Shotguns-show us your kit

[Gone2ratshat]

Alloy, not aluminium.

Aluminium alloy .

 

[Ravers]

I daren’t ask how much that would cost…. My house?

I’d be scared to clean that.

It massively depends on who does the work. That one is a Pedretti (there are a few different Pedrettis from the same family).

10-20k on top of the price of the gun (100k ish).

That’s good value, an English engraver would be double that.

 

[Ravers]

And then we get on to the deep carving on double rifles. You need to make the action a little bit thicker to account for the material the engraver will carve out.

200 grand for a gun like this.

 

[skeetstar]

Silver pigeons are steel, a steel alloy maybe but not aluminium.
Do Beretta make an alloy o/u?
Is their ladies gun aluminium - is called Victoria or Vittoria?

 

[Ravers]

Aluminium alloy .

They’re not.

Edit: beaten to it.

 

[Mick9abf]

The top end guys are getting near photographic quality with game scenes now…View attachment 652167

There’s an Eastern European boy I follow on Instagram who does stuff like that. It’s some talent.

 

[Bacongrills]

They come with aluminium or steel.

Mine is a steel reciever.

Action.

 

[Ravers]

There’s an Eastern European boy I follow on Instagram who does stuff like that. It’s some talent.

There are some amazing scratchers about. The patience involved in producing something like that is insane.

A lad who was going through his apprenticeship when I was at the factory is doing some very cool stuff now. He still does the occasional gun, but he’s bringing traditional engraving to a whole new audience by doing high end watches, electrical goods, even cameras.

Interview: Johnny Dowell aka King Nerd

In the digital age, the era of the apprentice learning a hand-skill over a period of years is fast becoming a rarity. One such exception to this is Johnny Dowell...

www.acollectedman.com

 

[Ritch]

I used to watch a Discovery "documentary" - one of those fake drama ones - called Sons of Guns. It was about a Gunsmith and his family in Colorado IIRC.

His son did the engraving side of things and was very good but said he needed to go to Italy to study to become a master engraver. Are Italy the world leaders in this sort of stuff?

 

[Ravers]

I used to watch a Discovery "documentary" - one of those take drama ones - called Sons of Guns. It was about a Gunsmith and his family in Colorado IIRC.

His son did the engraving side of things and was very good but said he needed to go to Italy to study to become a master engraver. Are Italy the world leaders in this sort of stuff?

The Italians would argue that they are and they certainly have some fantastic engravers.

They probably engrave more guns than anyone else as a nation. A lot of the Italian workshops are almost like engraving factories, with a production line of engravers. One less experienced guy doing the scroll work, another doing the gold and the best guy smashing out the game scenes.

But the top guys are all still UK based and they command the highest prices.

Some of Phil Coggan’s work….

 

[Ritch]

The Italians would argue that they are and they certainly have some fantastic engravers.

They probably engrave more guns than anyone else as a nation. A lot of the Italian workshops are almost like engraving factories, with a production line of engravers. One less experienced guy doing the scroll work, another doing the gold and the best guy smashing out the game scenes.

But the top guys are all still UK based and they command the highest prices.

Some of Phil Coggan’s work….

View attachment 652203View attachment 652204

Wow! That is absolutely sensational.

 

[Ravers]

The gun above that looks painted is all gold leaf inlaid into the gun. The different colours are achieved by using white, rose and yellow gold.

 

[lokiuk]

It massively depends on who does the work. That one is a Pedretti (there are a few different Pedrettis from the same family).

10-20k on top of the price of the gun (100k ish).

That’s good value, an English engraver would be double that.

Some of them do shoddy work though

 

[Skunkmiester]

Action.

I noted the date and I am not falling for that.

The reciever joins the wooden handle to the tubes and the hand wood bit.

 

[Ravers]

I noted the date and I am not falling for that.

The reciever joins the wooden handle to the tubes and the hand wood bit.

I’m afraid he’s not winding you up. Its never called a receiver unless you’re American.

It’s always the action. The bloke who makes it is an actioner.

 

[Skunkmiester]

I’m afraid he’s not winding you up. Its never called a receiver unless you’re American.

It’s always the action. The bloke who makes it is an actioner.

I realise that, my reply was tongue in cheek. It also references a mate of mine (no experience with guns other than plinking in his garden with an air rifle).

During his shotgun license interview, he was asked a few safety questions. One was how should you approach and pick up a shotgun that you don't know the load state.
His reply was "by the handle? (he meant the stock)"

Still got his license though.

 

[4(T)]

The Italians would argue that they are and they certainly have some fantastic engravers.

They probably engrave more guns than anyone else as a nation. A lot of the Italian workshops are almost like engraving factories, with a production line of engravers. One less experienced guy doing the scroll work, another doing the gold and the best guy smashing out the game scenes.

But the top guys are all still UK based and they command the highest prices.

Some of Phil Coggan’s work….

View attachment 652203View attachment 652204

As a matter of interest, do any clients request non-traditional engraving artwork - something more modern, futuristic even? ISTR some guns were done with Art Deco themes, but back in the 1920s.

Same for the guns themselves. The typical form and shape are c.200 years old. Presumably by now there are alternatives to the traditional locks and stocking up?

- Or do such clients get politely pointed in the direction of some vulgar foreign gunmaker?

 

[Gone2ratshat]

As a matter of interest, do any clients request non-traditional engraving artwork - something more modern, futuristic even? ISTR some guns were done with Art Deco themes, but back in the 1920s.

Same for the guns themselves. The typical form and shape are c.200 years old. Presumably by now there are alternatives to the traditional locks and stocking up?

- Or do such clients get politely pointed in the direction of some vulgar foreign gunmaker?

Like this ? Felix Funken was the engraver ...

 

[Skunkmiester]

As a matter of interest, do any clients request non-traditional engraving artwork - something more modern, futuristic even? ISTR some guns were done with Art Deco themes, but back in the 1920s.

Same for the guns themselves. The typical form and shape are c.200 years old. Presumably by now there are alternatives to the traditional locks and stocking up?

- Or do such clients get politely pointed in the direction of some vulgar foreign gunmaker?

Oh god, could you imagine a pair of high end shotguns with Anime engraving?



Or perhaps this?

There's Them....and then there's Them...what, what?

 

[Ravers]

As a matter of interest, do any clients request non-traditional engraving artwork - something more modern, futuristic even? ISTR some guns were done with Art Deco themes, but back in the 1920s.

Same for the guns themselves. The typical form and shape are c.200 years old. Presumably by now there are alternatives to the traditional locks and stocking up?

- Or do such clients get politely pointed in the direction of some vulgar foreign gunmaker?

I’ve seen some truly awful ones over the years.

We did one pair that were based on the client’s Japanese style tattoos.

Amazing piece of work by the engraver, but gold flames, samurais and dragons have no place on an English shotgun.

I’ve also seen some really random and boring stuff, like a picture of the clients fairly run of the mill house on the bottom of the action and of course, hundreds of favourite labradors and spaniels.

Some people request weird wood but they always change their minds when we explain why walnut is not only the best for aesthetic reasons, but also for it’s longevity and shock absorbing properties.

John the engraver in my link above, did some epic practice pieces with game scenes involving T Rex’s and stuff, but they were just for a laugh and never ended up on a gun.

In terms of the design of the guns themselves, the Purdey side by side hasn’t changed since 1882 and the Over and under is a Woodward design from 1913.

They hit the zenith of their evolution and basically couldn’t be perfect any further and still can’t.

The most ground breaking thing to hit the trade for years was when we made a gun out of Damascus steel, but even that was just the same old Woodward design from 1913, just made out of fancy metal.