The Holland & Holland Royal is a strong action. Personally, a 1880s gun would not be my choice - you will pay a lot more than you will for a decent 1920s one and the quality won't be appreciably different in your favour.
I always take a spare gun on a driven day in any case - always have a back-up gun.
A best English sidelock is not a beast to subject to 'home smithing'. Have it stripped, cleaned and serviced every couple of years by a properly apprenticed gunmaker. The cost is trifling relative to the value of the gun - or even compared with a routine car service that we all do without batting an eyelid.
H have a Purdey sidelock that I have used for everything from rough walk-up shooting, to duck blind work, to formal driven days and sporting clays. Fired thousands of shots without mishap and it is as tight as the day I bought it. These guns are made for repeated fireing of the correct load.
You have to be comfortable with your purchase - I am perfectly comfortable walking through a wet hedge with my Purdey. If you are not, you won't feel relaxed when you are out.
I am also comfortable with teh £7000 I invested in it but a friend put £20,000 into a Purdey live pigeon gun and never settled with it - he worried that he had too much cash in the gun and sold it after 12-months of never being really happy.
