Quality happens, too, Nial. Depending on the era, or the skill of the engraver assigned to the gun, you could get R13s that looked like this, or R15s, like the 1970s import 20 I owned, that had cartoonish quality engraving, to give any Parker or LC Smith a run for it's flying turnips.
A board member has an R15, produced by the Bruchet's (I sold it to him) with the enigmatic upswept watertable. I know if you asked for it, on a Bruchet gun, you got it, regardless of grade, but, it tended to show up on pre-Bruchet guns for, well, no good or bad reason. I have observed an R17, engraved in magnificent "fond cruex" without the upsept watertable. Who knows?
They still have those plastic buttplates. They will put one on a gun for you, if you ask. I suspect they will quietly snicker to themseves while they fit it, as well. Ebony and horn, along with checkered rosewood, were the rage when I was doing it.
Less plastic, all other things being equal, is good on a gun. I would have tried to get you to put a better quality buttplate on the gun, if I was selling it. I never sold a gun with a plastic buttplate on it. When Steve Bodio ordered his R11, he thought about sling swivels, and I GAVE him the Bretelle Darne to keep those clanking little army rejects off of his slug gun.
Hey, it had my company name on the rib-I had to do it.
Best,
Ted
