Wait, wait.
The point is they are old doubles. We all know that for the most part, field guns were the same basic guns as the high grades just in different pants. We can admire the art of the engravers, the slightly better fit and finish and the beautiful old wood on the high grades. And, we can equally, but in a different way, admire the guns themselves as mechanical things.
The field grades are non-the-less things which mark a time in man's history which coordinated the evolution of metallurgy, chemistry(gunpowder) and mechanical engineering with the social, cultural and hunting development of civilized man. A field gun can be a kinetic work of art. Just swing it and shoot it. Open it and close it. Put it together and take it apart. They are functionally beautiful and important historically.
I think that is what draws most of us here together.
Otherwise, we can just go get a modern gun and shoot it at whatever is left to shoot.
Am I ranting?
Regards, Jake
