doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What qualifies a gun as "HAND-MADE"?

Truly handmade pistol by Theodore John Kaczynski http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_332014518.html

joe-Obviously, you don't shoot trap either do you? I know you don't. Otherwise, you wouldn't have told me to try it with a low hold in a past post. And yes, I shoot a Ljutic mid rib, rabbit. And I have two (trap) Berettas and a Browning. When you put hundreds of rounds through a gun a week, it pays to have a little better gun. And you can tell the different when you shoot them. Good luck.

JW you are absolutly right. I'm not a Trap shooting jUnkie...If I recall I suggested shooting 'low gun' to break the monotony. Myself I'd rather have fun and break 23 than have to get in a trance to break 25.

I've always womdered if these high priced trap guns were so good why do they sell a 'parts kit' to fix them ?
L.F.

Its all in how the barrels have been struck - all else, is just all else. This imo is what makes up a hand made gun.

Seriously??????

Manufacturers don't sell parts kits for the good trap guns. At least I have never seen Kolar, Seitz, Ljutic, Kreighoff, Perazzi, Beretta or anyone else sell parts kits for their trap guns. But there was an article in Shotgun Sports about five years ago on Ljutic #1. It had over one million rounds through it and only had to have a firing pin replacement over the years. This is only a 1/2 hour job that the owner can do. This is why people spend more money on a gun that fits them and they shoot thousands of rounds a year with no problems. They expect the gun to last a lifetime, which they usually do- for them and their kids. So do the math= a gun that costs more and lasts a lifetime or 4-5 $1500- $2000 guns that a shooter has to get used to over and over again. Plus there are so many advantages to the mechanics of a finer gun. Better/quicker triggers. Better pointing, handling, etc. The same is true for any fine gun over a cheaper one. This is pretty common knowledge. Good luck.

They do sell spring kits for Perazzi's. Seems everyone either has one or is looking for one. Spring breakadge is more common than you think.

They may last a lifetime of use. They don't float my boat in looks or value. In this case I agree with Lowell it could be more in the "striking".
I'd rather live my life with a cheaper gun than a CNC/Handmade gun that's way over priced.
I do agree being Willed one would be better than being left a Mossberg.

Chuck, when handling a gun, it's the first thing you notice.
Its the barrels ole bean, that gives the gun, that live feeling.
...and not it's gold birds!

LG:

I think you have to balance what you do in barrel striking with what you do to the after end. Light barrels and a recoil reducer in the stock makes for squirrely handling.

jack

Well, I believe you mean the design of the barrels as opposed to the execution. It seems to me that the barrels are the most apparent to benefit from machine making. I'm betting no modern (say 18xx) shotgun barrel was built with any quality without the aid of a machines. But more to the point, a modern machine is more capable of producing any barrel profile and wallthickness the gun designer choses and do it with much more precision than a craftsman with a few files. Polishing, of course is different from carving profile. Old barrels on many guns show that there were straight sections and often two taper angles that were blended by hand. How well they were blended was part of the hand work. Today, it would not be necesarry to have two angles but rather have any constantly blended profile the designer chose. Machines today have the capability of fully polishing the barrel as a separate component also. This would minimize the hand polishing after assembly.

IMO, barrel thickness and profile is a design characteristic today and not a craftsmanship characteristic as it once was when files were the predominent final shaping tool.