doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Grave robbing.

Sounds about right to me.

That is a restock. It is startling how much a blank of wood of that quality sells for, and you already know the stock maker likes shrimp and steak as much as we do. I think James did a hell of a job getting the POW grip to look proportionate to the grip of the gun, better than the original.

If the gun is a detachable lock version of the Westley Richards, $7K might not be a good down payment if you wanted to buy it. I have no idea what the work cost, or, what the gun would sell for, but, I’m pretty sure it will be worth every penny of what that number is.

Best,
Ted

That certainly is an impressive resurrection.

My father’s Dental Technician (himself a keen shot who kindled my interest in shooting) had an Uncle who was a noted shot who insisted that his pair of guns be buried with him.

I have often wondered if his grave remained undisturbed?

That’s funny. My Dad wore a Zodiac watch he bought in Japan after a brief USMC mission in that part of the world, that he wore for most of his adult life. My mom said he was going to be buried with it. My son, then 3 years old, saw the Zodiac on his grandfathers wrist at the nursing home, and made a deal with grandma. He would give grandpa his watch, a Timex Ironman, if I am not mistaken, and my son would keep and take care of grandpas watch.

The oldsters and the little boy were all on board, I just kept my mouth shut. The Zodiac was rebuilt and my son wears it to this day, he will be 19 a a few weeks. There is a watch in that grave, but, it would be less trouble to buy one new.

Best,
Ted

Just a guess, Battle. Restock and all. I'm thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of $12K total value now, but I could be way off.
JR

Another thing: I never cease to be amazed how much something as simple (but not easy) as a concave mullered border on a fine checkering job elevates it to another level. Perfect example here.
JR

My first responses are; it is a droplock and the price was way north of $10,000. It was done about 20 years ago.

The client was given the wreck and it had personal provenance so he desired it to be restored/rebuilt. The before photos do not demonstrate how bad it was. One could read a newspaper through the gap at the breeches it was so off the face, so it had to be rejointed.

The barrels had to be stripped, relayed, filed up, polished, and the lettering recut. If barrels must be simply reblacked, the lettering must be recut. The action body was annealed, filed clean, repolished and what engraving was extant, was recut, then rehardened. All hardware was done the same but the metal was charcoal blued. Of course new screws were made.

I restocked butt and forend, from the blank, of course. I am not adverse to using carved stocks but the old stock was too bad to copy. Besides one of the reasons I got stocking jobs was there was nothing to copy. I don't need carved stocks anyway. All that is needed is the metal, a blank, and a fit sheet.

I told the client this is the most expensive free gun he ever got. That being said, it was far cheaper than having a Westley Richards made new of that quality. I used to tell clients they could restore or rebuild a fine prewar gun for far less than they could buy a new one. Plus, it would practically be a bespoke gun. I thank the forum for their kind words.

Ive had a number of ground up restorations done......some have included new wood, most have not thank God. It's not for the feint of heart. Nor for those trying to make money off a collection.

Mr Flynn makes a very good point.......pick the right gun to start with and you end up with an essentially new, almost bespoke gun for a fraction of what a new one would cost. The majority of the work Ive had done on these kinds of projects are by members CJO and Chris Dawe. And I've never been unhappy with the results.

Again, nice work, James. Than you for the details that I didn’t know.

I’m looking for a box!

Best,
Ted