Look out for dovetail lump barrels that are doctored up to look like chopper lump barrels. This done by scribing lines (probably after proof) in the lumps.
(I don't care if the barrels are named or not - check with the Maker or a good gunsmith if you have ANY question. Now I have no problem with properly made/struck/proofed British dovetail lump barrels but I want to know what I am getting.)
This was a common practice several years ago when it was easy and much cheaper to get dovetail lump barrels from B'ham (or Belgium) than chopper lump barrels from B'ham or London. I guess rather than sleeve a (Best) gun and seriously reduce the price the vendor had new cheaper DL barrels made and proofed in London. It was also cheaper and probably quicker than either going through the maker or a reputable outworker or vendor such as Westley Richards for proper and more expensive CL barrels. This would have seriously reduced their profit! They were then tarted up after proof, no doubt. I'd also be suspicious of honest boxlock guns that have CL barrels or the vendor makes a big deal of this. It just wasn't common practice years ago to put CL barrels on lower quality guns, so there is a story here at least. Now it is not unheard of for a BL to have replacement barrels by eg Boss but it is certainly not the rule!
There are quite a few (Best) guns floating around on this side of the pond that were rebarrelled that way. Now these guns often have correct (London) proof marks and so on. Then, after proof, perhaps on this side of the pond, the dealer or his minions scribes lines into the lumps to make it look to the unsuspecting that these are indeed London made and proofed chopper lump barrels that would be appropriate on a Best Gun. A lot of these guns can allegedly be traced back to a certain outfit that is no longer trading...but imported an immense number of (British) guns in the 70s-90s.
The vendor - PM me if you'd like the name of at least one dealer still extant - then advertises the gun as having chopper lump barrels. When I pointed this out to the seller they were VERY quick to make a substantial reduction in the asking price. They did not ask for proof of my finding which implies to me they knew what was going on, n'est-ce pas?
I don't know what sort of violation that this would be in the UK under the rules of Proof, etc. but such activity at least to this layperson is very deceptive and borders on fraud..... no matter what country we are living in.
Comments?
PS
I recall mentioning this practice to a small, reputable dealer in the UK about a decade ago over a pint during a break from a preauction viewing in the UK. He said that this was something that he always looked out for. I forget what he said the penalties were. Perhaps one of our UK friends can say. It's amazing how deceptive people can be!
