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Double Rifles, Single Shots & Combinations >> Double Rifles

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Reged: 26/11/03
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Re: Evaluating a DR
      03/02/06 04:20 PM

This is a broad question. Way too many things to look for. Like CFA said, once you're done, you still need a professional gunmaker - there's no way you can cover it all. Still, a prospective buyer can save himself some wasted shipping and evaluation fees if he learns enough to cull the turkeys. Since this question is encountered most often with respect to British and Continental DRs, I'll limit my following remarks to those. You need to evaluate the barrels, action and wood.

When you buy a used DR, you're primarily buying a pair of barrels because the cost of replacing them is a non-starter. They have to be good. Bore condition is paramount and evaluating it is just common sense. A bit of gray in the groove (flame erosion) is common with Cordite rifles because this stuff burned white hot. Still, the rifling should be square cornered from throat to muzzle. If there is significantly more throat erosion in the right barrel than in the left, it can cause problems with regulation. No DR can be properly evaluated without shooting it. If the seller has a problem with this, pass. He's either hiding something, or doesn't know enough about DRs to know any better, and you don't want to buy one from him. Keep in mind that when it comes time to sell it, bores with visible wear will reduce the price, no matter how well it shoots.

The outside of the barrels is just as important as the inside. If you aren't familiar enough with double guns to know what the term "well struck" means, learn. This is important for two reasons - detection of improper refinishing and monolithic bullet damage.

The barrels of the British and the better European DRs are contoured from the rough blanks by highly skilled barrel filers with "striking" (draw) files, hence the terms "struck off" or "struck up". Aim the rifle at a light source with a straight edge next to it, like a window or a light box. Yes, the barrels are swamped from just in front of the chambers, but the surface should otherwise be free of ripples, crests and troughs, etc. A British "best" should be perfect ("well struck") and even a mid-grade boxlock will be very good to perfect, unless it's been diddled with. Refinishing is fine, as long as it's done correctly (polished by hand, to preserve the barrel striking, and rust blued). If you see hills and dales, it's probably been refinished by a hack that used a polishing wheel. This seriously degrades the value of a fine double gun.

I've heard it said that overstressed rifling (rifling imprint on the outside of the barrels), from the use of monolithic bullets, is difficult to see. Once you're used to looking at well struck barrels, it's about as difficult to see as a bright spotlight in a railroad tunnel. Again, aim the rifle at the light and look for spirals on the outside of the barrels. If you see this, pass.

Inspect the action carefully. As Tinker described, the barrels should fit up to the face and table evenly. The major issues you're looking for here are a sprung (bent) or cracked action bar or an off face condition. If the action is sprung, the barrels won't fit up evenly to the face and table. Read the "Off Face" string above. A simple off face condition isn't an automatic "pass", as putting a double gun back on face usually isn't a big deal. However, it IS a warning to look for problems elsewhere indicating that the gun is off face due to abuse, such as excessive loads, as opposed to simple neglect. These jointing issues are primarily a job for your gunmaker.

Inspect the wood for gouges, cracks, oil soaking and poorly executed repairs and/or refinishing. Correct restocking is expensive. As Tinker described, look for looseness at the stock head. Oil soaking of this area softens the wood over time and looseness here is often due to this. If this problem is present, it's hard to tell what you've got until the oil is removed. Sometimes repairs are quite successful, and sometimes restocking is the only option. Be sure to look for proud metal due to excessive sanding during refinishing.

Also, carefully inspect the checkering. This is a pet peeve of mine. I've seen Americans looking at virtually unused pre-war British guns, insisting that the gun was obviously refinished because the stock appeared to have been refinished over worn checkering without bothering to freshen it. Of course, the checkering wasn't worn. The pre-war British guns had flat-top checkering - the diamonds weren't pointed up to begin with. When you see what appears to be a high condition pre-war British DR with pointed-up checkering, it's been redone by a hack.

Like refinishing the metal, there's nothing wrong with a restocked gun, as long as it's done right. On double guns this expensive, good execution is a requirement, but look for proper geometry as well. For example, the comb on British stocks is tapered from the butt to the nose of an unfluted comb. This permits the stock to slide away from the face during recoil and is part of the reason why the British DRs are more pleasant than most others to shoot. Several years ago, I saw a high quality British boxlock DR that had been restocked by a guy who is probably America's most celebrated stockmaker. The execution was as superb as the man's reputation - with razor-sharp checkering, a thick, fluted comb and a thick hand that the original stock didn't come with. It was an abortion. Had I been interested in the rifle, I would have docked my offer for the cost of a restock.

As long as the barrels and action are sound, there's little else that can't be fixed. It's only money.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

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Entire topic
Subject Posted by Posted on
* Evaluating a DR bulldog563 31/01/06 01:06 PM
. * * Re: Evaluating a DR tinker   31/01/06 02:28 PM
. * * Re: Evaluating a DR bulldog563   02/02/06 05:43 PM
. * * Re: Evaluating a DR CFA   02/02/06 03:56 PM
. * * Re: Evaluating a DR 400NitroExpress   03/02/06 04:20 PM
. * * Re: Evaluating a DR 4seventy   03/02/06 06:35 PM
. * * Re: Evaluating a DR armbar   02/02/06 05:34 PM

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