high precision machineshop's inspection dept. and that was 30 years ago.
nial

You can see it if you look. You have to pull the luggers (extractors) to do it. It's a good idea to check this on any English gun you're checking out.

Of course, some guys welded up that seam, too. Then its' real hard to tell.

OWD

This is it 8bore.