Side by side advice

[welshwarrior]

 

Agree entirely. My take, being mostly a watcher of auctions, is that English Boxlocks are the last bargain to be had in usable old shotguns. For about the same money as a new 525 or Silver Pigeon you can pick up a gun built almost entirely by hand by men trained the old way in how to make a really good gun. As a rule of thumb I'd expect to pay upwards of £750 (once fees etc are added) for a good non-ejector and £1500 to £2000 for a good ejector. Smaller bores obviously attract a premium. A word to the wise, be VERY careful with the sealed bid sales and take someone who knows their stuff if you go to the viewing day or decide to bid. Far more clunkers than pristine guns out there and repairs rapidly outstrip the residual value. I know, I've been caught out more than once. Good luck if you go down this route, but watch out it does get very addictive.

Very good advice I've just rebuilt a great deal for a gentleman who thought he'd a real bargain.

 

After stripping and re chequering the stock and forend.

Re blacking the barrels

Lapping barrels to remove minor pitting that was more major the it looked by eye.

These where all he taught he needed to do but!

 

New spring ejector main top lever

Recut the rear sear for a safe trigger pull regulate trigger pulls.

Relay ribs

Put it back on the face

 

It was not the great deal he thought he had, but he now has a stunning usable English BLE just in time for the season.

[bruno22rf]

You give wabbitbosher £2000 and he will find you a bloody good English gun. As for parts not being available-guns made in the early 20th century were built, by and large, by the best engineers the gun world has ever seen-parts are rarely needed as they were built to last many lifetimes-obviously there are dogs out there but that's the same with any modern used mass produced gun-its always been buyer beware. Don't be afraid by scare stories of a kings ransom to restore old guns-my last gun cost £150 to buy+£160 to hone and re-black the barrels+£160 for the woodwork to be stripped and have the checkering recut then oiled to an as new finish-so a total of less than £500 for an English hammer gun that will last another lifetime at least-she was made between 1900 and 1904 but looks like a 5 year old and is a joy to own and use-using her turns an outing into an occasion and if no birds turn up then I'm happy to simply sit and admire her and wonder what stories she could tell. BTW-gun took 3 months to refurbish and is valued at a minimum of £850 by my local dealer although replacing the gun would be nigh on impossible.