doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Diggory digs American guns??? I don't know

Lowell....we don't think overly too much of them..........but FACTS ARE FACTS, and Annie Oakley out shot all the kings and queens and the Little Lord Fauntleroy's "noblemen" and "women" of the world with her OLD MARLIN LEVER .22-LC's-Marlin shotguns, year in and year out---during that time of which you speak !!! On the Continent and over here......farmer type guns don't you know !!!! Every and I mean every shooting match in the WORLD, they all tried and just couldn't beat her with their Purdies, Engraved Diddletwats and so on......FACTS ARE FACTS, LOOK AT THE HISTORY..............and yes, the old model 97's never saw the inside of a repair shop.......and they are still going.......

Different strokes for different folks I guess...and bye the way..all the engraving in the world, doesn't make a gun shoot any better...another fact, eh ???

Best Regards,

Best thread we've had on the ole BBS in a long time. It's good to be reminded why we're blessed to have an ocean between us.

Bad choice for Annie Oakley as she had a pair of Lancasters made and had shooting lessons at Lancaster's shooting school.

I was amused by Run-with-the-fox's idea of shooting in England. If you want difficult sport, try shooting wood pigeons flighting in to roost on a windy night. Diggory will tell you how testing they can be. I shot a load last week and the choice of gun was an Ithaca Model 37 12 bore; left the Purdey at home. I only bought the Ithaca so that I could test some steel ammo and for some reason I can shoot extremely well with it. I now use it most of the time for pigeon shooting. Lagopus.....

By strange coincidence I was out pigeon shooting yesterday... with a Purdey.

The "depreciation" on Brit guns runs a fairly steady 20X from "pristine" to "wall hanger." What does it run for USA made guns? Say a Fox Strilingworth and a DHE Parker?

Annie Oakley - my god man!
Now, I have both American and English guns and see merit in both.
One - is one of the best shooting machines in the world, and the others keep the chicken coop free of vermin.
So see!
Now off with you...SpongeBob is on!

It should be, why has the common Standard 12g Sterlingworth gone up 4-5Xs in value? They used to linger on the gunshow tables at 500.00 - now look at 'em at Cabela's.
They are on the heels of the overly-hyped(thanks to the PGCA) Parker Vh guns.

Some of the conceptions of shooting in Great Britain we're getting here certainly were not accurate 100 years ago. No, they did not have the vast areas of public land we had (and have) in this country, but there was a whole lot of "rough shooting" taking place. (That's why you see plenty of very plain Birmingham-made doubles without ejectors.) It was certainly not a case of "if you're not of the rich and titled gentry, you don't get to shoot". And at the same time--Nash Buckingham's writings remind us of this as well--there were private duck clubs and quail plantations in this country where one also did not shoot unless one were of the rich gentry. There were working class Brits, especially in the rural parts of the country, just as eager to go out and pot a duck, partridge, pheasant or rabbit as there were working class Americans. About the only difference is the gun they carried. You would not have seen many pumps over there, but you would have seen a lot of guns the equivalent of a Sterlingworth, Elsie or Ithaca Field Grade, or Parker Trojan.

"Better", where guns are concerned, does not necessarily mean more expensive, if you're talking better mechanically and more durable. Is a Parker A1 Special "better" than a VH? Not mechanically, and not when it comes to durability. So why would anyone compare a Purdey to a VH any more than they'd compare an A1 to a VH? The differences are far nicer wood, much more extensive engraving, considerably more attention paid to fit and finish--things that make the more expensive gun more of a work of art, but not necessarily a "better" gun in terms of reliability.

And Lowell, I don't think you'll find many $2K plus 12ga Sterlingworths. You'll certainly find 20's and 12's in that price range, but there are far more 12's, which makes them less sought-after on the market. In fact, there were more than 2x as many 12ga SW's made as 16's and 20's combined. But the same small bore premium is at work where Brit doubles are concerned, and for the same reason: Far fewer 16's and 20's made, in comparison to 12's. Almost certainly a greater differential than even with our American classics.

Seems a bit silly comparing Ford F-150s and Jaguar XKs (or maybe fancied up Land Rovers )
In the words of Theodore Roosevelt "Envy and arrogance are the two opposite sides of the same black crystal."

Just purchased another fine hunting adventure book from that source of all sources for old and out of print books ABEBOOKS.COM, excellant selection. Another hunter traveled to Africa in the early to mid 1800's with, of course, a brace of James Purdey muzzleloaders.
Geez guys give credit where credit is due... The English have been building and using these things under the most dangerous of circumstances for a heck of a long time!!!