I'm hesitant to respond too, because I don't wish to be negative, but I'm concerned as well. Be skeptical and protect yourself. It's too much money not to.

I've heard of this smith but know little about him. However, if I sent an otherwise nice double gun out for re-jointing and it came back with the hook dovetailed, you'd have to pry me off the guy. Dovetailing is a very old and outdated method of putting a fixed pin double back on face. Tig weld and plasma spray have both been used very successfully for this purpose for quite a while now. There is no longer any good reason to hack up the hook like that. On high end double guns, correct repairs certainly need to be durable, but they should also be invisible. Dovetailing is not. J. J. recently rejointed a Jeffery just like this one (but in .475 No. 2) for a friend of mine. The work was perfectly done and the repair to the hook absolutely invisible. Were I the buyer, I would discount a gun with a dovetailed hook.

With a gun like this, if the barrels are undamaged and not excessively worn, and the action is sound (not sprung, cracked, etc.) there's little else that can't be put back as good as new, provided that the work is done correctly. That's what needs to be evaluated here. Keep in mind that the fair market value of this gun is much more dependent on the condition of the original barrels than that of the new set.

Good luck with this, Bonanza.
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