Good Gun Deals This Week

[rookhawk]

Rookhawk Thanks for your help on my Hellis 12 bore

@Altitude sickness tell the group about what you bought. It's a real dandy!

 

[rookhawk]

Can you share a little more about the “bad era” for a newby. Also also what a fair value for the California hooker might be…asking for a 416-less friend.

Just like cars and comic books, British Arms had a "Golden Era" that commands the most money. The quality and years of experience of the workforce was never higher than between WWI and WWII. Those rifles and guns always command the greatest respect. The silver era would those preceding WWI. And the bronze era would be Post-War to late 1950s. After that, things really turned to crap. Rigby's made on CZ actions and milsurp junkers. Rigby shotguns made in Spain. H&H shotguns made by WC Scott with only their name in engraved, etc., etc.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Can you share a little more about the “bad era” for a newby. Also also what a fair value for the California hooker might be…asking for a 416-less friend.

Sorry I forgot about your comment. Listen to @rookhawk. Personally I would look at something else. There are better options. I think anyone who buys that rifle will be overpaying and the resale would be nearly impossible and if you did you would definitely lose money on it

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I have been watching all of these since I am fairly local. I got a feeling this auction has attracted alot of people.

There are a few guns to watch in that auction but probably not the ones most are paying attention to

 

[Altitude sickness]

Rookhawk walked me through selecting a nice English SxS.

He pointed me to a 1927 Hellis& Son sidelock in 12 gauge. He suggested having the seller sending it straight to Fine Firearms restoration, Dan Morgan in Vermont to properly evaluate the gun.

It got a clean bill of health and now Dan is adding a recoil pad to get it to my LOP.

It should be complete any day.

Unfortunately this is the only pic I have.

Thanks for the help Rookhawk.

 

[VertigoBE]

Rookhawk walked me through selecting a nice English SxS.

He pointed me to a 1927 Hellis& Son sidelock in 12 gauge. He suggested having the seller sending it straight to Fine Firearms restoration, Dan Morgan in Vermont to properly evaluate the gun.

It got a clean bill of health and now Dan is adding a recoil pad to get it to my LOP.

It should be complete any day.

Unfortunately this is the only pic I have.

Thanks for the help Rookhawk.
View attachment 633864

Congratulations on your purchase @Altitude sickness , looking forward to seeing more detailed pictures of this sxs.

I find shotguns incredibly complicated to avoid pitfalls and dud's when trying to find a good deal on the used market. Still on the lookout for one.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Yes, when talking to Rookhawk. I realized how easy it is to by a Dud

 

[HunterX]

There are a few guns to watch in that auction but probably not the ones most are paying attention to

I do have my eye on another one. I will focus on it.

 

[HunterX]

Rookhawk walked me through selecting a nice English SxS.

He pointed me to a 1927 Hellis& Son sidelock in 12 gauge. He suggested having the seller sending it straight to Fine Firearms restoration, Dan Morgan in Vermont to properly evaluate the gun.

It got a clean bill of health and now Dan is adding a recoil pad to get it to my LOP.

It should be complete any day.

Unfortunately this is the only pic I have.

Thanks for the help Rookhawk.
View attachment 633864

Great wood, nice engraving.

 

[HunterX]

Just like cars and comic books, British Arms had a "Golden Era" that commands the most money. The quality and years of experience of the workforce was never higher than between WWI and WWII. Those rifles and guns always command the greatest respect. The silver era would those preceding WWI. And the bronze era would be Post-War to late 1950s. After that, things really turned to crap. Rigby's made on CZ actions and milsurp junkers. Rigby shotguns made in Spain. H&H shotguns made by WC Scott with only their name in engraved, etc., etc.

Thank you for the additional detail! I am here to learn, and this is very helpful. Might be better to build a Rigby “style” custom Mauser with one of the actions I recently acquired.

 

[rookhawk]

Yes, when talking to Rookhawk. I realized how easy it is to by a Dud

indeed. The problem with fine shotguns is the odds of getting a worthless wallhanger approach 25% at ALL pricepoints if they were vintage hand made pieces. Because people cannot price-in the risk they are taking correctly, there isn't a service readily available to vet and verify a British shotguns for someone because no one would pay for what it would cost.

So what to do? NEVER take direct possession of a vintage English shotgun from an e-dealer because if you do, you own it. ALWAYS send it to an FFL gunsmith to get work done on it while demanding a 72 hour non-firing inspection period. If you haven't received it directly, and a competent gunsmith finds a problem in the first 24 hours, you have a reasonable chance of getting a refund via an inspection period. The 'smith is going to do work on the gun for you, whether adding a pad, or cleaning up the barrels, or altering the chokes, so they are generally willing to go along an inspection in order to get the gunsmithing work or will at least do a limited one related to the areas of the work.

At least a half dozen times I've had friends and acquaintences pull up to the house proudly holding a good to best grade British shotgun they bought a few weeks earlier. "Can you help me do a post-puchase exam?". "Sure, because I feed on the tears of irrevocable loss, lets go for it!" As Murphy's law predicts, the barrels were honed to .018" making the gun a bomb, or its completely off face, or the ejectors are out of timing, or the "unrestored mint gun" has been restocked and poorly restored. Or it's totally out of proof. It's a little late for inspections, friends.

What does it take to do an inspection for your own purposes? I spent $3000 on a wall thickness gauge that lets me determine if barrels have been honed. I spent $5000 on books to verify the ledgers of most makers, ensuring the address on the barrels matches the timeframe of the action. I bought several books on proof marks so I can interpret what the gun's measurements were when new. Beyond that, I spent an awful long time learning from my mistakes and others to detect repairs, liars, and incorrect finishes. I couldn't find a service to do all of the aforementioned for me, so I bought the tools so I could be a smart consumer when I was a 20-something bachelor in the tech industry with nothing better to do with my money but buy guns.

About 20 years ago there I was, a snot-nosed kid walking around a collector gun show carrying about 80lbs of books and gauges in a huge duffel. I ran into a dealer I knew running a booth and I asked "Mike, why don't any of the dealers have the stuff I'm carrying with me when they are buying fine guns?" His answer was illuminating, "All the dealers are placing such low offers they lose almost nothing if the gun doesn't check out later". That was an "Aha" moment which explained why I got good value on collector guns...I wasn't a dealer and I had enough facts to know the value and I was offering way, way more than dealers when I wanted to own a nice gun.