Well, Mal, that is a very good question and I'm glad you asked it!! Boy, don't I wish I'd copy righted that phrase and could collect royaltys on its use!!!!
I have a valuation system based on Brand Value level (BV), Original Quality grade (OQ), and the Current Condition level (CC). Objective handling measures are weight, balance, unmounted swing effort, and mounted swing effort. Note that these two systems have no factors in common. This seems to be true because for any given price pigeon hole there will be some spectrum of handling reaily available. For example, the pigeon hole for BV1-OQ1 (Boss/H&H/Purdey/Woodward best SLE) will have a range from light game gun (around 6 1/4#), to game gun (6 1/2#), to heavy game gun (7#), to light pigeon gun (7 1/4#), to pigeon gun (7 5/8#), and to duck gun (8#). These guns will have differing handling and will be prefered by differing individuals for differing purposes. The price will vary more or less by Current Condition only. However, if the gun is a small bore with differing handling, there will be a premium associated with its price. Curiously, if the gun were a fowler, it would likely have a negative premium. BV3-OQ6 (many brands of second grade BLE) has uniform pricing based on CC, but seems to have a positive premium for both fowler and small bore. Small bores and fowlers seem to be the only place price is influenced by handling numbers.
Hope that helps. Questions and observations welcome.
